This month we lost an incredible force in the humanitarian world – Gina Lopez . Gina was an advocate for the environment and for the people. We feel a deep sense of loss but we are also inspired by the causes that Gina championed. Her fighting spirit will continue to motivate us to be fearless in our efforts to make a better world.
“You have to be always committed to the truth, especially when you get to a position of power. I have found that as long as I’m aligned, as long as I’m doing things which are true, even if I make mistakes, miracles happen every day” – Gina Lopez
One of her core projects was the cleanup of rivers in the Phillipines. In 2018, Mama earth partnered with Lanai Tabura and Beverly Desuasido and started #pride4PH (Pride for Philippines). #Pride4PH is a movement, created to bring the forces of celebrity, government, corporations and organizations together to do the work that needs to be done to save the environment in the Philippines.
“I’ll never forget our first pride4philippines Skype meeting with Gina, her energy and light shined through the screen. She instantly inspired me and I said to myself ‘I want to be just like Gina Lopez’. When I finally met her in person I was overwhelmed with her vibrance and passion for helping others. She was truly a saint and I’m honored to have met her. Her energy vibrates in us and will continue to inspire the work I am doing with @4mamaearth and @pride4philippines” – Jaime Kailani
Mama Earth is currently facing an unimaginable crisis. The climate, the way we treat our environment and the people on this little blue dot are all linked. Gina Lopez understood the intersection of environment, poverty and policy. “I became increasingly aware that it was more than just cleaning the water of a river,” she said back in 2010, “It was connected to our history, to our identity. Cleaning the river is really more about reconnecting to the essence of what we are. We are essentially a river people, taga-ilog, and for a river people to live in filth goes against our very soul.” – Gina Lopez
Communities who honour and respect the treatment and sustainability of our natural environment have been doing their best to preserve their habitats. However, the industrial revolution, colonialism and conquest, even with all the intentions of ‘progress’, had a detrimental effect to our home. The fight for the environment is not just about turning off lights and picking up plastic, it is about turning to those who have knowledge of the right practices that will sustain our environments and learning from them. Once called savages and uncivilized for living in mud huts and moving nomadically across lands, aboriginal and indigenous tribes had actually managed to live more sustainably with minimal consumerism and waste creation. Their medicines and mindsets were not profit driven but preservation and purpose driven. Let’s preserve our planet by listening to the guardians who have been trying to protect it all along. Let’s continue the legacy of true environmental activists like Gina Lopez.
Protect our planet, protect it’s original people and their habitats.
“Area Development is nurturing, developing and protecting the strengths and potential of the area with a non-negotiable commitment to the people living there. It is a strategy based on the higher values of life. Love and Integrity. The vision is communities living in harmony, with material needs met – but aligned with the higher values of life. Heaven on Earth. It is the world we want our children to have.” – Gina Lopez
On these principals, Gina Lopez founded the non-profit Investments in Loving Organizations for Village Economies (I.L.O.V.E.) – converging organizational forces and resources in order to enable poor and vulnerable communities to economically sustain themselves, maintain ecological integrity, uplift their social conditions, and govern themselves effectively and justly. The project is still in need of completion.
We vow to carry on. Committed to the truth and to be aligned with the legacy of Gina Lopez.
“The Greatest Thing Is the Possibility of Making a Difference” – Gina Lopez
Find out more about Gina Lopez and #pride4PH here
by Shivani Karan & Jaime Kailani