Christmas in our country is characterized as being one of the longest and the merriest. It’s very well known for having sleepless nights and continuous celebrations.  Because there are many Catholics, it’s probably even the most important holiday since it celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas begins at around December 16 in which Filipinos attend early morning masses and it ends on the first Sunday of January (Feast of The Three Kings).

After the last mass of Simbang Gabi which is on midnight on December 24, Filipino families prepare for Noche Buena (a Christmas Eve feast). The Noche Buena is an open house celebration, therefore families come and go and greet each other “Maligayang Pasko!” In their houses, there is food in abundance. The most popular dishes are: lechon, pancit, barbeque, rice, etc. Christmas is all about spending valuable time with your family. At home, lola is always the center of a family Christmas gathering, she’s somewhat like the chief. The children would form a line in front of her and she would give out gifts or coins. The older the child, the more coins he or she receives.

Also, from what I know, many people are excited to go to the Philippines on the holidays because of the busy and exciting things that are happening on the streets, such as the fireworks. The roads are well lit and full of activities and little kids are roaming around having fun. Sometimes, there are even talent shows. Speaking of festivities on the streets, many people, usually in provinces and in schools, celebrate the Panunuluyan.  The Panunuluyan is a street pageant in which they reenact Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging.

Finally, on December 25, Filipinos attend the Misa de Aquinaldo, a mass that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Like I said before, this is a family holiday. That said, they would go visit distant relatives to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, have Christmas lunches and exchange gifts.

That’s how the holidays are spent in the Philippines. I, myself, hope to travel over there one day to experience the liveliness of it all.

We human beings are needy. So needy, that we buy food frequently and sometimes too much of it. And by doing so, most of us will just throw out the unwanted. This is what we call food waste. In the following, I will go in further details of this problem we currently have. I will explain how is it exactly that we waste and I will also go into the statistics and also on the effects it has on the environment.

We waste food in many ways. Here are some of the numerous methods that we do:
-   We buy too much food, more than we need.
-   We hastily buy food, especially when hungry.
-   We put too much food on our plates.
-   Instead of recycling the food, we throw it in the garbage.

Now that you know how wasting food works, let me inform you on some of the statistics I’ve found as well as the impact it has on our planet. According to my research, Canadians spend about 19.5$ billion on food they don’t eat and a single family household in Toronto produces around 275 kg of food waste each year. I also found that 9-15 million tons of greenhouse gases are released in Canada due to this food waste problem. That’s approximately the weight of 120 CN Towers! And we all know that greenhouse gases contribute to the climate change of the planet… So by wasting food, we put our planet in danger.

It is practically impossible to completely annihilate our food wasting problem, but we can still try and reduce it:
-   Save your leftovers or recycle them.
-   Plan meals and have a purpose for every food you buy.
-   Store food properly. Avoid your food to rot easily.
-   Freeze the food that you wish to conserve.

By doing these little things, you can help diminish food waste. You can help the environment.
“http://www.thestar.com/News/Ideas/article/429617”

Sources: Toronto Food Policy Council, Jonathan Bloom, Waste & Resources Action Programme

In our world today, our planet is going through many difficult situations. The problems that I would be concentrating on this essay are environmental problems such as pollution, global warming, deforestation and more. I will also mention suggestions on how we can help our planet.

Global warming has a big impact in human lives and also those of  animals. I have gathered information that illustrates the melting of the ice in various parts of our planet because of global warming. Many animals like the polar bear need an ice capped environment to live and survive.  The melting of the ice makes the water level rise and can result in flooding. When this situation happens, the death of innocent human lives become the effect.

Where does global warming come from? In my opinion, the main cause of global warming is human beings who do as they please without thinking of the impact it does to our planet. We are creating what we call a greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is when it traps some atmospheric gases in the earth and heats it up. We are creating it by producing a lot of carbon dioxide.

So how do humans make carbon dioxide? Well, we can create some by exhaling. But that doesn’t really count as polluting because breathing is a necessity. Driving a vehicle is a human activity that contributes to the greenhouse effect because it releases air pollution. Deforestation is also another human activity because trees absorb CO₂ and if trees disappear  it can have less CO₂ absorption.

So in order to help our planet, we should drive less and go for carpooling or take the public transport more often. As for reforestation, we should recycle our papers that way not many trees will be cut.

 Another thing that I want people to do is save our energy and water. We can save a big amount of energy just by doing little things. Here are some suggestions, turn off the lights when you leave the room, unplug any electronic device that are not used.  We can also save water by closing the faucet while brushing your teeth and limit your shower time.

We should also stop littering because it also harms the environment. It can end up in the sewers or water canals and pollute the water, or if we litter close to an animal habitat that animal can be poisoned by the trash we throw.

The message of my essay is that we should all start caring for the Earth because we will never know what will happen in the future.