Geneva Cruz is proud to be green

 BY MANILA BULLETIN ENTERTAINMENT

Nov 22, 2023 00:19 AM

  

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AT A GLANCE

• Geneva’s citation is a well-deserved reward for her decades of championing environmental awareness.

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Geneva Cruz

The multi-platinum singer was chosen as one of the distinguished awardees of the recently held Green Gala Awards, held last Nov. 8 at the Fiesta Pavilion, Manila Hotel.

The Green Gala Awards, organized by the Climate Change Commission in partnership with the Rotary Club of Makati Business District, served as one of the culminating festivities capping Climate Change Week (Nov. 4-8) —a fitting prelude to the month-long celebration of climate change awareness.

Geneva’s citation is a well-deserved reward for her decades of championing environmental awareness. Even during her younger years, as a member of the seminal quartet Smokey Mountain, Geneva and her cohorts were already invoking environmental awareness through their green-themed songs including “Paraiso,” “Earth Song,” “Better World,” and even her solo single, “Anak ng Pasig.”

In more recent years, Geneva had also taken part in other environmental advocacies, such as tree-planting projects in Cavite earlier this year with her fellow Philippine Air Force reservists, as well as beach clean-ups around the country.

She says, “I am humbled and grateful for the recognition of my efforts to make a difference in preserving the planet, and I look forward to continuing to represent the philosophy and spirit of other earth warriors to make the world a greener and more sustainable place.”

(L-R) OPM icon/jukebox king Darius Razon, Geneza, Jeffrey Hidalgo and event host RJ Ledesma

Looking back at some of her green-themed songs, she reminisces, “Singing those songs at an early age made us aware enough to make a stand for the environment.”

As a musical artist, Geneva believes that her talent, along with her massive social media influence, is more than enough to create a ripple of awareness for climate change and its harsh realities.

She remarks, “I can only help spread awareness by constantly reading and learning about it, and maybe singing about it because music has a way of communicating with people beyond language, but on a deeper level. And of course, by being a walking, living, breathing example of somebody who cares about the planet.”

Her dreams, however humble, should also inspire like-minded eco warriors like her to mount their own eco initiatives.

She discloses, “My dream is to keep planting trees beginning next year. People don’t know that trees are important because they give us fresh air to breathe, food to eat, and shelter/shade from sunlight and rainfall. Aside from these, many medicines on the market are made from tree extracts. Forests also provide jobs to millions of people. I also plan to grow my own vegetables.”

“I have saved enough money from doing teleseryes and live shows and bought my dream land facing a small river in Tanay, where I will be planting trees before I build a sustainable and eco-friendly rest house. My 9-year old daughter is over the moon and loves the environment as much as me.”

In keeping with the event’s ‘green theme,’ for the awards night, Geneva flaunted a recycled outfit made of plastic starts and plastic sando bags, meticulously crafted by the inmates of the Correctional Institution for Women as their show of support for the environment as well.

Geneva also extends her gratitude to the organizers and reaffirms her support to all their future endeavors.

She exclaims, “My sincerest thanks to Ms. Marichelle Torres-Ackerman, Chairperson of Climate Change Commission Week and Chairperson/Founder of the Green Gala Awards, as well as Mr. Albert dela Cruz, Sr., Commissioner, PH Climate Change Commission. Noble causes like these should be celebrated as an annual event and as often as possible. With so many emerging media platforms nowadays, much can be done to promote and inspire environmental awareness, especially for our youth.”

Among the other Green Gala Awards recipients were her fellow Smokey Mountain co-member Jeffrey Hidalgo, National Artist/sculptor Ramon Orlina, Gov. Tony Leviste, Ernie Lopez, Joyce Hufton and San Miguel Corporation.

Philippinische Märchen/Philippine Fairy Tales (II)

WIE DIE SONNE, DER MOND UND DIE STERNE ENTSTANDEN...

(How the sun, the moon and the stars came into being...)

Es geht die Mär, in alten Zeiten, als die Welt eben erst erschaffen war, sei alles anders gewesen. Der wunderschöne blaue Himmel war ganz niedrig, so niedrig, dass man ihn mit der Hand berühren konnte. Und, es gab weder die Sonne, noch den Mond und noch die Sterne, die jetzt im unendlichen Raum des Himmels strahlen und gleissen.

Auch auf Erden war alles anders. Es gab viel Land, aber wenige Menschen. Die Tiere waren zahm, und die Voegel flogen hin und her zwischen den Baeumen, die sich mit ihren frischen, gruenen Kronen an den niedrigen Himmel lehnten.

Unter den wenigen Menschen, die damals die Welt bevölkerten, waren ein Mann und seine Frau. Sie waren sehr arbeitsam. Kaum blinkte ein schwaches Licht, das wer weiss woher kam - sie hatten ja die Sonne nie gesehen -, eilten Mann und Frau auf Feld, wo sie ohne Rast so lange arbeiteten, bis ihnen vor Hunger der Magen knurrte. Ihre Tage vergingen in Gleichförmigkeit, aber sie lebten einträchtig und glücklich zusammen.

Jeden Tag, wenn sie vom Feld heimkehrten, bereiteten Mann und Frau ihr Essen zu. Der Mann zerstiess Reis im Moerser, und die Frau kochte ihn  mit verschiedenen Zutaten.

Eines Tages kehrten sie vom Feld in ihre Hütte heim, sie waren sehr müde und sehr hungrig, und gleich machten sie sich daran, das Mittagessen zu kochen. Der Mann nahm Reis, schüttete ihn in den Moöser und zerstiess ihn. Die Frau schachtete ein fettes Huhn, tat es in einem Topf und heizte im Herd ein. Als die Flammen aufloderten und sich aus dem Herd der Rauch wälzte, kam es der Frau in den Sinn, ihren Kamm und ihre lange Halskette ans Firmament zu hängen.

Der Mann fuhr fort, den Reis zu zerstossen. Er war hungrig, er beeilte sich, und wie er so flink mit dem Stössel hantierte, stiess er jedesmal mit dem oberen Ende ans Firmament. Das erboste ihn, er stampfte auf und rief dem Himmel zu: "Warum bist du so niedrig? Du könntest dich weiten, damit du mich nicht immer bei der Arbeit störst!"

Kaum hatte er das ausgesprochen, da begann sich zu ihrer grössten Überraschung der Himmel sich zu erheben und mit ihm auch der Kamm und die Halskette, die daran hingen, ja sogar der Herd, in dem schon das Feuer loderte, erhob sich mit ihm. Seither strahlt jede Nacht, hoch oben am Himmel, der Mond, der einem Kamm gleicht; seither gleissen dort die Sterne, die den Perlen einer zerrissenen Halskette gleichen, und am Tag brennt die Sonne wie das Feuer von einem glühenden Herd.

Mehr philippinische Maerchen demnaechst hier!

More Philippine fairytales coming up soon and only here!


(Nacherzählt von Jozef Genzor, aus dem Slowakischen übersetzt von Dr. Anna Fialova; herausgegeben und gedruckt in der CSSR; deutsche Ausgabe: Verlag Werner Dausien, Hanau/Main, 1978).

There is a myth that in ancient times, when the world was just created, everything was different. The beautiful blue sky was very low, so low that you could touch it with your hand. And, there was neither the sun nor the moon nor the stars that now shine and shine in the infinite space of the sky.

Everything was different on earth too. There was a lot of land, but few people. The animals were tame, and the birds flew back and forth between the trees, which leaned with their fresh, green crowns against the low sky.

Among the few people who populated the world at that time were a man and his wife. They were very hardworking. As soon as a faint light flashed, which came from who knows where - they had never seen the sun - the man and woman hurried into the field, where they worked without rest until their stomachs rumbled with hunger. Their days passed in sameness, but they lived together harmoniously and happily.

Every day when they returned home from the field, the husband and wife prepared their food. The man pounded rice in a mortar and the woman cooked it with various ingredients.

One day they returned home from the field to their hut, they were very tired and very hungry, and they immediately set about cooking dinner. The man took rice, poured it into the moose and pounded it. The woman slaughtered a fat chicken, put it in a pot and heated it up in the stove. As the flames flared up and smoke rolled out of the hearth, the woman thought of hanging her comb and her long necklace on the firmament.

The man continued to pound the rice. He was hungry, he hurried, and as he handled the pestle so nimbly, each time he hit the firmament with the top end. This made him angry, he stomped on his feet and shouted to the sky: "Why are you so low? You could expand yourself so that you don't always disturb me at work!"

As soon as he had said this, to her greatest surprise, the sky began to rise and with it the comb and the necklace that hung on it, and even the hearth in which the fire was already blazing, rose with it. Since then, every night, high up in the sky, the moon shines like a comb; Since then, the stars have shone there like the pearls of a torn necklace, and in the daytime the sun burns like fire from a glowing hearth.

How often do Germans say "nee" or "nej" instead of "nein"?

  By Günter Neessen

Does it depend on the state?

In literature and higher register, “nein" is the word of choice. Regarding everyday speech, I can't answer for whole Germany, but where I come from, the west of the northern lowlands, “nee” is much more often used than “nein". Common people in their own peer group would only use “nee".

The reason is of course that “nee" is the Low German/Low Saxon word for “nein"/”no", and while Low Saxon tends to decline in favour of Standard German, the people integrate traits of it into something one might call “Northern Standard German”.

Edit: Regarding the reactions, it seems that “nee" is widespread within the German realm, not only in the north, but even at least in Central Germany.