EDITORIAL — The sense of seeing it through

According to a story that recently came out in this newspaper, the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resource Office (CCENRO) said they are set to hold tree-growing activities in the city with various stakeholders soon.

The same story delineates the difference between tree growing versus tree planting; in tree planting you only go as far as to plant the seedling of a tree, in tree growing you see it through to maturity.

“Experience man gud sa CCENRO nga daghan gi-tanom nga mga trees mangamatay lang or putlon sa mga nagpuyo duol sa site... Naa to suggestions nga in from of adopt-a-tree for an organization nga set up naa pud multi-party collaboration ang tree-growing," said CCENRO head Reymar Hijara.

Tree growing does indeed make more sense, what use is the seedling if it doesn’t grow into a full tree?

Now we have to ask: is anyone actually keeping track of how many seedlings planted during celebratory occasions involving schools, students, private organizations, and government agencies, among others, actually survive to become fully-grown trees?

Are these being taken care of or are these forgotten once the cameras and the crowd are gone, or when a new school or government administration has taken over?

Planting seedlings but not seeing them through to become more useful trees can be another form of how we are so passionate about a project or endeavor at the beginning but lose steam and interest sooner or later. This can also be likened to our general attitude regarding taking care --or rather not taking care-- of the things given, whether it’s a new playground, a new government building, a new drainage system, or whatever.

Having more trees growing is now more timely considering that we are transitioning from one extreme to another; from extremely dry to extremely wet. Among its other benefits, we all know how trees can help shore up loose ground during heavy rains, which will be coming soon.