One Song versus The Traveler

Let's travel the world, one song at a time.Actually, we're a bunch of crazy wanderers who travel the Philippines - mountains to seas with three minutes to spare to clean up. 

[onesongchallengetheworld]

#PlasticFree2018 - the PH version!

#PlasticFree2018 – the PH version!

At the beginning of the year, Buzzfeed wrote about 16 Actually Easy Ways To Create Less Trash In 2018, and we hope that inspired you to go #PlasticFree2018. Now let us help you with how to do it in the Manila or anywhere in the Philippines! When you go out, bring an eco bag! Most of the malls, markets, and groceries in Manila have gone plastic free therefore your groceries will go into a brown…

View On WordPress

[onesongchallengetheworld]

OneSongChallenge's Best of 2017

OneSongChallenge’s Best of 2017

Well, we’ve been quiet. Yes, that’s true. But we’ve been busy… something big to share with you soon! But let us give you a glimpse of how the rest of 2017 looked like for us. Of course, our last post was about minimalism and decluttering, and we’re happy to tell you that we’re still on that path. Moreover, we discovered the path to Reuse (from the 3 R’s – Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle)! As you can…

View On WordPress

[onesongchallengetheworld]

Minimalism

Last year, my friends and I joined a community rummage sale. We made some profit out of old clothes, shoes and some household items that aren’t being used. That night we ate grilled chicken. It was a great weekend. At the start of year, I made the a commitment. To declutter. To live this year in minimalism. So I asked my friends again, if we are planning to do a rummage sale again soon… so far,…

View On WordPress

[onesongchallengetheworld]

Year 2-0-1-7 HNY!!!

Year 2-0-1-7. A new year! Personally, my 2016 was okay. There were ups and downs. Me and Nikko had our own disagreements, we made up, we laughed at our own jokes (not really sure if we’re funny though!) and we traveled a lot, as a couple. Thus was born, #onesongchallenge. We might be overdoing it, we’re always introducing ourselves and we shamelessly tell our friends to like our page and share…

View On WordPress

[onesongchallengetheworld]

Surf Island – Siargao Hope you enjoy our travel video!

[onesongchallengetheworld]

It’s the big clean up day!

[onesongchallengetheworld]

Big Day, ICC Day

All of our feelings for the National Clean Up Day..

The big day has come! September 17, 2016 – International Clean Up Day!!! Yep! We were soooo excited for this! But sad news… (more…)

View On WordPress

[onesongchallengetheworld]

Starting a Sea of Change

Starting a Sea of Change

It’s been a few months since we’ve started with the #OneSongChallenge. We’ve been able to share it with friends, discuss on how we can extend our initiative, and discover different mediums on how to do it. Personally, it’s a battle between my natural introversion and the drive to reach out and share to people our love for the ocean! (Haha!) So in the middle of this struggle, one fine afternoon, I…

View On WordPress

[onesongchallengetheworld]

We make the world better

We make the world better

  We love to travel. We love to travel and get in touch with the real way of life. But, are we going to be able to share this with the next generations? The problem of conserving and protecting nature has been existent for ages – from a tiny cigarette butt to a humongous forgotten item. Luckily, we have LNT (Leave No Trace) and its different principles to help us in maintaining Mother Earth. Not…

View On WordPress

[onesongchallengetheworld]

5 Reasons why you should join the International Coastal Clean Up Day

5 Reasons why you should join the International Coastal Clean Up Day

The International Coastal Clean Up Day is on September 17, 2016. And we are pretty stoked about it! International Coastal Clean Up is celebrated every third Saturday of the month of September annually and is the largest volunteer effort for Ocean Conservation. Here are 5 reasons why you should join the International Coastal Clean Up Day: You get to travel. Yes! ICC day is happening in lots of…

View On WordPress

[onesongchallengetheworld]

5 Reasons why you should join the International Coastal Clean Up Day

The International Coastal Clean Up Day is on September 17, 2016. And we are pretty stoked about it!

International Coastal Clean Up is celebrated every third Saturday of the month of September and is the largest volunteer effort for Ocean Conservation.

Here are 5 reasons why you should join the International Coastal Clean Up Day:

1.     You get to travel. 

Yes! ICC day is happening in lots of different towns. There's one hosted by ICC Philippines in Subic, there's one by Let's Do It Philippines in Cebu, there's also one in Negros and a few more clean up sites. You just got to see pick one and go. And in case you've already scheduled a trip but didn't find a cleanup site nearest your destination, all you have to do is contact DENR or start one yourself.

So, if you are in serious need of a vacation or just a weekend getaway, then this might just give you another reason to pack your stuff and leave Manila for a while.

2.     You get to meet new friends. 

Last month we joined the LNT workshop in Subic and we met a lot of new people. We got the chance to chat with the organizers, Zed Avecilla and his team, and Mr. LNT, Lito De Veterbo. During that workshop, we realized that there are a lot people out there who have the same passion as you have, the same vision you have and the same goals that you have. We also had a good time with the Rotaractors who joined the workshop. So meeting this group was pretty special to us as we know now that someone out there share the same advocacy as we do. Same as any passion. You just need to get out and meet people.

This might even be your chance to meet "The One"! Or not, up to you! *wink*

3. It's free!

Oh yes. One word, four letters. Other than "food", the magic word is "free"!

Yes! There's no joining fee. You can walk in and register on the clean-up site on the day itself! Need I say more, when we tell you it’s FREE?

Just bring yourself! It'll be worth it.

4. You get to join a global movement.

As this is hosted by ICC, there will also be clean-up sites wherever ICC is. Just check out the clean-up locations worldwide at Ocean Conservancy.  

This isn't just a local event, it's a global movement. Last year, Philippines ranked 1st in the ICC tally by having the most number of volunteers in over 93 participating countries.

5. You get to help Mother Earth!

When was the last time you did something for Mother Earth?

We are temporary in this world, we’ll have children and hopefully they get to experience the world the way we did, or better.  This is your chance to do something about it. By actively participating in this movement, you get to be one of the millions of people creating a “sea of change”.  

By travelling and by meeting friends, when do you get the chance to affect change?   THIS IS IT!

So join us on September 17, 2016 (Saturday) in the International Coastal Clean-Up Day at Lighthouse Marina Resort, Subic, Zambales

You can also join other clean-up locations near you! Check out this map.

Cheers, 

Jo Anne

[onesongchallengetheworld]

We have a video and we’re sharing it with you soon! :) 

[onesongchallengetheworld]

We make the world better

We love to travel. We love to travel and get in touch with the real way of life. But, are we going to be able to share this with the next generations? The problem of conserving and protecting nature has been existent for ages - from a tiny cigarette butt to a humongous forgotten item. Luckily, we have LNT (Leave No Trace) and its different principles to help us in maintaining Mother Earth.

Not all of us know LNT; you might be hearing it for the first time or you’re not aware that you’re already practicing it. Within ourselves (Me and Jo), we already have an idea of what LNT is but not to the extent of being able to teach it effectively. Luckily, we were able to attend a workshop highlighting LNT just a week ago and it was a blessing to be able to learn new insights and practices for the outdoors. We shared ideas from people that have the same passion as #OneSongChallenge.

LNT or Leave No Trace provides us guidance through its seven principles namely; (1) Plan ahead and prepare, (2) Travel and camp on durable surfaces, (3) Dispose waste properly, (4) Leave what you find, (5) Minimize campfire impacts, (6) Respect wildlife and (7) Be considerate of other visitors. By properly following all of these principles we minimize the negative impacts that can be done by us humans to our earth. We also help in making the places we go to available to the next generations.

In this entry we’ll quickly brush over the key points of each principle in LNT. Also providing examples and specific benefits for the outdoors.

First principle is Plan ahead and Prepare. We do think that this principle is the most important in making sure that the other principles work effectively. Planning and preparing for the trip gives us effectiveness in the outdoors. Some tips for this would be: Prepare for different weather situations in order to prevent unnecessary use of campfire in densely vegetated areas, consider traveling in smaller groups to be efficient, and repack food and supplies into reusable containers to minimize the waste the group brings.

Travel and Camp on durable surfaces. You might think that this principle is simple but it’s more than what you read. When travelling to a place, research first if there would be designated campsites and established trails. Use of designated campsites and established trails will reduce negative impacts by not disturbing natural vegetation’s growth. But if the place does not have what was mentioned earlier, try to scatter the group in order to negate the impact in a concentrated area. By doing so we help preservation of the place.

Dispose waste properly, a principle that is very straight forward. If you’re travelling, the trash you bring in will be the trash you bring home. If the place has a facility that disposes the trash properly you can take advantage of it. Natural bodily waste should also be disposed by properly by digging a hole, covering it with soil and dry grass and marking it with a small stick. Anything not part of the place should be brought home. This helps in the maintenance of the place.

The principle Leave what you find guides us not to tamper or make changes in the natural elements of the places. We should share what we experience to the next generation by ensuring that the places we go to remain the same over time. We must not take anything from nature because if we took a small part of it overtime, it will be gone. So leave it to your memories and experience to keep.

Minimizing campfire impacts works with the second principle well. By avoiding the use of campfire, we preserve the natural beauty of a place and keep vegetation intact. In the coastal areas, avoidance of campfire should be observed because campfire destroys the fine sands of our beaches.

Animals are important in the outdoor world. The principle Respect Wildlife gives us some teaches that we must not harm them or alter their natural way of life. As travelers our advice is to just observe and watch them over a distance. Just like us, we humans have to respect each other’s space. Feeding them also robs our animals of their natural way of hunting. It makes them dependent on what we give them and it endangers the health of the animals. A good example would be our whale sharks in Oslob, Cebu - The fishermen provide food to attract whale sharks for the tourist and over time the whale sharks are now conditioned to wait for the food and not to find on their own. We must preserve the natural behavior of animals to help them maintain their health. By doing this, we make sure that the natural flow of life for our animals remain the same.

Last and definitely not the least of our principles is Be considerate of other visitors. We should respect others and be sensitive. Others may want to relax, to wander and to be one with nature. Let them be engulfed by the beauty and elegance of nature itself.

After learning all of the principles in the workshop, we were amazed by how big humans affect nature – both positively and negatively. Now, we are ready to make more of positive marks in nature.

This has been a lengthy one and I’ll be closing this for you with an invitation to our passion and advocacy. We challenge you to our #OneSongChallenge and start a sea of change. Grab a bag. Play a song. Pick up as much trash!

See you around!

~Nikko

For more information about LNT: https://lnt.org

[onesongchallengetheworld]

Starting a Sea of Change

It’s been a few months since we’ve started with the #OneSongChallenge. We’ve been able to share it with friends, discuss on how we can extend our initiative, and discover different mediums on how to do it.

Personally, it’s a battle between my natural introversion and the drive to reach out and share to people our love for the ocean! (Haha!)

So in the middle of this struggle, one fine afternoon, I googled “beach cleanup” - Lo and Behold! The first search result was “International Coastal Cleanup Philippines”.

I can’t even begin to describe how I felt about this discovery.

Overjoyed. Overwhelmed. Surprised. Excited.

Not only was it within reach (since they’re based in Subic, Zambales), it was also a very active organization with its projects!

I quickly browsed over the website and here are the facts about ICC:

The International Coastal Cleanup is the largest volunteer movement that focuses on ocean conservation through cleanups. It was founded by Ocean Conservancy in Washington, DC in 1986 by helping create ocean policy at the federal and state government levels based on peer reviewed science.

In the Philippines, International Marinelife Alliance (IMA) headed the official joining ICC in 1994. Fast forward to 2006, ICC Philippines was born and assumed coordination of the movement nationwide; This was done with the supervision of then Vice President of IMA, Commodore Gerry Reyes who was also then a captain of PCGA.

Since then, ICC Philippines joins the the global coastal cleanup every 3rd Saturday of September.

DEFINITELY, I CANNOT MISS THIS EVENT!

I instantly signed up myself and Nikko in the event! And then I told him afterwards. Haha!

Ever since we started, we’ve been looking for people who share the same passion as we do. We’ve met people who are wanderlusts, we know lots of them, we started as wanderlusts but this has been the first time that we’re meeting a group who are passionate about the same thing as we are.

It fills my heart with joy (not to get poetic there, but seriously) that we’d get to join this project. As we’ve told you, we’ve been around for only a few months and cleaning up through the #OneSongChallenge whenever we can. This time, we get to do with this group! Imagine how many volunteers will come to this event and create a sea of change, even just on that day. Wow!

I immediately scanned through and looked for the joining form. I was already typing my name while I was calling Nikko. I was just that excited. I told him about ICC and that I was currently typing his name so we could join the cleanup happening soon. And yep, we were both ecstatic! 

I can’t even begin to describe how I feel. I can’t find the right words, but it just feels like the first bite of moist chocolate cake. Heaven! haha!

So, hopefully you got to the end of this post. (don’t worry this is my last paragraph ;) ) And I would just like to invite you and hopefully, you can join us --- the ICC Clean up will be held on 17 September 2016. You can register online (through the ICC homepage, link below) or you can join our group! Get in touch with us! Send us a PM! Come on and join this once a year global challenge!

Hope to see you there!  

We have actually attended an ICC event recently, a teaser of the event to come on September but that’s another story. *wink*

Read more about ICC and the movement on their homepage --- http://www.icc.ph/

[vvhwanders-deactivated20241019]

🤓🤓🤓 Learning new things for more adventures, for more challenges! (at Lighthouse Hotel, Subic Bay, Phils)

[onesongchallengetheworld]

[onesongchallengetheworld]