Lasallian Institute for the Environment

What is LIFE?

The Lasallian Institute for the Environment (LIFE) is a major component of the Philippine Lasallian Family’s mission to bring responsive and liberating education to the Filipino youth based on the charism of Saint John Baptist de la Salle. LIFE was born as a result of the Lasallian Synod Mission Action Plan (MAP) #7, “Stewardship of God’s Creation”.

About LIFE

LIFE is supervised by the La Salle Provincialate, Central House of the De La Salle Brothers in the Philippines. The Institute works with the various environmental programs of the different La Salle schools and their affiliates to provide technical assistance and draw on available experience and expertise from the Lasallian family, as needed.

LIFE is composed of Executive Director Mr. Bienvenido Eusebio, a La Salle alumnus, is currently the Executive Director. Together with Mr. Eusebio are Warrenowee Dollente (Project Development and Management Officer), Danilo Mercado III (Data Management Officer, and Lynnette Alge (Office Manager). (Tito Ben, supply the names and positions of your angels, pls). These people work together, and by association, to fulfill DLSP’s role of being stewards of God’s creation. (maybe we can come up with a chart illustrating the hierarchy of the institution, or something to this effect).

Mission Statement

We, the Lasallian Institute For the Environment (LIFE), fulfilling our roles as stewards of God’s creation, aim to

educate children, teachers, Lasallians and others in Natural Resources Management (NRM). We aim to help them not only to love and appreciate the environment, but also to understand and take care of it as well. LIFE strives to provide education with values formation.

Vision

LIFE envisions a society of people who not only love their environment, but understand and respect it as well. We see Lasallians and others actively learning about what the environment is, its importance, and how it affects our lives. We see the communities participating in data and information collection and sharing their knowledge and learning with other people. They do this not only inside the classroom but outside the real world as well.

Objectives

In fulfilling the De La Salle Philippines’ role as stewards of God’s creation, LIFE aims to mobilize the Lasallian network of (44 schools, 100,000 students, 10,000 faculty, 180,000 plus alumni, parents and grandparents) in Natural Resources Management (NRM). It seeks to educate and to raise the awareness of people about the protection and preservation of the environment in a holistic and integrated way. Apart from safeguarding and conserving land resources, LIFE adds to its advocacy care for the air, water, and biodiversity. LIFE endeavors to provide education with values formation.

Approach

In pursuing Environmental Education, LIFE utilizes both formal and experiential learning approaches with the goal of instilling values that lead to changes in behavior to various members of the Lasallian family and its partner communities. LIFE believes that it is through education that people may respond more concretely to the call of being better stewards of God’s creation.

Formal education involves actual learning modules and integration of environmental concepts into the Lasallian curriculum through LIFE’s involvement with the Federation of Lasallian Institutions (FLI).

LIFE’s innovative experiential learning component goes beyond the classroom to address the environmental education needs of various Lasallian schools and communities. The success of all the planned programs/projects of LIFE lies in the empowerment of its partner communities and other stakeholders.

One Tree is Worth...

1. Clean the air – 100 trees can convert 5 tons of carbon dioxide into oxygen per year. They remove 1,000 pounds of ground level ozone, particulates and toxic pollutants like sulfur dioxide and formaldehyde from the air.

2. Manage stormwater – 100 trees can intercept up to 250,000 gallons of rainwater per year, reducing runoff into creeks and sewage treatment systems. It would cost $220 million to $1 billion to build stormwater treatment facilities that accomplish the job that Seattle’s trees do naturally.

3. Improve health – the sight of trees can cure. Studies show patients with views of trees recover 10 percent faster and require less medication than patients with views of brick walls.

4. Help the local economy – money doesn’t grow on trees, but trees help make money. Large trees boost commercial and residential property values by up to 10 percent. People shop longer and more often in stores on tree-lined streets, and will pay up to 12 percent more for their purchases.

*Data collected by American Forests from the USDA, University of Washington.