Climate Action (Climate Change)

- Some people who dump their trashes, including discarded beverage and food containers, snack
packs, plastic bags, cigarette butts and improvised materials for sitting, picnicking and sleeping,
at the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto had also set their garbage heaps on fire. This exacerbates the
environmental mess by introducing dangerous air contaminants such as particulate matter,
which causes air pollution. Trash fires pollute the air with the harmful chemicals released
through the smoke and ash.

In addition, the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto always has many visitors, especially during Holy
Week, they gather to pray, and offer candles and flowers. Since there are many visitors who
come to Grotto Shrine, especially on Sundays and during Holy Week, the vehicles they use for
transportation may cause air pollution.

Wiedinmyer, Yokelson, & Gullet (2014) found that unregulated trash burning around the globe is
pumping far more pollution into the atmosphere than shown by official records. A new study led
by the National Center for Atmospheric Research estimates that more than 40 percent of the
world’s garbage is burned in such fires, emitting gases and particles that can substantially affect
human health and climate change. Open burning of trash, as seen in the picture provided in Our
Lady of Lourdes Grotto in SJDM, Bulacan, has significant effects on air quality.

https://news.ucar.edu/12239/trash-burning-worldwide-significantly-worsens-air-pollution