Toyota Phl's commitment: A million trees for carbon sinks

One Saturday early this month, I jumped out of bed and prepared for a five-hour road trip to Quezon province.

- By IRIS GONZALES

Volunteers plant mangrove seedlings in Unisan, Quezon.

It was my day off, but I knew that my time would be well spent that weekend because I would be participating in a meaningful activity meant to help the environment Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP)'s mangrove planting activity at a National Greening Program (NGP) site in Unisan, Quezon.

The initiative marks a significant step in the company's commitment to plant one million trees by 2030 under the All Toyota Green Wave Project.

I arrived at the site a little after lunch, and soon enough, we were ready to start the tree-planting activity.

I joined a network of volunteers, and after changing into rubber boots and preparing our gear and equipment, we were ready.

TMP president Masando Hashimoto spearheaded the volunteer group, which included TMP team members, TMP Foundation officers, Toyota Lucena City, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) representatives, local government officials and members of people's organizations.

"To mark 10 years of this project, I am proud to announce TMP's commitment to plant one million trees by 2030," said Hashimoto in his speech. "The 13,000 mangrove seedlings we are planting today are part of this goal, in addition to those we have already planted in other parts of Calabarzon. Our work here in Quezon marks our last stop in this region, but our one-million-tree challenge continues."

Inspired and excited, our group of volunteers walked toward the mangrove area, a few meters away from where we had converged upon arrival.