Beach trips, swimming parties, and out-of-town sprees are typical summer essentials. But there’s bound to be a lull in your vacation, leaving you with absolutely nothing to do. Well, make this season of sun even better by bonding with your barkada while building houses for the needy.

Make your summer vacation worthwhile and help build houses for those who lost their homes after typhoons, floods, and mudslides ravaged their provinces. They, too, are getting more than their fair share of sun and heat — in stifling, overcrowded evacuation camps where they are seeking shelter while awaiting new homes.

Habitat for Humanity Philippines embarks on a Summer Build, an activity that will help raise funds for homeless, affected by calamities, and help cut costs on house-building. Get your barkada to join the blitz build and challenge each other on who can make the best concrete interlocking blocks, tie, and fabricate the most rebars, and lay the neatest bricks. Not only do you get to spend time with your BFFs, you also get to meet new friends who care about change the way you do.

Habitat Youth Ambassador Alex Eduque gives enough reasons why you should get on the house-building wagon:

•Be a volunteer. Volunteerism is fun because you see the immediate results of your efforts. “I’ve found my passion in service, and it’s what fuels me despite the grueling heat and laborious construction tasks,” Alex shares.

•Don’t be afraid to try new things. Volunteering is not for everyone — people have different passions and different outlets to relieve stress. “I’ve found my personal outlet to be volunteerism. However, I do encourage everyone to try volunteering at least once because it really is an experience that opens your eyes to reality. It made me realize how everyone in this world should be granted equal chances and opportunities to live a comfortable life, and thus, as the ones who come from a more privileged background, it is our duty as global citizens to make sure we contribute our share in giving them the chance to achieve this,” explains Alex.

•Have fun while helping others. Volunteerism can be as exciting as any other summer activity because the most effective kind of volunteerism is when there is teamwork. It can be an alternative venue to get a tan, and to bond with friends and family. The best part is, not only are you able to burn calories and bond with friends in the process, you are also able to help others live a better life. You are given a chance to meet people and families you would not ordinarily meet and interact with, and that’s what makes the whole process worthwhile.

For more information, visit www.habitat.org.ph.

The Tip. It’s such a small word, but this open -ended call on our generousity can cause nuch perplexity when eating abroad. So in which countries should you tip? and how much?

• The United State is a nation apart, with its catering trade running on tips. In a bar, you’ll have a miserable evening unless you slip the bar-tender a few dollars with every round. On meal bills, you’re expected to tip a minimum of 15 per cent, though 20 per cent is not uncommon.

• In Italy, don’t give more than about ten per cent to waiter. In Spain just  round up to the nearest euro. Similarly, in Greece you might round 38.5 euros up to 40, but there’s no standard percentage. Hungarians consider it unsafe to leave money on the table. Instead, quietly tell the waiter how much you want to give, and this will be added to your bill.

• France is different altogether. A service charge is automatically included in the restaurant bill, so tipping is discretionary.

• The Japanese have got the around the problem by not tipping at all. Likewise, there’s no obligation in Austratlia or New Zealand. It’s just a reward for service.

Tips to save mother earth:

1. 

   Implement the 3Rs: Re-use, Reduce and Recycle -

   1. Use environment-friendly items.
   2. It must start in our homes. Learn to segregate your waste and start composting our biodegradable trash.
   3. Recycle and sell or give away old newspapers, cans, bottles properly.
   4. Buy products in their largest size
   5. Reduce use of disposable packaging and plastic bags
   6. Avoid products that have CFC.

2. Conserve energy -
   

   1. Use electricity and water judiciously.
   2. Replace incandescent bulbs with Fluorescent bulbs
   3. Plan your trips; multitask
   4. Keep burners and air conditioner filters clean
   5. Dry your laundry outside
   6. Turn your cell phones off whenever possible. It would reduce carbon fumes from the fossil fuel requirements of your power consumptions

3. Utilize Technology-

   1. Pay bills online
   2. Like in the Philippines in which surrounded by water, Filipinos must invest in desalination plants for the coming droughts.

4. Plant more trees -
   

   1. 

      We should plant more trees! Apart from being the source of medicine, trees prevent soil erosion and landslides. They also help protect our underground water reserves.

   2. Plant assorted plants, like ornamentals and other varieties. It cushions the blow of the summer heat. It also invites birds.
   3. Let’s not cut down trees.
   4. It can reduce cooling cost; Rural Folk should replace trees they felled from firewood.

5. Information Dissemination -
   

   1. Educate the perennial garbage throwers in our waterways will certainly rejuvenate our environment.
   2. Awareness of earth destruction will move us to restrategize our local and universal concerns on environmental crisis.
   3. Speak up! Support actions on Green living.
   4. Raise funds for Mother Earth
   5. Join or volunteer for the events on Earth Hour.

6. Go Vegetarian-

   1. Go Vegetarian, save the earth, save yourself.
   2. Eating meat produces more carbon footprints. And look at the bodies of vegetarians WOW!

7. Control the population growth -
   

   1. We should stop at two kids, Imagine seven billion people exhaling 10 grams of carbon dioxide each into the air. That’s 70 million kilos of carbon dioxide.

8. Be responsible motorists-

   1. The destruction consequences of global warming were already illustrated by Al Gore, Let’s Stops using our smoke-belching cars.
   2. Ride a bike once a week when going to the office. It will save you at least 250 liters of gas in a year. That’s 250 liters less of gas population.
   3. We should maintain the proper emission levels of our motor vehicles.
   4. Have our cars checked and tuned-up at least twice a year.
   5. Use unleaded gasoline.

1. 

   Let’s discipline ourselves-

   1. We should have self-discipline. We should also be responsible, beginning with our own garbage. Impede others from throwing their garbage just anywhere.

2. Go Back to Basics -
   

   1. To help arrest Global warming: live in a simple lifestyle like the Amish of Pennsylvania
   2. Reduce the use of the earth-s resources to a sustainable level. This means returning to a level of development equal to what it was in 1898. Are we welling to do this?