Ms PH Earth Dumaguete: Kimberly Covert

NAME: Kimberly Cañega Covert 

MUNICIPALITY OR CITY: Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental

AGE: 19 

How she describes her childhood: I am a Filipina-American, born and raised in the Philippines by my father and my stepmother. We traveled a lot looking for a place to settle down until we found Dumaguete. My parents were strict and I was more of a school, home, and church girl. I never met my birth mother and I was told different stories about her, sometimes they weren’t so nice. She was kept a secret from me until just a couple of years ago.

Although my stepmother took care of me, I still searched for a mother’s love. I posted the only picture I had of her on the Internet and I did find her through her family but I was too late. She passed away just two years from the time I found her. Although I never got to meet her, at least I cleared up all the stories about her. I know in my heart that she loved me and she tried to look for me. Everything I’ve been through, all the lessons and values I have been taught, have made me the person I am today.

Environmental advocacy: My environmental advocacy focuses on saving the environment through proper waste segregation. We should be able to separate the biodegradable from the non-biodegradable so we can reuse and recycle. We need to have sanitary landfills to maintain the flow of garbage and prevent pollution. This way we can protect and preserve our environment.

Where I live and in many places in the Philippines, we are suffering from garbage disposal crisis. Our garbage gets jammed in unsanitary dumpsites that are wide open to homes, waterways, and schools in its area. We cannot control the piles of garbage in this case. What will happen to the waste in 20 to 30 years from now? – Rappler.com