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TULLAHAN RIVER / 31 MARCH 2019 | This was the smallest batch from 3 large trash loads we hauled in. Last Sunday, 16,309 citizens, volunteers and government workers from 181 barangays came together for the #BattleForEsteros! Together with @PlanetCORA, @DENR_agos, @DENRofficial and all our planeteers, we managed to fill up over 4,950 sacks, weighing over 79,000 kgs - all of which consisted mostly of single-use plastics. Before we began our humble journey as volunteers of the non-profit organization @WeAreCORA, we had no idea just how much we did not know. Although we had never considered ourselves to be experts or scientists, we were everyday citizens with a burning desire to make a difference. Even if we had no idea where or how to begin, we believed that the issue of garbage and littering was a mission that any person could be a part of to easily create a positive impact for the world. It was simple: if every single human being on the planet stopped littering, there would be nothing to clean-up, or so we thought. We had opened Pandora’s Box. Before we knew it, our coastal clean-up adventures had led to an endless path of horrific discoveries about the true effects of plastic pollution on people and the planet. How in the world did we live our lives not knowing what we were doing to our environment on a daily basis? If we knew that it was wrong, we wouldn’t have started doing it in the first place. In this day and age, ignorance towards the truth can no longer be an excuse for inaction when social media and the news are bombarded with campaigns about various global issues on a daily basis. Plastic is not just a plastic problem, it is a people problem that does not simply stem from a lack of discipline and littering. Plastic is an issue that urgently needs policy and power to ultimately change its path of destruction. It is not our favor to the world to care, it is our duty and our very purpose for existence. #BeatPlasticPollution #CleanSeas #SaveManilaBay #MANILABAYanihan #CleanSeasPilipinas #BattleForManilaBay _________________ 🌏@PlanetCORA ❤️@WeAreCORA 🌱 @TheSustainablePlanet VOLUNTEER WITH US: bit.ly/CORAvolunteers (LINK IN BIO) _________________

A post shared by Antoinette Taus (@antoinettetaus) on Apr 4, 2019 at 10:08pm PDT

Actress Antoinette Taus isn't afraid to get her hands dirty when it comes to caring for the environment - a cause that has been close to her heart ever since she started to volunteer for CORA, "a non-profit organization dedicated to creating sustainable programs to help solve global issues centered on hunger, poverty, inequality, climate change and the mission to [beat plastic pollution]".

Last March 31, the 38-year-old star joined thousands of government workers and volunteers for the cleanup of Tullahan River, a clogged waterway that flows into Manila Bay, as part of the #BattleForEsteros initiative of CORA, in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Via Instagram almost a week later, Antoinette shared her fulfilling experience as a determined environmental advocate, as well as her major takeaways from the coastal cleanup.

She wrote, "Before we began our humble journey as volunteers of the non-profit organization @WeAreCORA, we had no idea just how much we did not know. Although we had never considered ourselves to be experts or scientists, we were everyday citizens with a burning desire to make a difference. Even if we had no idea where or how to begin, we believed that the issue of garbage and littering was a mission that any person could be a part of to easily create a positive impact for the world. It was simple: if every single human being on the planet stopped littering, there would be nothing to clean-up, or so we thought.

"We had opened Pandora’s Box. Before we knew it, our coastal clean-up adventures had led to an endless path of horrific discoveries about the true effects of plastic pollution on people and the planet. How in the world did we live our lives not knowing what we were doing to our environment on a daily basis? If we knew that it was wrong, we wouldn’t have started doing it in the first place. In this day and age, ignorance towards the truth can no longer be an excuse for inaction when social media and the news are bombarded with campaigns about various global issues on a daily basis.

"Plastic is not just a plastic problem, it is a people problem that does not simply stem from a lack of discipline and littering. Plastic is an issue that urgently needs policy and power to ultimately change its path of destruction.

"It is not our favor to the world to care, it is our duty and our very purpose for existence."