APRIL is Earth Day Month.

As Christian nations conclude their solemn observance of Holy Week, I again underscore the enduring call of my late husband, former senator and environment secretary Heherson T. Alvarez, for a profound act of 'environmental penitence.' He had championed the “Fast for Mother Earth,” a plea for personal sacrifice through the reduction of individual carbon footprints to mitigate the catastrophic impacts of climate change. Today, those impacts are no longer theoretical; they are visible in our deforested landscapes, our dying river systems, and our oceans choked by plastic gyres and oil spills. Serendipitously, our Muslim brethren offer a parallel path of discipline through their practice of abstinence in Ramadan.