So many Filipinos dream of technicolor glory. Growing up in an average family in Bicol, outside Manila, Chin Chin Gutierrez had those dreams, too. She has made her fantasy a reality by appearing in movies and starring in one of the country's most popular soap operas, Habang Kapiling Ka (While We're Together). Now, at 29, Gutierrez is using her fame to spread a message often ignored in the Philippines: there are natural resources aside from beauty and talent. Her Mother Earth Foundation organizes workshops, tree plantings and litter cleanups to try to save the country's forests, beaches and waters. Gutierrez's particular passion is Mount Banahaw, an extinct volcano 100 kilometers south of Manila that is believed to be mystically endowed—but a site frequently desecrated by garbage-strewing visitors. "I used to believe that the earth could replenish and heal itself," Gutierrez says. Now she knows the opposite: the environment needs our help to preserve its future. "There's a proverb: 'The earth is not given to you by your parents. It is loaned to you by your children.'"

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