Of bikini-clad conservationists and climate change

There they were, a bunch of 14- to 18-year-old kids protesting outside a capitol building in Negros Occidental to oppose a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant, says Joshua Villalobos, now 20, of the Youth for Climate Hope.

And then there’s an eye doctor, sometimes clad in her different bikinis – Dr. Frances Yap – who keeps local communities informed on a damaging reclama-tion project in Dumaguete.

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte also has a story to tell. She shared the city’s gender-responsive climate initiatives, which included an urban agriculture program that generated green livelihoods for more than 13,000 women while Makati Mayor Abby Binay affirmed the crucial role of women as environmental advocates “that lead the charge to protect our planet.”

These and more are real stories and not some propaganda or some small and fleeting passion projects which we could all learn from.

I heard these real life experiences of Filipino explorers and conservationists at the “Explorer Encounters: Movements, Creating Tomorrow,” a recent event organized by The Masungi Georeserve Foundation.

The different individuals shared their different stories on how they are addressing this thing called climate emergency.

Supported by the government of Canada through the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, the event gathered these explorers and conservationists to share their transformational ideas and to connect with inspiring people. The indefatigable Colin Townson, head of political affairs of the embassy of Canada in the Philippines, represented the embassy that night.

It was an honor to be there in that room and hear the experiences of individuals who are charting the path for tomorrow.

The energy in the room was almost tangible. You feel it in the air – the passion and determination and the strong sense of community to help address one of the biggest problems in our lifetime today – climate change.

Call to action

To a jam-packed crowd at Kondwi in Poblacion, five presenters shared their inspiring campaigns.
“From a bunch of 14- to 18-year-olds protesting outside the capitol, we are now here working with  adults and experts to stir the energy scenario of an island with five million residents to the right direction,” said the young Joshua Villalobos.

Josefa Cariño Tauli, a member of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network steering committee and an Ibaloi-Kankanaey Igorot indigenous youth, emphasized the protection of indigenous tribes as a key element in protecting environmental spaces.

She talked about the importance of including indigenous communities in dialogues in forming ways to strengthen sustainable biodiversity.

“In all our actions, we must welcome diverse voices and diverse visions because only then can we stop business as usual and learn from the voices of youth, from indigenous peoples, local communities, of women, of PWDs, to enrich the actions that we do on the ground no matter what field we are in,” she said.

But it was Dumaguete’s Dr. Frances Yap of Oceans 6 who brought the house down with her stories on how she and her group embarked on creative cam-paigns against the said reclamation project in Dumaguete – including wearing a bikini!
In the mornings, before her daily swim, she would post her bikini-clad photos to accompany her rally announcements – anything to raise awareness on the issue.
It wasn’t really to flaunt her bodacious body but to really show the community how reclamation projects can harm the ocean.

Yap and five other women formed Ocean 6 and accomplished the tremendous feat of swimming six kilometers across Tañon Strait to raise awareness on ocean protection.

Ann Dumaliang, managing trustee of the Masungi Georeserve Foundation, for her part, captured the night’s message.

“Our call to action is simple. We ask you to stay vigilant and to stand by us. Big challenges like this give us the opportunity to make monumental changes for our country. So for this we must be grateful and not bitter. We have to be more determined than ever and not hopeless.”

These stories and actions aren’t enough to address climate change of course but for sure, these are major steps toward a better tomorrow.
We should also write our own similar stories – big or small – of how we can help address this climate emergency that is happening all around us.

The story of Masungi

May we find inspiration in the story of Masungi itself, a piece of paradise somewhere in the Sierra Madre mountain range. It is a conservation area and rustic limestone landscape tucked in the rainforests of Rizal.

Here, wildlife and plant species abound and the air is still fresh and crisp. It’s a community rich with heritage and life but threatened by modern-day devel-opments.

The group behind it is the Masungi Georeserve Foundation, a non-profit organization which is doing what it can to fight threats against the area – from land grabbing to quarrying to urban development.

They need all the support that we can give. Kudos to Metro Manila mayors Joy Belmonte (Quezon City), Marcelino Teodoro (Marikina), Vico Sotto (Pasig) and Jaime

Fresnedi (Muntinlupa) who are supporting Masungi by calling for the cancellation of quarrying agreements within the Upper Marikina Watershed and the Masungi Georeserve.

There’s really so much work to do with so little time as we deal with the climate emergency that is happening all around us today.

It is not enough to listen to stories but as I said, we must write our own too and do our part in creating a better tomorrow for us, our children and our children’s children.

As Joshua of the Youth for Climate Hope said, the best time for significant climate action was 20 years ago.
“And the second best time is now.”

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Email: e[email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.