Building a community of climate ambassadors during a crisis
THE realities of climate change are undeniable. In observance of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on October 13, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Gutteres said that if we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences for people and all the natural systems that sustain us.
In continuing the interview following last week’s sharing, I sat down with a new climate warrior who was one of my mentees during the Climate Reality Leadership Corps’ Global Training in July 2020: Janbern Lope Barel, a corporate social responsibility officer of First Gen.
“My consciousness and drive to contribute to safeguarding the environment and the climate was rooted during college days when I was engaged in a couple of extension work like on a project for the MarilaoMeycauayan-Obando River System where we conducted several youth eco-camps for high school students and freshmen of the university. Looking back to one particular person that left a mark on me was Ms. Elisea ‘Bebet’ Gozun, a former secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and presidential adviser on climate change. In one of her keynote messages with business leaders and change-makers, she concluded her speech by grabbing a glass of water and saying, ‘water is life and we should care of what sustains our lives,’ then went on commanding everyone to finish the water on their glasses, to which everyone did – even the CEOs (chief executive officers) present in the room. After which I went to work further as a development worker on the environment, was able to meet a few climate reality leaders trained by Al Gore in 2016, and it dawned on me to be one of them where I can learn more and do more for the climate and the environment.”
On his two takeaways of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps’ Global Training
“The global training was a great platform to sustain the movement on climate education – that no pandemic should stop us from taking a step closer to making a difference for our tomorrow. Thus it leads me to take part in creating that change – ‘climate action in the digital age and planetary health’ is not different from our health.
“With the fast-moving and widereaching sharing over the internet, it poses a great opportunity and also a challenge to create a substantial noise that would spark that action towards our climate. Thus learning about how to take the fight in the digital space, I will be able to apply it in my current profession, to continue the momentum of our efforts to decarbonize our future. Through this, we don’t just run our effort in one go, but it creates that ripple – building a community of change-makers.
“Second, one that made me nod greatly was the particular talk on planetary health. There was a discussion on social determinants of health, with a particular statement, that ‘why send back people to environments that will make them sick again’ – that simply gave me chills, completely agreeing that people will continue to suffer from recurring conditions of our climate and the environment. We need to be an agent of change, do away with destructive and sickening ways that will keep that cycles of sickness and poverty, which were primarily caused by our inaction, unconscious and irresponsible choices.”
Three environmental actions that he plans to adopt to start living a sustainable lifestyle
“Learning a lot from the global training and my experiences throughout my career led me to my advocacies — ‘actions to adopt a sustainable life,’ which include responsible water consumption, reduction of plastics, and wise energy usage.
“As a development worker in a company that advocates for renewable and cleaner sources of energy, turning off lights to campaigning for switching to cleaner alternatives and no coal is the whole ABC for me.
“Second, responsible water consumption is the need to manage our water demand. Water covers 75 percent of the earth but in reality, freshwater is a scarce resource. People may say it should not cause an alarm for someone like me living half of my year with rainy days, but the truth to the matter is that how much of these rains even fall to our dams and water reservoirs for it to replenish what we need to consume.
“The third is on reducing the usage of plastics. We might be unconscious of our weekly purchase or occasional ones of double-digit calendar date sales because of the ease of doing it through the booming e-commerce but we should also consider if our environment can catch up. Most purchases are overly plastic-packed including those from groceries. Thus the next time we buy our favorite mocha-flavored biscuit sandwich, why don’t we go for the bigger tub, and do away with individually plastic-packed serving. I am not saying that I can fully live a life without plastic but little-by-little a lifestyle change should start to benefit our only planet.”
On his inspiration to embracing environmental and climate advocacies and eventually motivated him to aspire to become a Climate Reality leader
On his plan to align climate advocacy with his current work
“The opportunity of learning much on what we can differently do gave me ammunition to do more for our environment and the climate. Thus, from my experience with Climate Reality, it inspires me to learn more through different like the Project Drawdown that will teach us ways to act that will ultimately lead to unified climate action.
“I am fortunate enough that my company is a staunch leader in decarbonizing our economy and creating a regenerative future. Together with my team performing our social responsibility, we will continue to deliver company-wide climate education, building a community of climate ambassadors. Once the pandemic is over, together with the community, transferring our knowledge to different local communities and schools hopefully builds a nation of climate leaders.”
It is truly admirable when young people step up and join in the cause to advance the national discourse on climate change – the time to translate our words into doable actions. In a time when the multiple calls for the declaration of a climate emergency remain unanswered, we have to keep in our minds that loss of lives is not just statistical data. They are real people that we should care about. We should continue to carry the torch and be the voice of the multitudes who cannot fight for themselves. The author is the executive director of the Young Environmental Forum and a nonresident fellow of the St rat base his climate change and development Anglia( United Kingdom) and an executive program on sustainability leadership at Yale University( USA ). You can reach him at ludwig. fe de rig an@