So there’s this gap…
I’m a climate storyteller whose told stories from a bunch of different countries. But up until this year, that hadn’t included the Philippines. A country where my ancestry is from that I’d been to a dozen or so times. I guess all those visits were a bit before my climate consciousness and storytelling work had really taken off.
But I wanted to fill in that gap. So many of my peers had told me incredible things about the Philippines’ ecology: from the incredible and unlikely rapid respawning of its baby coral to all the biodiversity found within its forests. Understanding traditional Filipino relationships with nature offers a whole other dimension as well.
It’s an incredible story, but also not a unilaterally happy one. Unfortunately the Philippines leads the world in the number of environmental activists killed every year. Climate hasn’t exactly been a top priority of recent administrations, and it is among the most climate vulnerable countries in the world.
My most recent visit featured time under water, time spent with farmers, and a hike up one of Visayas’ highest peaks. And I know I still have a TON to learn about all the storylines’ present in this country’s ecology, I’m happy to keep doing that catching up.
