Some stories about climate change tell of impending doom or the coming apocalypse caused by destructive human activity or extreme weather disturbances. Others are inspiring stories of hope and collective or individual action, as communities face the effects of climate change and rethink the way they interact with the environment.
For the past 10 months, the Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University and Internews’ Earth Journalism Network have been working with journalists and environment advocates on stories under the project “Collab on Climate Change.”
The project aimed to bring journalists and non-government organizations together to foster collaboration and linkages among media and civil society for better climate change reporting. We have now begun to harvest the fruits of this collaboration, which come in the form of seven in-depth reports in multimedia formats.
ACFJ and EJN will be presenting these stories in an event we call “A Festival of Climate Resilience Stories,” not meant to deny the severity of the impact of climate change, but to highlight the seeds of hope present in each of the stories.
Through these stories, we saw how indigenous peoples and agricultural communities have taken environment-friendly action to secure for themselves basic services that are often denied communities in the margins.
We learned about efforts to reduce hospital waste that is contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, more so in a time of pandemic.
The perennial problem of floods drew attention to how coastal communities and local governments are coping with rising seas and the vital role played by forest rangers in protecting endangered watersheds.
And then there is the story of coal mining continuing unabated in Antique, which is home to vigilant environment groups.
Our participants are reporters and contributors from news organizations big and small: the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the Philippine Star, Daily Tribune, Bulatlat, Grid Magazine, and Pumapodcast. They worked with the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, 350.org, Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, Save Antique Movement, Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines, and Health Care Without Harm.
And so we invite you to our festival, which celebrates the completion of this project, the stories produced and bonds formed, signaling more and better climate change stories in the future.
