Weathering climate change

Looking back at carefree childhood days and reliving the experiences that helped shaped us as humans can be a reinvigorating habit. One story, perhaps an urban legend in Mandaue City that our mother retold for a thousand times even until golden years dimmed her beautiful memories, is about Felipa Tapa’s frugal ways. In her kitchen hung the buwad or dried fish that she would just dip in boiling water. The soup with a few shreds of fish would be the family’s sustenance day in and out, until the buwad would be replaced by another one.
As kids, we could not imagine how it was possible to sustain such a lifestyle. But the message was unmistakable. It was my mother’s painstaking effort to impart to her children the cherished values that she and our Papa Nono wanted us to emulate. Live simply. Recycle. Nurture nature. Cut the frills and in today’s parlance, live sustainably, especially in this era of global climate crisis.
A working mother when it was still not the norm, she was the epitome of selflessness and strength and believed what Antoine de Saint-Exupéry echoed so beautifully, that “What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
March as Women’s Month is dedicated to her and countless women all over the world who share the privilege of inspiring children, whether theirs or not, and women, to be their own person and fiercely protect human rights and meet the trials of living in what is still perceived to be a man’s world.
The challenges have become bigger because of climate change and the dangers that we, especially women and children, are subjected to, as a result.
It is one of the reasons concerned women and men recently filed a suit to hold officials accountable for pushing for a highly destructive activity that will definitely aggravate the effects of climate change, aside from decimating valuable diverse sea grass, corals and mangroves ecosystems. The Philippines is among the highly vulnerable countries to disasters. Cebu is ranked eighth among the top 20 provinces most susceptible to landslides. Yet, despite this forlorn fact, and the empowering laws, the National Framework for Climate Change and the National Action Plan for Climate Change signed by the President and the Climate Change Commissioners, building the capacity of stakeholders to respond to climate change effectively is not prioritized by local authorities. It is still business as usual with implementation of projects that do not respond to the urgent needs of the time.
The stirring experience of 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai and the founder of the Green Belt Movement have encouraged people worldwide to take the sustainable future into their own hands. Maathai asserts that “It is their empowerment that truly leads them to decide to prioritize the environment, good governance, and cultures of peace.” She elucidates that “The women of the Green Belt Movement have learned about the causes and the symptoms of environmental degradation. They have begun to appreciate that they, rather than their government, ought to be the custodians of the environment.” (Maathai, 1994)
It is timely that the Philippine Commission for Women chose the theme for the 2012 Women’s Month Celebration, “Women Weathering Climate Change: Governance and Accountability, Everyone’s Responsibility.”
In all the catastrophes that we faced and will be facing, women and the children have to suffer for decisions that have excluded them from participation. The skills and management capacity of women to respond to challenges is universally recognized and must now be harnessed to the fullest. It is imperative that they are prepared to deal with contingencies and be climate resilient. Most importantly, the various laws for representation of women in the sanggunian, in development councils and special bodies should be strictly implemented.
PCW Chairperson Remedios Rikken has emphasized that this month’s celebration “seeks to generate commitment from local government units (LGUs) to institutionalize measures which help build gender-responsive resilient communities that are responsible, accountable, and prepared for any disaster.” (https://pcw.gov.ph)
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What is in your cosmetics? A timely lecture-forum jointly organized by the Office of Cebu City Councilor Nida Cabrera, University of Cebu–College of Law, Philippine Earth Justice Center and the EcoWaste Coalition around the theme of “Women, Cosmetics and Toxic Chemicals” will take place on March 16, 2012, Friday, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Sinulog Hall, Rizal Memorial Public Library, Osmeña Boulevard, Cebu City.
Coinciding with the celebration of Women’s Month and the global observance of World Consumer Rights Day on March 15, the seminar aims to:
a. Raise stakeholders’ awareness about major chemicals of concern in cosmetics and why we should be concerned about.
b. Discuss progress in the adoption of regulatory actions addressing these chemicals of particular concern to consumer health and the environment.
c. Share practical information tools and other relevant resources to regulators and other stakeholders.
Visiting American scientist Ann Blake who holds a doctorate in molecular genetics of neural development is the resource speaker. She is a member of the Green Ribbon Science Panel of California’s Environmental Protection Agency and scientific advisor of International POPs Elimination Network, a global civil society network aspiring for a toxic-free future of which the EcoWaste Coalition is a participating organization.
Dr. Blake has worked for 18 years in toxics reduction strategies that include creating criteria for environmentally preferable purchasing, ecolabels and product rating systems as well as local, national and international chemicals policy reform. She has specifically worked with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the over 800 signatories of the Compact for Global Production of Safe Health and Beauty Products to implement the Compact for Safe Cosmetics, including substitution plans to eliminate product ingredients known or suspected of causing cancer, mutation or birth defects.
Fighting for a sustainable and toxic-free planet can be one of the most challenging adventures in a lifetime, especially this side of the world where the Rule of Law is still in the process of being instilled in the hearts and minds of each child, woman and man.
But it is never too late to participate and make lives, and your own, meaningful. Mabuhay!