About the Photo

Pictures of our local farmers from La Union and Students in our Sustainable Market set up in Churchill, Quezon City. 

At the highest points of the pandemic, local farmers faced the worst effects of it all. As a farmer pointed out, “They are afraid to come out and be exposed at the market. The people are also anxious to buy from us. Therefore, there had been a surplus of crops and most of it was left to rot in the province due to failure in transporting it to Manila.” Farmers struggle to adapt and stay resilient because of social and economic constraints, leaving them to fend for themself and end up with little to no return in payment.

The Philippines is also no stranger to increasingly dangerous typhoons brought by the ever so relevant climate crisis. Typhoons cause significant damage to the farmers’ fields and even more so when multiple typhoons emerge consecutively. Farmers struggle to rebuild their fields, as strong winds and rain flatten their crops and destroy the land and infrastructure in farmers plant on.

Creating an Initiative

According to Greenpeace, more than 2 billion small farmers produce 70% of the food we eat, so small farmers play a pivotal role in our food system. So, our school has strived to empower the agricultural sector and give farmers a better platform. Because of what we have set out to do, the farmers with which we’ve collaborated have greatly benefited from this program. Furthermore, they’ve expressed their gratitude and told us that:

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A reframing of the whole system of education is needed to ensure that climate change, sustainability principles, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, poverty reduction, sustainable consumption, and other relevant issues are integrated across school curricula at all levels in all schools. Clearly, this has serious implications for the existing curriculum, pedagogical practices, and teaching strategies. We cannot overemphasize the crucial role education leaders play in this necessary transition.

UNESCO’s research on successful climate actions by schools around the world affirms the importance of school leadership in transforming teachers, students, and staff as climate-aware leaders themselves. According to their study, schools will most likely be successful in their climate action projects if they possess the following: (1) knowledgeable and committed school principal; (2) well-trained teachers; (3) access to external experts; (4) dedicated facilitators to manage the process and; (5) supporting materials and teaching resources. As can be gleaned from this study, key to the success of any school initiative on climate change is a committed education leader who has the influence to make all the other factors abovementioned materialize and work together.

Indeed, leaders of educational institutions have the influence to create a more ethical, sustainable, climate-resilient school community that promotes justice and sustainability for people and the planet.

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To counter the effects of climate change, revolutionary changes including a shift in lifestyles, thinking, and decision-making are required. Education is key in this cultural transformation that can only be achieved by instilling in our learners proper knowledge, attitudes, and values.

Ironically, students have been the ones leading the fight against the climate crisis. The global education community, headed by education officials and school and university leaders, has taken a more passive role amidst the call for climate action. The seeming shaky commitment “to advance wide-scale education efforts for, by, or with K-12 children and youth in school settings around the world” is said to be reflective of the global education community’s lack of a united vision for education in a climate-altered world. This despite research evidence showing that students do care about the environment, want their schools and universities to be taking actions on climate change and that they demand to learn sustainable development in the classrooms. The UK Students Climate Network, in fact, has been demanding its government to include in the school curricula the teaching of climate change specifically, “the urgency, severity and scientific basis of the climate crisis.”

This is not to say that there have been no climate change education initiatives forwarded by schools and universities. In fact, there have been a number of successful programs positively affecting school life and the personal lives of students, teachers, staff, and their families. A groundbreaking initiative was recently made by Italy and Mexico when they initiated compulsory climate change education in their respective countries to engage children and youth in the solutions to climate change. The governments believe that every country should make sustainability education an integral part of their national and international response to the climate crisis. Nevertheless, educators should recognize that these efforts have been too little, sparse, and have yet to trickle into the average classroom if we want to ensure that schools develop climate-ready citizens and responsible stewards of the environment for the present and future generations.

Climate change is an interactive and complex problem that if not addressed could undermine everything that educators and concerned citizens have worked for in education. Finding solutions to the climate crisis cannot be left alone to leaders of international organizations, the government, businesses, civil society, and the youth. The education sector should take the lead and actively push for the development and implementation of climate change education including climate adaptation and resilience programs in every school in every nation. The world is facing an emergency and this climate crisis needs ground-level collaboration that should involve all individuals and all organizations, including schools and universities around the globe.

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On September 20, 2019, we witnessed the largest climate protest in history with Greta Thunberg, the 2019 Time Person of the Year, and other youth leaders inspiring 4 million people to participate in the Global Climate Strike around the world. Millions of adults did heed the young people’s call to join them in the demonstrations. From trade union members to doctors, nurses and even workers in Amazon, Google, and Facebook, they walked out of their workplaces to join the climate protests. While known to be the most anxious generation, the Gen Z succeeded in creating a powerful worldwide movement that urgently demands governments and businesses to cut emissions and stabilize the climate.

More than 60 country leaders and 100 city mayors committed last year to ambitious environmental goals to reduce their emissions and achieve a net-zero emission by 2050. Likewise, there is an upward trend in employees and customers expecting businesses to create climate action plans and lead sustainability programs in their companies to lessen their carbon footprint. A significant number of people commit to taking climate action in their individual capacity such as limiting waste, avoiding the use of disposable items, eating less meat, and abstaining from taking non-essential air travel. There is a surge of support to use alternative energies such as solar and wind as well as to engage in eco-projects such as tree planting and growing own vegetables to help the planet. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the youth’s powerful influence in his statement, “Young people tend to have a fantastic impact in public opinion around the world.”

Truly, young leaders have wielded their power to place climate issues to global center stage. However, despite these positive changes, greenhouse gas emissions have continued to grow. In fact, it hit a record high in 2019 according to research published in December.

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