The Climate Crisis is a Human Crisis
The Trouble with Seeing Climate Change Through One Lens
Interview by Prudence Sperryn
The Philippines is the second most climate vulnerable country in the world and now as we see more youth activists speak out about the climate crisis, we turn to Mitzi Tan from Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (YACAP) to understand what the real life impacts climate change has on people and their communities.
The global climate crisis discourse is dominated by the language of science and the Global North’s perspectives and solutions. Leading YACAP, Mitzi drives home the importance of understanding the climate crisis as experienced differently by different people, depending on where in the world you live and where in the socio-economic ladder you sit. When we see the climate crisis through this lens of intersectionality, we can better recognise that it is not just an environmental problem but a human one.
What was the trigger moment for your climate activism?
I became an environmental activist in 2017, when I talked to one of our leaders from the indigenous Lumad group. He told us about how they were being displaced, killed and militarized all for trying to protect the forest and their environment from mining corporations. He described so many atrocious things that they’d experienced and then afterwards he chuckled, shrugged and said that's why we have no choice but to fight back. Then he moved on to other topics and really it was the simplicity of how he said it, how it was such a clear fact to him that made me realize that he's right and we all have to join the fight. I had always been passionate about the environment but this completely shattered my world view.
I also remember I started crying because I realized I had the privilege to “choose to be an activist”. But actually, we have no choice but to be activists because it is our planet and our home that’s being threatened. They’re right, it is simple and we should join them to fight for their rights and for the environment. He told me how they initially tried talking politely to national corporations and other leaders and they were continuously misled. This exposed to me the importance for collective action on the streets as well as other forms of activism.
The Philippines is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, in what ways have you and the communities been affected?
I can talk about the most recent Typhoon Vamco, locally known as Typhoon Ulysses. This poured over a month’s rain in 24 hours and it happened only a week after Typhoon Goni, known to us as Rolley. That was the strongest typhoon this year and the fact that they happened so close together meant that there were huge floods in the city as the soil was already filled with water. It was devastating, people were still trying to recover from the first typhoon when the second one hit. I personally couldn’t go home because the roads to my house were flooded up to 40 feet high, so I had to stay with a friend but we had no electricity. My mum was at home with no electricity and so I had no idea whether she was safe or not.
Growing up, I would have candle lit dinners because the raging typhoon outside had cut off our power. I would wake up in the dark with the flood inside my bedroom and I'd have to try and scoop the water out, but I’m one of the more privileged ones. I recently travelled back from a few of the most impacted communities where we were helping with relief operations and giving hygiene kits to the community. A lot of them don’t have roofs or walls anymore. In the urban poor communities, the housing situation is already bad, and then the Typhoon came in and it made everything so much worse. Whole houses have been blown away.
It’s hard to imagine how you can even start to rebuild all the destruction when you know it’s just going to happen again.
I saw an interview from someone living in Catanduanes, which is on the Eastern side of the Philippines and so it always gets hit first. They described how they would try to rebuild their house and then a week later it would be destroyed again. They are so grateful for the relief and the food that people are bringing but it doesn’t help them recover, it doesn’t help them stand up on their own two feet again. After the food is gone they still have no clothes, no home and no livelihood. This is where we demand for accountability and aid from the government because so far the national government has barely done anything in terms of rebuilding homes.
How much responsibility do you think does fall on our leaders and how much on individual actions?
Most, if not all, of the responsibility falls on the national government. The government here tries to blame people. They say, “why didn't you evacuate? That’s the reason you got stranded on your roof”. But there isn’t enough climate education or media communication.
In 2013 with Typhoon Haiyan, which was the strongest typhoon with the strongest storm landfall in recorded history, people didn't evacuate because they didn't know what a storm surge was. Recently, with the latest typhoons, our national government actually shut down one of the biggest news agencies in the rural areas because the agency was critical of the government. People then didn’t have the news on their TVs and so they didn’t know that a Typhoon was coming and that they had to evacuate.
Notable activists like Greta Thunberg have explained that we already have the facts and the solutions for the climate crisis, all that is missing is actual action. What do you think are the barriers that are preventing individuals, businesses and corporations, from accepting the fact that we need to do something now?
Honestly, I have no clue. I know it's because multinational companies and countries’ economies will lose out as the fossil fuel industry is profitable. But I honestly cannot rationalize why you would choose money over people's lives. One of the reasons that one of the Filipino islands recently flooded was because the government released two Olympic sized pools of waters out of one of the dams. This meant even the evacuation centre flooded. I didn’t understand why they would do this before the first Typhoon, or even the second one - they knew these were coming. Why wasn’t it released in smaller parts instead of all at once? I later read that they did it this way so that they wouldn’t lose any money from the dam. I’m asking myself, “how could they rather have people stranded on their rooftops or drowning than lose money?”
What adversity have you faced as a climate activist in the Philippines? How have you responded to the anti-terror laws?
We've had massive mobilization, not as massive as usual with the lockdown, but there were 8,000 people at the biggest protest that we’ve had. At this point we need hundreds of thousands on the streets for the government to listen. I think because of the mass movement; they've been afraid to use the terror laws. They’ve passed them but haven’t implemented them much recently.
However, they did use them on indigenous people in the province, and that's what we're trying to amplify now because the media isn’t really picking up on it. It’s a crazy thing because even just calling for systems change, not climate change, is still classified as terrorism.
Recently the Lieutenant General of the army said that “young girls in short shorts calling to protect the environment are doing it to entice young men. Seemingly they’re doing it to protect the environment, but really they’re trying to recruit them into an armed rebel group.” He called out two well-known actors and our own Miss Philippine as rebels because they’re part of forums or giving relief. I’m already seeing how the thinking of our military leaders and politicians is creeping into how citizens are thinking. I’ve seen on my posts about the recent typhoon that people are commenting, “Oh, that's cause you're in short shorts” or “you can’t call out the government or ask for help from the government because you're a part of the rebel army”.
YACAP had a global petition last July with over 35,000 signatures calling to repeal the terror law. Notable activists, like Greta Thunberg, Naomi Klein, Nnimmo Bassey, and Bill McKibben have all signed it. We gave that to our Supreme court a month ago, but nothing’s happened yet.
What would you say are the most common misconceptions for individuals who are reluctant to get involved in climate change? And how can we shift these?
A concept that people don’t seem to understand is that the climate crisis is already here.
The Philippines is the second most climate vulnerable country in the world and there are so many climate disasters, but the way it’s being taught in school is very technical and westernized. We are taught about general global warming and the ice caps melting, which is important, however, we are not taught that the typhoons we are experiencing today are due to the climate crisis and are actually man made, caused by the fossil fuel industries and the global North countries emitting emissions for a long time.
When you learn about it in school, you learn the scientific facts but it's not very empowering or appropriate for the Filipino audience. It’s also important to understand that a lot of Filipinos don't have access to quality education. How can you understand something when you don’t even know about it? The government claims that climate change is an environmental problem, but it's not, it's a human problem.
What do you think is the importance of having young people at the front of the climate crisis?
It's so important because we are the ones who will be the most impacted by the climate crisis. 85% of the world's youth are under the poverty line and so we are the ones who will be impacted most. This is not just in the future when we face the consequences of our leaders' inaction, but today, as socio-economic problems make it difficult for us to adapt to the climate crisis. It’s also because we have the energy, and the tenacity to keep the mandate for change.
It's not just the environmental movement where the youth are at the forefront, in almost every revolutionary moment in history It's always the youth of that generation leading the way.
Do you think there's a way that we can rewire our brains to educate ourselves better and care more about others to mobilise collective action?
Yes, definitely. It starts with learning and being willing to listen to people. And that seems like such a simple thing to do and something we should already be instinctively doing, but for some reason it's not. We need to make sure that the climate crisis isn't just talked about in just a technical way. Yes the science is extremely important, but also remember that these are people's lives. They're not just numbers. We are people and this is already happening to us.
It will also always be about collective action. World leaders in the US, EU or in China where reducing carbon dioxide emissions is the most important, aren't necessarily going to listen to protests all the way here in the Philippines, even if they're massive. But if you accompany the protests here in the Philippines, with protests in the global North who work in solidarity with those in the global South then leaders will start to think, why do they care so much? Why are my citizens yelling so much? Then we move mountains.
How do you think that intersectionality influences the activism that we see in different countries and our respective solutions?
An anecdote that I like to say that I noticed so much in the strikes last year, but not so much this year, was you'd see videos of climate activists from the global North or activists who are mostly white and they would shout,
“What do we want?” “Climate action”. “When do you want it?” “Now.”
And you'll notice activists from the global South and people of colour would say climate justice instead. That simple chant says so much already, that a lot of our white activists aren't necessarily aware of the need for intersectionality and the concept of justice.
What do you think is the importance of recognising intersectionality and the multi-faceted experiences of climate change for different communities across the globe?
The climate crisis and climate justice aren't just about the environment, it's about people. World leaders could announce the phase out of the fossil fuel industry with some magical technology but if the fossil fuel workers have nowhere to go and no livelihood then what is the point? If only a certain number of people can go to the metaphorical place safe from the climate crisis, then there is no point in climate justice. It’s not just about the environment and saving animal species and the oceans, that's all very important, but at its core it's about saving people who are being affected today. People who will be affected, not just directly by the impact, but also by the phase out of the fossil fuel industry and the loss of livelihood.
We must recognise that the people most impacted by the climate crisis are those who can’t adapt due to existing socio-economic problems.
Finally, more and more we're being encouraged to self-reflect on our thoughts and beliefs and the way that these impact our behaviours, like on social media. What tools and resources would you encourage readers to access to help create positive change environmentally?
Use all forms of social media that you have access to and try to get out of your circle. I hate how the social media algorithms are. I look at my feed and think, wow, everyone's so intersectional and everyone cares about the climate crisis. And then I’ll borrow my friend's phone and there's no mention of the climate crisis at all, even from my own posts.
It’s crazy how compartmentalised social media is, so you should be as creative as possible to get out of that echo chamber. Sometimes I post a selfie and then the caption will be about the climate crisis so that my friends will see it. When reading things, try to use hashtags you wouldn’t normally, and look for articles online talking about people's stories. Look at media that doesn’t just talk about statistics and numbers but also how people are impacted, and more importantly, how they are fighting back. There is almost always a story of fighting back, but it’s not talked about or it’s hidden because of the social media echo chamber.
On a positive note, the revolutionary spirit in Filipinos is strong and alive, people are angry and people know that they deserve better and are doing things to change what's happening. Across the world, there are millions involved in the climate movement and people are connecting to each other across the globe. It makes you feel warm inside knowing that somewhere across the world, someone cares about you and what you're doing and fighting for is the same thing.