A Clear and Present Danger: Climate Change and Disrupted Lives

When we were younger, I remember our parents telling us not to bathe in the first rain of the rainy season, for the simple reason that the first rain would be polluted. Back then, summer was strictly from January to June, and rainy season was from July to December. Even the sky, the clouds, and the weather respected this. Summer meant mangoes and month-long school breaks, whilst the rainy season meant the coming of typhoons and the start of school. I remember that the Philippines once had an alphabetical list of female names to call the annual typhoons: Auring (from Aurora), Juaning (from Juana), Rosing (from Rosa)... According to practice, the names for particularly destructive and deadly typhoons were retired from use to prevent psychological trauma for typhoon survivors. As the years passed, however, the delineation between summer and rainy season became more obscure. Typhoons started appearing even during the summer months, and places and regions in the Philippines where the annual typhoons did not normally visit, such as in the Southern Philippines, were now not spared from the brunt of the annual typhoons. What is worse, the annual typhoons became stronger, much stronger. And more destructive. The culprit? Climate change.

New reality

Recently the Philippines experienced a Super Typhoon. Internationally named “Rai” and locally called “Odette”, it was the strongest typhoon that hit the Philippines in 2021. The typhoon reportedly carried winds with speeds of up to 230 kph. Seven regions were considered in the high-risk zone, which included the central Visayas region of the Philippines, where Cebu is located (News). Tragically, it hit not only Cebu, but also many communities where the population are living below the poverty line. News of the destruction in Cebu caused by Odette reached us. Many farmers lost their livelihood and their houses, and their farms were destroyed. The Grow-It-Yourself project, which survived the COVID-19 pandemic, suffered under Odette. Many of our kabog millet farmers were cut off from communication, without water and electric supply.

Within a week, the Philippines had become the “poster child” of what climate change can do to the most vulnerable nations. We lose millions of US dollars annually from natural disasters like typhoons, and we will lose more. We, Filipinos, have the mindset of “We will rebuild after this”, and “We are resilient”, and besides, “There are worse things like losing your life”. But for how long? Climate change is already here and wreaking havoc to developing countries like the Philippines. Although Filipinos can still absorb the damages brought about by climate change, we are also now running out of means to live. How long can we sustain our “resilient spirit” when the effects of climate change batter us every year, with severity and frequency? What can we do collectively in order to deal with the consequences of our collective actions?

Farms in the “fisherfolk-turned-farmers” community of Simala Bantay Dagat Association (SIMBADA) affected by Typhoon Odette. (Photo: Teresa D. Ruelas)

A kabog millet farmer’s farm after Typhoon Odette. (Photo: Ms. Rosaflor Estenzo)

Bleak Future For Us?

We live in one planet, interconnected, and intertwined. We all dream under one sky. Climate change will reach us all. Recently in the news, Australia has just registered a record-breaking 50.7°C summer day in the town of Onslow, and it is not alone: News article. Climate change is now gradually but surely gripping the whole world like a dark, expansive, hovering cloud. The perfect storm is brewing. It is just a matter of time. Just like COVID-19.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joan Oñate Narciso is a current Future Food Fellow at the Laboratory of Food Biochemistry, ETH Zürich. She studied plant biology for her PhD, focusing on plant cell walls, which led to her desire to work in Food Biochemistry. Coming from the Philippines and with grandparents who worked in and owned farms back home; agriculture, food systems, and the lives of farmers have always been her personal interest and passion. She hopes to raise awareness of the situation of small-scale farmers and their communities through her science and her writing.

For more information on how you could reach out and help our farmers in Cebu in rebuilding their lives, please contact the Community for Alternative Food Ecosystems Initiative (CAFEi) through Ms. Teresa D. Ruelas: teresa22ruelas@gmail.com.