A story about building community on the front line of climate change by Vhon Michael, 21 yr, Philippines.
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Vhon is a climate, environmental and equality activist working on climate justice. He has led a number of student organisations and worked on educating youth, especially student leaders, to mobilize and build each other to create a better world for everyone. Vhon is the founder of Zero Hour Philippines and a vocal youth leader in the global climate movement.
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In elementary, I remember playing in the rain with my siblings and friends. Even when there were storms, we would play chase, swim through puddles, and run to the beach to wash off and swim. Storms were friends somehow. It made my childhood more adventurous. Living in a community between the seas and mountains, I knew I had some bond with nature I’ll have forever.
10 yr: Supertyphoon Haiyan struck. I didn’t know why they wouldn’t let us play in the storm. My cousins and extended family were in my house, and we could hear how strong the wind was outside. No one dared to go outside, not even the adults. By afternoon, we could hear roofs flying and the first story of our house had water coming in. Electricity was already out by then. By night, the rain was still slamming against the walls and windows of our house, but the wind calmed down. By the time we walked out of the house the next morning, houses in my community were damaged. Some big trees knocked down. The streets were brown. No service, no electricity, no news. By the next few days, one of my distant grandfathers had to travel to the other towns to see the damage. It was so much worse than what we’ve experienced. Lifeless bodies floating everywhere, death reeking through the car. Barely any houses left, some just the foundations. Ships on land. Cities look like ruins. Hopelessness lingering in the air. We spent the next 6 months or longer relying on American aid: packed corned beef that you just reheat in warm water. Military biscuit. Rationed drinking water. Christmas was never the same.
11 yr: I was coming home after I had just won a regional Science and Art competition about protecting and saving the environment, I had hopes Christmas would be better that year. But only days before New Year, another typhoon hits. Having no electricity would have been fine. However, the continuous rain caused a massive landslide in my city that affected over 16,975 households in several communities including mine.
12 yr: Days before Christmas, a tropical depression caused massive rains in my region causing us a power outage. By then, all of us were wondering whether we were just sinners and whether we deserved what was happening to us. Maybe we had this coming. Maybe as Manaragat (‘people of the sea’), we didn’t love nature enough.
13 yr: I was in my sophomore year, and I just learned about climate change. I was curious and was eager to learn. I read and read and read and read. I was elected as Vice President of the General Science Club. I was also in the Youth for Environment in Schools. By the end of the school year, I was collaborating with my peers and exploring what climate change was.
14 yr: I had organised and spoken about climate change in my school in events and was getting more of my schoolmates involved in learning about it. I was invited to attend a Climate Reality training during the summer and celebrate Earth Day with my fellow student leaders and environmentalists nationwide. We can still turn this back and do things right. Despite the challenges we’ve faced in recent years, there was still hope.
15 yr: Despite the horrors of the past years and the manifestations of longer sunny days, hotter temperatures, and the rarity of rains, I was visiting communities around my city as part of my personal advocacy of exploring the environment and educating about climate change. I was mobilising my officers to focus more on environmental projects. I was getting to know several national youth-led environmental organisations.
16 yr: I’ve made friends in some parts of the Philippines and in some parts of the world who are also taking action. I am not alone. I founded Zero Hour Philippines and launched it by protesting outside the Leyte Provincial Capitol Building. We can fight. When May came, my island was hit by a storm leaving the Eastern part under floodwaters for weeks. I felt helpless. Friends in the climate movement helped organise fundraising that we were able to donate to a local organisation that distributed relief packs to locals. In June, I formally trained with Climate Reality. The first day broke me seeing a picture of my city on Al Gore’s presentation being hit by humongous waves. By the end of the training, I knew that the movement was large and on different fronts. Hope burns, and it burns brightly. From the end of July to the end of November, the Philippines was hit by over 7 strong typhoons, one of which was a supertyphoon that left communities and cities under floodwaters reaching over a metre deep. When Ulysses hit the same path the other typhoons had struck, leaving people no room to recover and rebuild or even prepare, I barely slept for days sending free loads for people to be able to text for help, posting on my personal account and on Zero Hour Philippines, getting more people’s attention, and messaging international news to cover what was happening - because there was barely anything on the news. From Supertyphoon Rolly, to Typhoon Siony, to Typhoon Ulysses which happened all in less than two weeks, there was barely any media coverage, while my people were dying. I was dying of anger, guilt, extreme sadness, hopelessness, and helplessness.
17 yr: I’m addressing the world at the Global Grassroots Leaders Climate Summit telling my story and the stories of my people, our demands, and our hopes. I’m Getting mocked, questioned, and threatened for being a kid speaking his truth to power. For being brown. For being queer. In front of the world. Calling out leaders how badly they were doing protecting the rights of the people, especially children, to a safe, just, and liveable planet.
18 yr: I’m collaborating with the UN and other organisations to highlight the impacts of marine plastic pollution in South-East Asia especially the Philippines and how it worsens climate anxiety for me and for many others, and how it worsens my communities’ situation. By then, I have made a lot of friends worldwide who share the same passion and advocacy as I do and who I have been able to talk to whenever things got bad and I felt hopeless in the movement and the work that I do. Some days I felt hopeless, tired, and anxious, and some days I was reminded of the community and family I have made in the movement, the work we did, and how far we’ve come.
21 yr: Writing this knowing that even how long it takes, we’ll still be here hoping that day will come. Knowing that we are not alone in this fight. There are more of us out there. Knowing that we are empowered and inspired by our love. For the people. For the planet. We know our love will win anything. Some time, someday, we’ll all be living on a just, sustainable, and liveable planet. ‘Love will win revolutions,’ Mitzi Tan, Philippines