Humaneity

It's an incredible honor to be part of the latest issue of Humaneity, a quarterly publication published in over 100 countries. I do find the tagline too ambitious, and believe that I have much more work to do to be worthy of it. My interview begins in page 48 and can be found on this link. 

I would like to note that I was asked to do this "interview" in the midst of midterms and madness a few months ago. I sent the writer my speeches, graduate school essay, and with some email conversations, the poor Jeff had to put it all-together. Up until today, I haven't seen the interview since the publication was published. I'd like to credit 350.org in one of the answers to the questions and note that since then, I have left my post at International Youth Council.

I would also like to extend a hearfelt thank you to Mark Philpott, the Founder of Humaneity, and Jeff Ludlum, for telling my story and for their work in inspiring better change in this world. 

Philippines moves the world in Doha Climate talks

Update April 15

It's 5AM at Butler library, and instead of working on my finals, I am brought to where my heart is, and that is home. Typhoon Bopha, the strongest Typhoon that has recently hit the Philippines this year, has left over 1,000 people reported dead, with 844 still missing and 1.2 million families displaced (as reported by CNN. With the ongoing UN Climate talks, Filipino negotiators have been working hard for stronger commitments in Doha, citing Bopha as a powerful example to press for a greater sense of urgency. “Even as I speak, my country is once again expecting a category four typhoon that is expected to be worse than the worst that we have had so far,” Bernaditas Mueller, a senior Filipino negotiator, said during the party’s intervention.

With the UN Climate Change talks in Doha coming to an end,  Naderev Saño (otherwise known as Yeb, or the "Tom Cruise" of UNFCCC), the lead negotiator of the Philippines delegation, broke down as he appealed to the world, to find the courage to take responsibility for the future we want (video). The COP is a frustrating process, but quoting Sano, "if not us, then who? If not now, then when? If not here, then where?" "When a senior diplomat at global talks breaks down in public, it is a signal that other countries must pay attention. It happens rarely, but it can have a dramatic effect." John Vidal of the Guardian wrote. 

I had met "Yeb" at COP15 in Copenhagen, when my country delegation had graciously welcomed me in their team as a "youth delegate." He had always expressed to me how critical it is to have "youth" participation in our fight. In COP16 in Cancun, he invited me to sit behind him as he delivered his statement so that we would have a "youth" face behind our country's voice.  When I had advised with him in the negotiations, he was always supportive. This was shown when he vouched for support for me to deliver my first COP intervention pushing for Article 6 in COP16, as I had read YOUNGO's stance in the G77 & China meetings. It's been an honor to have worked with my country delegation, including Yeb, in the climate negotiations. As I had written to all of them in a letter to thank them for including me in the delegation, "To those who took the time to mentor the youth delegates, thank you for recognizing our work and giving us the opportunity to negotiate our future. We are all here today fighting for our lives. I would not want to be in this battle with anyone else other than the team I was with."

Yeb hugging Youth delegates, who formed a barricade of support for him after his speech (photo credit: Desiree Llanos Dee)

Yeb had missed his son's birthday for the fourth year in a row because of the climate negotiations, the youth delegates sent his son a video singing him Happy Birthday

The video is going viral on my news feed (and probably because most of my friends are climate geeks! Haha!)