Human Rights Online Philippines

24-hour global #DirtyWeather report starts online

Manila, Philippines – Climate activists around the world decided to be united online to expose the realities of and solutions to the climate crisis through Internet broadcast by featuring news, voices, and multimedia content across all 24 time zones.

“Join us on November 15 at 9AM, Philippine time, until the next day for 24 Hours of Reality: The Dirty Weather Report. Broadcast live on the Internet, it’s an event that anyone can attend. And it’s your chance to join millions around the world to demand real solutions,” said climate leader Rodne Galicha, Philippine district manager of The Climate Reality Project (TCRP), a global movement founded by Nobel laureate and former United States vice president Al Gore.

Galicha, also of Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), reiterated the call of TCRP for global action against dirty energy as it holds the second global event which started last year exposing the myths and deniers of climate reality and extreme weather conditions.

The global climate movement declared that dirty energy has created a world of Dirty Weather, “Today, climate disruption affects us all and it will take all of us together to solve it – join us in the Dirty Weather Report, when together we will stand up and demand real solutions to the climate crisis.”

“We must admit that we have been experiencing unusual and extreme weather conditions due to our careless and uncontrollable utilization of dirty energy like coal, oil and gas which in effect produces a lot of greenhouse gases trapping a lot of extra heat rising up the temperature of our planet,” said human ecologist and TCRP climate leader Floro Francisco, former assistant general manager of the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA).

Franciso explained that extreme heat accelerates evaporation and warm air holds more moisture increasing more water vapor in the atmosphere resulting to an increase of rainfall.

“Extreme weather conditions means longer and deeper droughts killing crops and livelihoods, even people; more intense typhoons, heavy rainfall resulting to flooding and mudslides,” said disaster risk reduction specialist and TCRP climate leader Miguel Magalang, executive director of Marinduque Council for Environmental Concerns (MACEC) with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boac.

For Magalang, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation initiatives should not be standalone ones but should form integral part of an integrated and sustainable development framework. Coming up with a convergent institutional framework in the local governments that would push for the whole sustainable development platform is necessary.

“We have to live with bad weather sometimes through adaptation but there is a need to mitigate further disasters caused by dirty weather. Human beings can leave dirty energy and switch to clean ones such as solar, wind and hydropower,” Magalang said.

“Filipinos cannot solve the climate crisis alone – it must be a global action, together. Countries with high-level carbon emissions like the United States must lead in this global change through deeper emission cuts,” said lawyer and TCRP climate leader Persida Rueda-Acosta, chief of the Public Attorney’s Office.

Acosta made it clear that climate justice is being sought in the 24-hour event. Whatever adaptation and mitigation poor, developing or smaller states are doing if larger and overly-consuming countries continue to exploit the natural resources of the powerless using more dirty energy, continuously polluting our water and air, heating up our climate – this crisis will still continue until it becomes too late to save the only planet we have.

Leading the event will be TCRP Chairman Al Gore, joining the opening of the event on November 15 at 9AM (PH time) and conclude with a presentation on November 16 at 8AM (PH time) in New York, USA. In the Philippines, live broadcast via internet are scheduled in Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila, University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos in Bacolod, Frendz Resort in the beach island paradise of Boracay, Aklan. Interested viewers are advised to check the details at http://www.facebook.com/groups/climate.ph.

In preparation for next week’s Climate Change Consciousness Week initiated by the Climate Change Commission (CCC), TCRP is requesting all Filipinos who have access to the internet to watch the global event to understand fully the need for a united effort to address the most pressing crisis the world is facing today. The 24-hour event will be discussed and analyzed next week in a series of activities like the ‘Climate and Mining Film Showing’ in Marinduque on November 19 and CCC’s GREENERATION: National Gathering for Youth Empowerment Program in Manila on November 22.

“Most of all, we want to hear from you – anytime during these 24 hours – gather your friends, family or loved one, we’ll ask you to sign a pledge and join a global movement to demand action. Visit our website http://www.climaterealityproject.org, use #DirtyWeather in Twitter and join the social media conversation; make connections, and send us your ideas. Find out how we can, and we must, solve the climate crisis — and how you can help,” Galicha reiterated TCRP’s global call.

Founded and chaired by Al Gore, Nobel Laureate and former Vice President of the United States, The Climate Reality Project helps citizens around the world discover the truth about the climate crisis and take meaningful steps to bring about change. Our mission is to reveal the complete truth about the climate crisis in a way that ignites the moral courage in each of us.

The Climate Reality Project employs cutting-edge communications and grassroots engagement tools to break the dam of inaction and raise the profile of the climate crisis to its proper state of urgency. With a global movement more than 2 million strong and a grassroots network of Climate Leaders trained by Chairman Al Gore, we stand up to denial, press for solutions, and spread the truth about climate change to empower our leaders to solve the climate crisis.

CONTACT:
Rodne Galicha, The Climate Reality Project – Philippine District Manager
+63-905-2850700, kalikasan101@gmail.com
http://www.Facebook.com/groups/climate.ph
http://www.climaterealityproject.org

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