No poster child

Show notes

Why do young people even care about the climate and what do they do once they start caring? To answer this question we will meet Marinel Ubaldo, 25, a young climate activist from the Philippines. Her story is so closely linked to a climate disaster. Young people – people like Marinel - are especially vulnerable to impacts of the climate crisis. And Marinel experienced exactly this: Tayfun Hayan, a horrible event which hit her home country, the Philippines back in 2013. She was 16 years old back then. Hayan, in Tagalog Yolanda, was one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded, with winds of up to 315 km/h and a storm surge that caused widespread destruction. And importantly: exacerbated by climate change. Generally, the Philippines are situated in an area where typhoons and tropical storms happen frequently. But due to global climate change, storms are becoming more frequent in some areas, they carry more water and thus lead to more devastation in areas where people often have no means to adapt. We are talking of a massive threat to human rights, as Marinel puts it. So when it comes to Hayan, we can talk of a climate-related diaster. Marinels house collapsed, she lost beloved people, personal belongings, missed school. One that she has – as an climate activist – told again and again. In speeches, conferences, radio and tv shows, other podcasts. We want to introduce you, our listeners, to impressive people but not to expose their vulnerability and exposure,but their capacity, power and also their knowledge. If a human right is violated by the climate crisis people have the right to claim justice – and people like Marinel do that. Because human rights are not “nice-to-have", people are entitled to them. So often the story doesn’t end with people being affectef, with their rights being violated from the climate crisis, but actually it only begins at this point.

Here is the link to a podcast episode where Marinel tells her story: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2RnvAgO8VsphRsjWE0ancS

Marinel Ubaldo’s Instagram Channel: https://www.instagram.com/mrnlsmkbld/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ynelubaldo?lang=de

Sources for information of Super Typhoon Haiyan:
BBC Report about the deadly impacts: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-25051606 CNN report about the role of the climate crisis: https://www.cnnphilippines.com/lifestyle/2022/3/8/attribution-science-climate-change.html