Pinoys join Raise your Voice campaign on climate change

A six-minute amateur video featuring dramatic footage that showed the devastation caused by tropical storm Ondoy is the lone Philippine entry in a YouTube campaign to raise awareness on the issue of climate change. In a news release, De La Salle University graduates Alfonso Orioste Jr. and Paul Darwynn Garilao said the destruction from the cyclone was the motivation for their decision to join the “Raise Your Voice" campaign. The contest encourages individuals to send videos containing their views and questions about the United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen next month. The campaign is sponsored by CNN, Youtube, and the government of Denmark. Two winners who will be selected by public voting on YouTube from November 6 to 30 will get a free trip to Copenhagen to attend the landmark conference. The global gathering will determine new targets for curbing carbon emissions from human activities that scientists have deemed responsible for the earth’s changing weather. Video entries may also be aired during the CNN/Youtube debates on December 15, one of the many activities during the conference that are meant to draw global attention to the issue. In their entry, Orioste and Garilao highlighted the disastrous impact of climate change in a developing country – in this case the Philippines – and contrasted the image with initiatives that are underway in rich countries to address the issue. From Manila, Orioste talked about the need for disaster preparedness and improved communication as part of environmental management systems that are necessary to respond to natural calamities more effectively. “As we have experienced, the storm Ondoy (Ketsana) taught us a lot of lessons. This is a wake-up call for the Philippine government to implement laws and programs on environmental management and disaster preparedness," said Orioste, who is studying law at San Beda. Meanwhile, from his current work base in Hawaii, Garilao advocated the use of renewable energy such as solar panels and wind turbines as the “best step to combat climate change." An engineer, Garilao has done research on the use of LPG two-stroke engines as an alternative form of clean energy. To vote for the Philippine entry, visit www.youtube.com/cop15 and click the thumbs up sign for the video entitled “Raise Your Voice by Filipino environmental advocates." Although their entry may not win awards for best editing or script, it is nonetheless a good push for what they call “Green education" at a time when disasters are increasingly causing massive destruction in the Philippines. – Yasmin D. Arquiza, GMANews.TV