At the highest points of the pandemic, local farmers faced the worst effects of it all. As a farmer pointed out to us, “They are afraid to come out and be exposed at the market. The people are also anxious to buy from us. Therefore, there had been a surplus of crops and most of it was left to rot in the province due to failure in transporting it to Manila.” Farmers struggle to adapt and stay resilient because of social and economic constraints, leaving them to fend for themselves and end up with little or no return of investment in capital and hard labor.

The Philippines is also no stranger to dangerous typhoons brought by the ever relevant climate crisis. Typhoons cause significant damage to the farmers’ fields and even more so when multiple typhoons emerge consecutively. Farmers struggle to rebuild their fields, as strong winds and rain flatten their crops and destroy the land and infrastructure farmers plant on.

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A reframing of the whole system of education is needed to ensure that climate change, sustainability principles, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, poverty reduction, sustainable consumption, and other relevant issues are integrated across school curricula at all levels in all schools. Clearly, this has serious implications for the existing curriculum, pedagogical practices, and teaching strategies. We cannot overemphasize the crucial role education leaders play in this necessary transition.

UNESCO’s research on successful climate actions by schools around the world affirms the importance of school leadership in transforming teachers, students, and staff as climate-aware leaders themselves. According to their study, schools will most likely be successful in their climate action projects if they possess the following: (1) knowledgeable and committed school principal; (2) well-trained teachers; (3) access to external experts; (4) dedicated facilitators to manage the process and; (5) supporting materials and teaching resources. As can be gleaned from this study, key to the success of any school initiative on climate change is a committed education leader who has the influence to make all the other factors abovementioned materialize and work together.

Indeed, leaders of educational institutions have the influence to create a more ethical, sustainable, climate-resilient school community that promotes justice and sustainability for people and the planet.

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To counter the effects of climate change, revolutionary changes including a shift in lifestyles, thinking, and decision-making are required. Education is key in this cultural transformation that can only be achieved by instilling in our learners proper knowledge, attitudes, and values.

Ironically, students have been the ones leading the fight against the climate crisis. The global education community, headed by education officials and school and university leaders, has taken a more passive role amidst the call for climate action. The seeming shaky commitment “to advance wide-scale education efforts for, by, or with K-12 children and youth in school settings around the world” is said to be reflective of the global education community’s lack of a united vision for education in a climate-altered world. This despite research evidence showing that students do care about the environment, want their schools and universities to be taking actions on climate change and that they demand to learn sustainable development in the classrooms. The UK Students Climate Network, in fact, has been demanding its government to include in the school curricula the teaching of climate change specifically, “the urgency, severity and scientific basis of the climate crisis.”

This is not to say that there have been no climate change education initiatives forwarded by schools and universities. In fact, there have been a number of successful programs positively affecting school life and the personal lives of students, teachers, staff, and their families. A groundbreaking initiative was recently made by Italy and Mexico when they initiated compulsory climate change education in their respective countries to engage children and youth in the solutions to climate change. The governments believe that every country should make sustainability education an integral part of their national and international response to the climate crisis. Nevertheless, educators should recognize that these efforts have been too little, sparse, and have yet to trickle into the average classroom if we want to ensure that schools develop climate-ready citizens and responsible stewards of the environment for the present and future generations.

Climate change is an interactive and complex problem that if not addressed could undermine everything that educators and concerned citizens have worked for in education. Finding solutions to the climate crisis cannot be left alone to leaders of international organizations, the government, businesses, civil society, and the youth. The education sector should take the lead and actively push for the development and implementation of climate change education including climate adaptation and resilience programs in every school in every nation. The world is facing an emergency and this climate crisis needs ground-level collaboration that should involve all individuals and all organizations, including schools and universities around the globe.

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On September 20, 2019, we witnessed the largest climate protest in history with Greta Thunberg, the 2019 Time Person of the Year, and other youth leaders inspiring 4 million people to participate in the Global Climate Strike around the world. Millions of adults did heed the young people’s call to join them in the demonstrations. From trade union members to doctors, nurses and even workers in Amazon, Google, and Facebook, they walked out of their workplaces to join the climate protests. While known to be the most anxious generation, the Gen Z succeeded in creating a powerful worldwide movement that urgently demands governments and businesses to cut emissions and stabilize the climate.

More than 60 country leaders and 100 city mayors committed last year to ambitious environmental goals to reduce their emissions and achieve a net-zero emission by 2050. Likewise, there is an upward trend in employees and customers expecting businesses to create climate action plans and lead sustainability programs in their companies to lessen their carbon footprint. A significant number of people commit to taking climate action in their individual capacity such as limiting waste, avoiding the use of disposable items, eating less meat, and abstaining from taking non-essential air travel. There is a surge of support to use alternative energies such as solar and wind as well as to engage in eco-projects such as tree planting and growing own vegetables to help the planet. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the youth’s powerful influence in his statement, “Young people tend to have a fantastic impact in public opinion around the world.”

Truly, young leaders have wielded their power to place climate issues to global center stage. However, despite these positive changes, greenhouse gas emissions have continued to grow. In fact, it hit a record high in 2019 according to research published in December.

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Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time. This belief is shared by adults and the youth around the globe as the impact of climate change becomes more evident. The recent study by the American Psychological Association reveals that more than half of American adults believe that climate change is the most important issue at present and 62% of them say they will vote for a candidate in the next elections based on his or her position on climate change. Whereas the 2019 Eurobarometer survey by the European Commission shows that 93% of EU citizens consider climate change as a serious problem and they have taken at least one specific action to mitigate its adverse effects. Similarly, 90% of Singaporeans are aware of climate change and its impact and 80% of them are prepared to take climate action according to 2019 research conducted by the National Climate Change Secretariat. Amnesty International’s poll conducted among the youth in December 2019 reports that young people in 22 countries identify climate change as their top priority issue.

Humanity and our planet are in peril and there is no doubt we are in a climate crisis. While our planet has been experiencing climate change for millions of years now, human activities has expedited this change causing havoc on the environment. The past five years and the last decade were the hottest registered since temperature recordings began in late 1880s. Blistering heatwaves were experienced last year in Japan, China, India, Pakistan, and Australia. The recent Australian bushfires that ravaged the country, burned through large tracts of forests and farms, threatened communities, and killed more than a billion animals was clearly the influence of climate change. Just a few months ago, Southern and Northern California also experienced frightening wildfires that devastated the country’s most populated state. Climate change also further escalates fire risk in the Amazon, often threatened by deforestation. Middle East and North Africa have suffered from an almost continuous drought since 1998 and climate change further threatens the region with water shortage that could impact an estimated 80-100 million people by 2025. Without urgent action to stop global emissions, temperature in some parts of the world could reach 50°C and there might be places too hot to be inhabitable.

The excessive heat in the atmosphere doubles the number of extreme weather anomalies besides droughts and heat waves. Climate experts and scientists inform us that more frequent and more intense rains, storm surges, typhoons, hurricanes, and floods would devastate societies across the globe. Extreme weather could prove disastrous for lives, food production, water sources, economies, and infrastructure.

Considered to be one of the most vulnerable areas to climate change and home to 60% of the world’s population, the Asia-Pacific felt the severity of climate change impact in 2019. India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh were ravaged by torrential monsoon rains that caused massive flooding and landslides resulting to hundreds of human deaths and heavy damage in infrastructures and properties. Likewise, China, Vietnam, Japan, India, Bangladesh, South Korea, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines were sharply hit by strong typhoons that displaced hundreds of communities, killed a number of people, and caused millions of dollars in damage. Extreme weather events are further exacerbated due to rapid urbanization in many poor nations “with the pace of development often overtaking proper infrastructure planning” and thus, posing further threat to water and food security.

Even countries rarely visited by heavy rains and massive floods became victims of such calamities in 2019 notably in Yemen, Oman, UAE, and Iran. In recent years, a noted increase in the intensity of rains, thunderstorms, and winds across Europe was also experienced which caused flooding and landslides to numerous urban and rural areas.

Glaciers, ice, and snow that supposedly reflect solar radiation back into space and keep the planet relatively cool, retreat and melt with rising global emissions. Consequently, sea levels climb up causing flooding, shoreline erosion, hazards from storms, and worse, could displace about 187 million people all around the world if crisis is unresolved. Especially vulnerable are the people living on low-lying islands such as in the Pacific and coastal population centers found in Shanghai, Bangkok, Manila, Singapore, and Vietnam. The very existence of some places on the planet is severely threatened in the face of climate crisis such as the case of Marshall Islands in the Pacific and Maldives in Indian Ocean.

Humanity will be vulnerably exposed to climate-related risks to health, livelihood, food security, water supply, human security, and economic growth according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report 2018. Present emission level must decline by half by 2030 to keep the global temperature from rising beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius—a temperature level that could put 20-30% of species at risk. Likewise, the world must achieve a zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to avert the worst effects of climate change that could irreversibly damage ecosystems. This translates to emissions dropping by 7.6% on average every year for the next 10 years beginning this year.

Climate experts and scientists, however, contend that despite these painful adjustments, extreme weather conditions such as heat waves, droughts, forest fires, super typhoons, hurricanes, and massive floods are the new normal. It is therefore necessary and crucial to put in place climate change adaptation and resilience programs in schools, work places, communities, and cities to secure human survival.

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