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[ [link removed] ]Climate Campaigner Spotlight: Beatrice Tulagan

Hi John -

My name is Beatrice, and I'm 350 Asia's Senior Regional Organizer, based
in Manila, Philippines. Let me tell you a little bit about my story:

On a rainy January morning in 2016, in a coastal town south of Manila
called Tacloban, a city official led me to a field of white crosses. They
went as far as I could see, all 2,917 of them. It was only when I came
close enough that I saw there were markings on each slab of white wood.
They turned out to be names of the dead, scribbled by family members in
black marker.

[ [link removed] ]Tacloban, Philippines – Mass nameless grave after Supertyphoon Haiyan

Tacloban, Philippines – Mass nameless grave after Supertyphoon Haiyan

I learned that after the onslaught of Supertyphoon Haiyan, this was where
hundreds of unidentified bodies were buried. Crosses had been erected to
commemorate each one. Over the years, remaining loved ones who had lost
all hope had flocked to the field and decided which mounds to grieve.

That was the moment I realized that my work at the time, as a climate
policy researcher, was pretty divorced from the realities on the ground.

A few months later, we had a meeting with a community who were wrapped up
in a fight against fossil fuels. We trekked under the morning sun to a
community organizer’s house in the province of Bataan, with the persistent
rumbling of a nearby coal-fired power plant as our ominous background
music. Something similar to the smell of burnt rubber poisoned the air as
we spoke about their months-long protests against the building of the
plant. I was struck by how determined they were to continue mounting their
opposition, despite the fact that one of their most vocal leaders had
recently been gunned down. “Why wouldn’t we fight?”, an organizer named
Ate Derek said. “It’s our lives.”

[ [link removed] ]Bataan, Philippines – A coal plant erected meters away from the
backyard of a community resident.

Bataan, Philippines – A coal plant erected meters away from the backyard
of a community resident

I started writing about climate change not long after. I published a piece
with a photo of that field of white crosses. My friends told me that both
the story and the image were so morbid, they couldn’t bear to look.

But I knew I had to make people look. The reality of climate change is not
just in papers or reports — it is in the deafening silence of this field
of white crosses with names scribbled on in black marker, as well as the
violent silencing of activists who go up against big fossil fuel
corporations to fight for our collective future.

Around the time the Climate Strikes took the world by storm, which the
youth of both Tacloban and Bataan eventually joined, I committed to being
an organizer full time with 350.org. Because I had realized that I don’t
want to just tell stories: I want to help shape our collective story from
one of helplessness to one of resistance and solidarity.

[ [link removed] ]Quezon City, Philippines – Joining the Global Climate Strike in 2019 at
the Commission on Human Rights

Quezon City, Philippines – Joining the Global Climate Strike in 2019 at
the Commission on Human Rights

We often think of movements as corrective forces for the grave mistakes of
the past. But I like to think of activism and organizing as primarily
geared towards safeguarding the future, which is why I find working with
young people so fulfilling.

[ [link removed] ]Asia Solidarity Lab Fellowship Graduation with some of our inaugural
fellows

Asia Solidarity Lab Fellowship Graduation with some of our inaugural
fellows

And that's also why, in 2023, we hope to strengthen the movement for a
just transition in Asia, ensuring no one gets left behind. What this means
for my role is a lot of conversations, consultations, and planning
alongside allies, both new and old, on how we can safeguard the inevitable
transition to renewable energy powered societies. I see our upcoming work
on solutions, and ensuring they are inclusive and democratic, as ripe with
possibilities on co-creating new systems. It’s an exercise in imagination
and co-creation — an opportunity to examine our social movements and
thoroughly rethink our ways of working together.

The fight for our future must be regenerative and intersectional; and
deepening our relationships with each other, across movements, across
generations, and across continents, is a crucial component in this shift.

So thank you for reading about my work, and thank you for your ongoing
commitment to climate justice. One day, it will be ours.

In solidarity,

Beatrice Tulagan
Asia Senior Regional Organizer

Do you have two more minutes? [ [link removed] ]Please send Beatrice a quick note of
solidarity and thanks. We'll be sending every message directly to her and
her family ahead of the holidays.

[ [link removed] ]Send a note »




 




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