Langgin’s story, Philippines
Women and Climate Change:
Stories of EMPOWERMENT
Langgin's story
Langgin is 20 years old and has lived in the farming community of Bagumbayan in the south island of Mindanao in the Philippines her whole life. She loved attending school, until unexpected extremes in weather meant her family’s harvest failed and her parents didn’t make enough money for her to continue her studies. Her plan was to continue onto higher education and train as a vet so she could support her community in caring for their livestock.
Despite this setback, she is using her energy to support her community in the fight against climate change. She is a Youth Leader for her local area, and brings together groups of young people to hear their experiences of the effects of climate change, and raises their voices and concerns to the local government, and other people who have the power to make change happen. The changing climate has meant that her family struggles to grow enough food each season, and she’s also lost her opportunity to continue to learn – but her words are not angry ones.
So it is her urgency for us not to spend time questioning “who is to blame”, but instead for us to come together and “act to mitigate the effects” that we should make sure the people in power hear loud and clear.
“Climate change is a big concern for young people like me"
"If it’s hard to plant and grow crops now, what about the next few decades? What about when we’re trying to grow enough food to survive the longer dry spells in the future? Because of the rising temperatures we know it will be really hard for us to farm and to plant, so we know the changing climate will impact us a lot.
As a youth leader, I’m inspired to call for other young people to act on climate change as we know for a fact that we will be the ones directly affected by climate change as it worsens in the future – so all of us should do something to care for our environment.
It is important for us to dialogue with the people in power – the government officials – so they will know what are issues are, what the issues of young people are in terms of a changing climate. So it’s also important to voice our concerns and needs and what support they can give us in fighting the impacts of climate change."
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