Poets speak out for climate action

Poetry is a powerful tool that can inspire people. In fact, it has become so popular in the Philippines that spoken word poets such as Juan Miguel Severo have made it into the mainstream teleserye. But even before spoken word has become popular for all the hugot, it has been used in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) by poet Kathy Jetnil Kijiner from the Marshall Islands.

 

Kathy Kijiner spoke in front of the UNGA in 2014 urging leaders on to act on climate change. Marshall Islands is one of the small island nations that has been sinking due to sea level rise. In her speech, Kijiner said, “We look at our children and wonder how they will know themselves, or their culture, should we lose our islands.”

 

“We deserve to do more than just survive; we deserve to thrive,” she added.

 

Her poem, entitled “Dear Matefele Peinam” was written for her daughter.

 

 

Earlier this year, an Australian poet and climate activist, Chris Wright, performed poetry apologizing to the Philippines for his country’s climate inaction. Australia is known to be one of the countries along with the United States and the European Union that has inadequate commitments to tackle climate change and unsupportive of developing countries’ issues such as loss and damage.

 

 

 

Spoken Word for the World

 

Spoken Word for the World, a project by the Global Call for Climate Action, launched a competition for spoken word artists who create poetry that aims to change the world. Poets who will be chosen will perform along with Kathy Jetnil Kijiner in key events ahead of the Conference of Parties (COP) 21 in Paris. The COP21 is expected to come up with a climate agreement among all countries to tackle climate change.

 

Eunice Andrada, a Filipino-Australian, is one of those poets who entered the competition.

 

 

"It’s devastating to see the Philippines stricken by storm after storm and to watch the destruction of your home country unfold through a screen. What’s even more disheartening is the lack of prompt, serious action to mitigate the impact of climate change,” said Andrada.

 

“We call typhoon Haiyan and hurricane Patricia ‘monster storms’, but there’s a need to recognize monsters don’t just come into being themselves,” Andrada added.

 

Extreme weather events such as Haiyan and Patricia are caused by climate change. For the past four years, climate negotiations were happening as typhoons battered the Philippines, Dominica, and Mexico.

 

 

Climate Action needed

 

John Berida, a Filipino spoken word artist who entered the competition, spoke about the need to address climate change urgently and how spoken word can help inspire climate action.

 

“In the Philippines, Typhoon Haiyan was the strongest typhoon to ever hit landfall. It is a reality that we need to address. After all, climate change happened because of human activity,” Berida said.

 

“You see so many spoken word artists using social media as a platform to voice out their opinions about certain issues. If it becomes viral, it will get noticed. You'll never know who will get inspired out there: A student, a teacher? An engineer, a global leader, maybe?” Berida added.

 

 

 

There is only one month left before world leaders come together to decide to act in climate change. With typhoons only getting stronger, sea levels only rising faster, and droughts only getting longer, climate action is urgently needed and these spoken word artists can only hope that their art can touch the hearts of both ordinary people and global leaders and push them into climate action.

 

To know more about Spoken Word for the World, check out the website, spokenword4theworld.com.

 

To vote for your favorite poetry, check out the Facebook event page and click like on your favorite poem. — TJD, GMA News