Philippines: Climate Change Awareness

Creation - not for sale

Climate Change Awareness Program

Young reformer: Johanan Celine P. Valeriano

Church: Lutheran Church in the Philippines

Implementation period: October 2015 to October 2017

How many people were involved? 9

How many people did you reach? 1046

What did you aim at?

This project aims to raise awareness about climate change and to teach people how to become good stewards of God’s creation. Our other goal are:

In commemoration of the 500 years of Reformation, to plant 500 or more trees (either in the 4 districts or just 1 location) in the Philippines. These will be named the Luther Gardens.

To create a group of advocates for climate justice, which will be formed through the Lutheran Church in the Philippines’ Climate Change Awareness Program.

What did you achieve?

Organized Climate Change Awareness & Good Stewardship of the Environment seminars in the 4 districts of LCP.
Organized fundraising projects such as selling eco-friendly merchandise, art exhibits, fun runs, and solicitations.
Collaborated with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and other related non-governmental organizations in acquiring seedlings for tree planting and in determining the location(s) where it will be done.

What did you do?

On April 2, 2016, a launching program was initiated to officially start the project. This was to equip the key individuals (PLYL Officers) for a series of talks/seminars in the 4 districts of LCP.
In April & May, a series of talks/seminars were held in the 4 districts of LCP, namely: North Luzon Lowland District Youth Camp Meribah (April 13, 2016); South Luzon District Youth Camp Sinag (April 29, 2016); North Luzon Highland District Youth Camp Israel (May 16, 2016); Mindanao District Youth Camp Mizpah (May 30, 2016).
Just recently, we conducted an "Operation Bayanihan: Lutheran Center Garden Beautification Project" together with volunteers.

Interview with young reformers

What is the ongoing reformation you want to see in your church?: I want to see my church, its members, and its leaders more involved in the current situations happening outside the church.
What has been the reaction of the project among the youth?: We have had a positive reaction from the youth, and they are now more aware of climate change and the protection of the environment.
How has been the participation of the youth in the reformation project?: We have trained 8 youth leaders from around the Philippines. The trained youth leaders then reproduced the workshops and reached over 1000 people from all different parts of the country. We have done a lot of work on sharing and spreading the information.
What has been challenging about creating the project?: We had challenges in the beginning on getting approval for the project, as this was the first time something like this had been proposed. However, everything has gone well. Sometimes we ran into misunderstandings about the project from some our partners, but our work has moved and continues to move forward.
Did everything go as planned?: No, we were not able to stick to the project timeline as planned. However, we are still progressing and have accomplished many of our goals so far.
How do you see the continuity of the project?: After raising awareness throughout the whole country, we would like to see this project train more individuals to advocate for good stewardship of creation. We understand that this is something new to our church, but we feel that this issue demands a response. Our project is still ongoing; we are also planning to have a wide-scale tree planting around the country. Hopefully and prayerfully it will materialize.