“We’ll be watching you.” This is how then 16-year-old Greta Thunberg started her message for world leaders at the United Nations Climate Action Summit last September 2019.
Her entire speech expressed the frustration and anger of global citizens concerned about the climate crisis, especially the generations that will inherit the effects of this urgent environmental threat. However, we are no longer waiting for the said effects to be felt. They are here now.
Areas in north Negros Occidental woke up to a New Year’s Day of flashfloods – reported to be caused by runoffs from the uplands, rainfall depth meeting a high tide, river flow alteration, and sewers clogged by waste. These phenomena are further exacerbated by deforestation, the rising sea level, and extreme weather events brought about by climate change. A similar occurrence hit the northern areas again as of press deadline, exactly a week after the Jan. 1 flashfloods.
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.” Greta’s words touched a nerve across different sectors because no one wants to be blamed or held accountable for. She continues, “And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
We’ve seen enough, and we know enough. However, we cannot be paralyzed by frustration and anger. What we do next (or what we don’t do) is what we all need to watch out for.
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One of the landmark decisions of the Supreme Court of the Philippines is Oposa v. Factoran, declared that that “every generation has a responsibility to the next to preserve the rhythm and harmony for the full enjoyment of a balanced and healthful ecology”.
It invoked the environmental doctrine of intergenerational responsibility, when petitioners represented their generation as well as “generations yet unborn” and sought to make the DENR Secretary stop issuing a certain set of licenses for commercial logging.
This case was an important contribution to the development of international environmental law.
Going back to the flashfloods – we are now being watched as to how we tak on this intergenerational responsibility. What we do with the Northern Negros Natural Park will be a major measure of our actions and inactions. Do we want roads and infrastructure cutting through it in the name of progress? How are we protecting this watershed and biodiversity bastion?
Conservation is not just a romantic or altruistic cause, it is a pragmatic concern that is affecting our water, air, food, health and safety. And not just ours, but for all future generations of Negrosanons. This view is anthropocentric, but it is how this message becomes urgent.
Greta in her UN speech further said that “the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.”
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“The Eyes Of All Future Generations Are On Us” is a new song that was released on the eve of the year 2021. Composed by Swedish saxophonist Anders Paulsson and performed with Lovisa Regedal Sjögren, Filipino musical artists Joanne Bernal and Tim de la Rama of Bacolod-based Mojo Nova, and children of Barangay Bulata, this is an international collaboration produced long-distance between the Sweden and the Philippines. The production took one year – and in the midst of the pandemic – and with it, is a message that resonates even stronger as we face a new year.
The musicians dedicated the song to Danjugan Island, a wildlife conservation project managed by the Philippine Reef & Rainforest Conservation Foundation (www.prrcf.org) in Cauayan, Negros Occidental, and to all people on Earth who work for ecosystem recovery. The composer Anders Paulsson began his support for Danjugan Island as a volunteer diver on coral reef surveys 20 years ago.
The music video shot by Negros homegrown Grilled Cheese Studios features the rich biodiversity of Danjugan Island and its ecosystems. The song is available for streaming on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and Facebook Watch.
“The Eyes Of All Future Generations Are On Us” hopes to raise our consciousness to turn the tide of ecological threats and climate change. May all of us heed its call to action. – NWI
