Fossil Free really changed a lot of things for me.
I had never actively participated in an environmental group before, but with the feeling of wanting to do something good, I signed the petition, and watched ‘This Changes Everything’ at the first 2016 community event. And it did.
First I was just taking care of the stall, but quickly became part of the Core Team. It was one of the best feelings ever, finally being passionate about something incredibly important, and most crucially, actually doing something about climate change.
The vote in my Filipino Students’ Association general meeting to gain official support for the fossil free campaign has probably been the most defining moment of my time at FFUoA. It showed the harsh reality that not everyone is going to be as passionate about divestment as myself. Let’s just say, a lot of tears were involved (I’m a very emotional person). It was frustrating because I didn’t know why I cared so much. I had only been in Fossil Free for a week, but I was already so affected by it in that short amount of time.
But I know now this is because of the amount of faith I have that I’m doing the right thing. I know that may not fly with a lot of people. But to me, it’s the right thing to do. I always repeat this over and over: it is one step. Divestment can’t create miracles on its own. And maybe, if we all play our part in this, perhaps we can create that miracle. One step is always better than none. It’s better than accepting that that’s the way things are; that it’s the direction our society and world is going.
I don’t want another Typhoon Haiyan where everyone feels grief and sadness, and acceptance of just another natural disaster that we have no control over. I want people to know that disasters of such intensity are tied to climate change. They’re a consequence of our carelessness combined with nature’s way. Not just ours (Filipinos), but everyone’s actions. They may not occur often, but when they do, they hit terribly. They affect millions. So many lives. We may not feel it as much here in New Zealand, but it still exists.
In particular, I remember the 8th November 2013. I was watching the news and seeing people of my country suffering, and worrying if my relatives were all right, asking: is someone I know there? I watched children on the street crying for their family, dead bodies lying limp on the streets, the horrible aftermath. And also a feeling of hopelessness - that it was going to happen again, because it was starting to become a tragic norm.
I felt like there was nothing I could do to change it, or to lessen it. Nothing I could do to help because I was so far away.
But here I am, taking this step. Because living sustainably isn’t going to create change at the rate we need it to. The system needs to change, and with that, it’ll be easier for all of us to change too.