The Good Balita

Two young Filipinos are set to participate with the global leaders, who will convene to discuss climate change in Copenhagen in Denmark from December 7 to 21, 2009.

Dubbed as the biggest convention after Kyoto Protocol, the leaders of United Nations Climate Change Conference will iron out platforms to “reduce global warming emissions and ultimately chart a course that avoids the most severe impacts of climate change.”

Paul Darwynn Garilao and Alfonso Orioste, Jr., graduates of De La Salle University – Manila, joined the “Raise Your Voice” campaign sponsored by CNN, Youtube, and the Danish government. The online contest encourages individuals to send videos with their views, opinions, and questions about the global event.

The two best video campaigns will win through public voting from November 6 to 30,2009.

If they able to generate a significant number of votes, the Filipino advocates will represent the Philippines and raise environmental concerns with the leaders during the convention. This will also be aired on CNN/YouTube Debates on December 15.

“We ask everyone to vote for our entry as climate change is a major issue we have to address with urgent importance. One click will make all the difference,” Orioste said.

Here are steps to vote:

1. Visit www.youtube.com/cop15
2. Click Vote.
3. Search Philippines on the videos per country.
4. Kindly click the “green thumbs up” sign for the entry entitled: “Raise Your Voice by Filipino environmental advocates.”
5. Post this on Facebook and Twitter.

The video can be viewed here. Their campaign video is the only entry from the Philippines.

“We are massively campaigning for our video through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. We have also tapped schools and environmental organizations to use the video as a campaign drive to fight climate change,” Garilao said.

The YouTube COP15 team featured their video together with other four contenders from Germany, France, India, and Italy. Click the URL here.

In the video entry, the young guys discuss disaster management system and major shift to use alternative energies. Based on viewpoints from a developed and developing nation, they highlight action plans to reduce carbon emissions by industries and implement preventive measures to avoid the severe impacts of natural disasters.

Garilao is an engineer who worked in public relations firm in Manila. His college research on LPG two stroke engine is focused on alternative energies.

Graduated honorable mention in La Salle, Orioste is now taking his law in San Beda College. “As we have experienced, the storm Ondoy (Ketsana) taught us a lot of lessons. This is a wakeup call for the Philippine government to implement laws and programs on environmental management and disaster preparedness. We want to echo this concern to the Philippine government and the global leaders of UN Climate Change Conference,” Orioste shared.

“We may not be the experts in this field, but it is our passion to keep the conversations on climate change issues rolling both in the communities and the cyberspace. If we are given the chance to go to Copenhagen, we will return our key learning points to communities in the Philippines,” Garilao said to encourage everyone to translate their voices into actions against climate change.

 

Related posts:

1. Vote for Pinoys in CNN/YouTube climate change video title
2. Garilao, Orioste’s Copenhagen video diary on Google
3. Pinoys join global leaders in CNN/YouTube Debate
4. 2 Pinoys win in CNN/YouTube Debates contest
5. Pinoy CNN/YouTube winning entry on-air in Copenhagen

 

 

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