A NEGRENSE youth climate advocate was the only Filipino to be given a prestigious title as “global changemaker” this year by international organization Global Changemakers mainly for the “solution” he initiated addressing climate change and plastic pollution.
Elmeer Meeynard Calimpos, 21, of Barangay 16 in Bacolod City, was among the 60 young people chosen out of 1,294 applicants from different countries in the world.
He will represent the Philippines in the week-long Global Youth Summit in Switzerland on July 13 to 19 this year.
Calimpos said joining the event is a freedom for a young Filipino like him to represent the Philippines - to tell its conservation stories, struggles, and legacies.
“I want to attend this summit because I firmly care for my country which is one of the largest polluters of the ocean in the whole world,” he said, adding that “I want to explore with the dynamic culture of other nations and how they achieved sustainability through transformative research and innovation.”
As a child advocate for climate, Calimpos said he wants his fellow “changemakers” to get closer to the children of their community since it is evident that mortality rate across the globe is increasing due to the changing climate.
“I want Global Youth Summit 2019 because of the knowledge-skills-attitude-values from the speakers which shall also be my guide in shaping my community for the better,” he said, adding that “I believe I can make a big difference through global partnerships and collaborations.”
All aged between 18 and 23, this year’s “global changemakers” were selected through a rigorous process to represent 42 nations including Togo, Bhutan, South Sudan, Belarus, Pakistan, Lesotho, Tunisia and Philippines, among others.
The cohort will join the network of “global changemakers” comprised of at least 1,000 young leaders from across the world whose works have impacted over four million people.
Beginnings
For Calimpos, he founded the Bacolod Core: Children Optimization for the Revitalization of Environment, a local youth-led organization with a heart for building a community of environmentally conscious children for the children to their children, the nation, and to God.
Through the organization formed in February 2018, he is advocating for a multi-step learning process to the children on their formative stage by inculcating values of environmental stewardship through education, experiential learning and exposure for a sustainable and balanced ecology.
In November 2017, as Calimpos recalled, he visited one of the communities in the Negros Occidental capital city.
He was disturbed upon witnessing the children diving in a degraded sea side full of trashes primarily composed of single-used like diapers, napkins, sando bags, sachets, and worse, feces of both animals and humans.
“It was ultimately heart breaking when my team knew that they were doing such act --- competing for trash --- just to earn even just a small amount of money,” the Bacolod Core founder said.
Banking on that experience, Calimpos strived to join the Negrosanon Young Leaders Summit Wave 2 which led him in the creation of the Ecological Saturdays Initiative.
It’s a multi-step learning process for children age 9 to 12 years old aimed at providing education, experiential learning and exposure as well as economic empowerment opportunity.
The project pushes for instilling values to participants on their earliest awareness stage as possible.
Under which, the Bacolod Core volunteers are conducting weekly activities that will capacitate kids towards environmental awareness and action.
One of the project highlights is the Core Bamboo Coin Bank. Instead of buying candies and junk food, the group teaches children to save for themselves and their community.
Some 30 children of Barangay Tangub have been attending the Saturday classes. They have grown interests and excitement to become future leaders of the community.
The initiative will cover another group of 30 kids starting next month.
“By God’s grace, I was blessed with members who courageously helped out in the creation of a child- focused environmental organization,” Calimpos said.
Empowerment
The Global Changemakers is an international youth organization head quartered at Zurich in Switzerland and present in 180 countries.
First created under the British Council in 2007, it became an independent organization in 2014 and is a pioneer in supporting youth-led development through grant funding, skills development, networking and exposure to opportunities.
The organization has supported over 320 youth-initiated projects impacting millions of people around the globe.
For the Global Changemakers, the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development emphasizes young people as critical agents of change and Calimpos is a testament to this.
Calimpos said climate change is a serious issue. Filipinos may not have a clear threshold to declare Philippines in a state of climate emergency but the adverse effects cannot be denied globally.
Citing reports from the United Nations, Calimpos said there are many children suffering from poor quality of air, water shortage, hunger and skin diseases due to industrialization and capitalism.
“I believe that by empowering the children of our local communities and teach them to connect and nurture with the nature, then we will have better set of leaders in the near future,” he said.
The Negrense youth leader added “my team and I always thrive to create communities of environmentally-conscious children in action by inculcating to them the values of empathy and simplicity most of the time.”
Looking forward
During the Global Youth Summit, participants will attend lead training sessions, networking and workshops to enhance their skills such as campaigning, fundraising, project management, leadership, public relations, pitching and learning from each other’s experiences.
The “changemakers” will also have the opportunity to pitch their ideas to an enabling panel for the eligibility to apply for grant funding in order to scale up existing initiatives or create new projects.
Calimpos said he will pitch his organization’s ongoing project for the children of Barangay Tangub as it needs fund for sustainability.
As he looks forward to extending the project in other local communities, Calimpos said they will coordinate with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources - Environment Management Bureau for the identification of the most vulnerable areas.
“I will emphasize the power of small communities and encourage the people to think globally as they act locally,” he added.