Makati City, British Embassy host first Poets for Climate exhibit

October 29, 2022

Makati City—The first Poets for Climate Exhibit opened yesterday at the City Hall of Makati featuring 12 poems depicting how the climate crisis is undoing and transforming the landscapes and places we call home.

The exhibit, entitled “The Making And Unmaking of Places: Stories of Loss, Resilience, And Restoration Using Poetry and Art,” is curated by The Climate Reality Project Philippines in partnership with the City Government of Makati and the British Embassy in Manila. It will run at the city hall until November 7 and will travel to the University of Makati and Glorietta in the following weeks.

“You cannot discuss resilience [building] or [climate change] mitigation without mentioning loss,” Makati Mayor Mar-len Abigail Binay said during the opening of the exhibit, noting that climate change threats and vulnerabilities are shared by all.

“If you cannot recognize the fact that climate change is already happening then you are truly blind. And if you are not preparing for action today, then there will be no tomorrow. We have to act now,” Mayor Binay said. “This is a collective effort. This is not just the Philippines. This is not just Makati. This has to be a global effort,” she added.

The exhibit is an off-shoot of Poets for Climate, a collaborative project between the Climate Reality Project branches in Africa, Canada, and the Philippines that aims to harness humanities and the arts in amplifying the vicious cycle of loss and damage experienced by vulnerable communities. It is a response to When Is Now, a global poetry and art movement initiated by the Agam Agenda with 58 vulnerable countries of the Climate Vulnerable Forum.

“We are very happy to have found the first home of Poets for Climate here in Makati City,” Nazrin Castro, Branch Manager of The Climate Reality Project Philippines, said during the launch of the exhibit.

“The support of the City Government signifies that it stands in solidarity with Climate Reality and the Agam Agenda in bridging the arts and humanities in movements, policy spaces, and leadership spheres for climate action and sustainable development,” she added.

Ken O’Flaherty, United Kingdom Government’s COP26 Regional Ambassador to Asia-Pacific and South Asia, underscored the need to build more pathways for arts to be a source of inspiration for individuals, communities, and political leaders to evolve for a shift to climate-smart practices and policies.

“The most effective way to talk about climate change is to share real-life stories,” O’Flaherty said. “Through showing those impacts, we come to have a sense of collective responsibility, collective determination for positive change,” he added.

Since its launch in July this year, Poets for Climate has generated more than 100 poems from around 75 youth leaders, climate advocates, and poets from Cameroon, Canada, Kenya, Nigeria, Philippines, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Zambia. It has also unveiled murals in the cities of Johannesburg in South Africa, Montreal in Canada, and Iloilo and Isabela in the Philippines.

Following the launch of the Makati Exhibit, Poets for Climate will also showcase poems and artworks on the sidelines of the 27th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will be held from 6 to 18 November 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Climate Reality Philippines is inviting other local governments, organizations, and institutions to co-host a Poets For Climate exhibit. Interested groups could reach the organization at philippines@climatereality.com.

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