Gore’s global movement launches caravan on climate action

MANILA, Philippines - The movement founded by former US Vice President Al Gore has launched a caravan that seeks to promote awareness about the need to act on climate change.

The Climate Reality Project (CRP) caravan aims to gather grassroots support to encourage world leaders to forge a strong climate agreement during the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris in December.

The caravan highlights the role of the Filipino youth and the local governments to spur community climate action.

CRP country manager Rodne Galicha said the newest campaign for the Filipino youth is called “Bakit, Bakit Hindi?” an adaptation of the group’s “Why? Why Not?” initiative last year.

“Why? Why Not?” used social networking sites to encourage young people to catalyze collective action in the lead-up to the Paris climate talks.

“In this campaign, young people will be given the opportunity to ask probing questions to government officials, Philippine negotiators and environmental agencies such as the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) and the Climate Change Commission through 30-second videos,” Galicha said.

The videos will be used to encourage discussions in social networking sites over the next few months, especially during the CRP nationwide climate caravan where volunteers will hold dialogues with various sectors.

“We, therefore, encourage local government units and their respective councils to issue resolutions in behalf of their people to call on world leaders to sign a strong and bold climate agreement,” Galicha said.