Covering Climate Change and the Environment
We talk to multimedia journalist Purple Romero about telling stories on climate change and the environment, and how we can fight back against disinformation in the news and on social media.
In celebration of National Women’s Month in the Philippines, Parabukas will be sharing stories from our women Fellows – the organization’s pool of brilliant collaborators – who are doing important work in the fight against climate change through research, awareness-raising, and climate justice advocacy.
For our third feature we go over to Parabukas Fellow Purple Romero, who is currently part of the editorial board of unbiasthenews.org, a cross-border newsroom which focuses on underreported issues across the globe and is part of the team behind "From A Climate Correspondent," a newsletter which features reports about climate issues in different regions. She is also a teaching assistant at HKU Journalism, where she helps students learn how to fact check and debunk disinformation.
Q: Hi Purple! Can you tell us more about yourself?
I'm part of the editorial board of unbiasthenews.org , a cross-border newsroom which focuses on underreported issues across the globe and is part of the team behind "From A Climate Correspondent," a newsletter which features reports about climate issues in different regions. I'm also a teaching assistant at HKU Journalism, where I help students learn how to fact-check and debunk disinformation.
Q: How did you get into journalism? When did you start reporting on climate change and the environment?
Purple at the 42nd session of the SBI and SBSTA held at Bonn, Germany from 1-11 June, 2015.
Writing has been my anchor and source of peace and courage since I can remember. I realized I wanted to be a journalist though in particular when a teacher in high school said I have the knack for it. I started reporting about climate change and environment in 2008, when after a conference on climate change, I noticed there were only four journalists who covered the event on the first day and then almost none on the second day. I wondered then why it wasn't being reported on extensively when the Philippines is a disaster-prone country.
Q:From your experience, what are some best practices when it comes to climate change communications?
For me, it's mainly about the optimal use of the format and medium to make sure that your message will one, reach the audience and two, encourage and empower them to engage with you. Integral elements and strategies of this will be localization, verifying the accuracy of what you're relaying and contextualizing the experiences of communities and sectors affected by climate change.
Q: Is there a difference between how local media and international media cover climate change or environment-related issues?
Climate change reportage on a local and international level are both robust. Local media and the media in Asia Pacific have done an amazing job in reporting about the climate vulnerability of sectors, as well as climate solutions. Western mainstream media have consistently reported on the climate negotiations, the impacts of climate change on the economy and the implications of climate policies of the world's most powerful countries. Latin America media has bravely reported on the threats faced by climate activists. There's stellar reporting on health and climate issues in Africa, among others. The reporting is continuously evolving and improving in different parts of the world.
Q: What’s something that you think the Philippine media should cover more? How could they improve their coverage of climate change, especially since the Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change impacts?
Climate science is a subject which can be discussed more comprehensively and it's about time that we do a deep dive on climate policies, actions (what worked, what didn't and why) as well as the allocation and use of climate finance.
Q: There’s a deluge of misinformation regarding climate change coming from dubious sources, especially on social media. How do we fight it?
You engage, you don't antagonize. You explain and educate, not alienate. Debunking disinformation works best when you use it to encourage people to learn more, when you push them to start asking questions and not when you do it to contribute to the division.
You engage, you don't antagonize. You explain and educate, not alienate. Debunking disinformation works best when you use it to encourage people to learn more, when you push them to start asking questions and not when you do it to contribute to the division.
Q: Have you encountered any stories siguro, particularly as a multimedia journalist, where women's rights and climate change issues intersect?
The intersection between climate change and women's rights is a fundamental framework. There should always be space in media platforms for analyzing and understanding this intersection. As a journalist, I've written about stories which showed this in particular - some relate to women's rights protection under REDD+ safeguards and women in Guiuan who had to find ways to bear the economic brunt caused by tropical storm Yolanda in 2013. The latter is a story which showed not just the vulnerability of women, however, but their capacity to adapt to climate impacts - after their respective husbands lost their main source of income as Yolanda's strong winds knocked down hundreds and hundreds of coconut trees, the women saw themselves forming a cooperative and planting more climate-resilient crops instead.
Q: Did you encounter any challenges in the workplace as a result of you being a woman?
I worked in newsrooms and with people which are thankfully, very supportive of women. Having said this, I know discrimination and sexism exist anywhere and everywhere - there are structural reasons for this, which we should address and change.
Q: If you could offer any advice for aspiring journalists, especially those who would want to cover climate, what would it be?
Never let anyone tell you climate change is a non-story.
Q: What is your favorite part of your job?
Being able to learn from others and witnessing how people reclaim their narrative and agency.
Q: Who or what are some of your biggest influences and inspirations?
The whole Newsbreak team (Newsbreak is led by some of the editors at Rappler now. They're the kind of journalists who inspire by example, with their courageous reporting). The female journalists I get to learn from, from unbiasthenews.org. Dean Tony.
Everyone who dared to dream not only for his or herself, but for others.
Q: What are some of the other things that take up your time?
Reading, writing, hiking, exploring various kinds of music - currently enjoying Kpop, Cantopop, songs of Indonesian, Japanese, Thai artists.
Q: Where can people see and follow your work?
My articles have been published in vice.com, Asia Sentinel, South China Morning Post, Climate Home, AFP. I write essays and poems too.