Jorr Paraiso, 2025 Climate Communications Fellow

Last April 1 to 3, I attended a three-day in-person convening of climate communications fellows in Bangkok, Thailand. The event was organized by IREX, a non-profit organization focusing on talent education and training. This program was created to help support communication professionals transition from private organizations into the climate justice space.

 

I have met the organizers and fellows thrice during virtual meets prior to this. However, I still found myself in feelings of excitement, nervousness, and anticipation to join this event. First, meeting new people is highly intimidating work for an introvert such as myself. I admit that I enjoy the role of listener more than a speaker because listening to people’s stories is much more interesting, in my opinion. However, since this cohort is quite small, I am anticipating that I cannot escape the inevitable and cannot blend my way into the group.

 

Second, new people and places mean new learnings and experiences. This reason seems to contradict my statement from above. However, in my whole experience as a human being here on Earth, I find that limiting yourself in your own personal bubble hinders growth and development. Yes, I do enjoy a small circle of trusted friends, but as a member of an intellectual social species, this experience would be highly beneficial both to my social and mental health.

 

Lastly, this was my first international solo trip. I already felt fortunate to be accepted for my current role and contribute to the climate justice movement in my country. Now, I feel even more blessed to be flown overseas to meet my cohort in-person and the people who made this opportunity possible.

 

The fellows came from different parts of Asia–one representative each for Malaysia, Thailand, and Bangladesh, and two representatives each for South Korea and the Philippines. Each representative came from different professional backgrounds of journalism, publishing, marketing, advertising, and public relations. They are highly skillful in their field, and I am excited to learn a lot from them in the next few days.

 

 

On our first day, the organizers led the discussion on the cohort’s norms and cultural backgrounds. It was fun to learn the differences in our gestures and behaviors and how these affect our interpersonal communication. At the same time, we were able to establish our boundaries and limitations as a group. This allowed me to gauge on how to interact with my fellow colleagues.

 

Next, we did a Climate Fresk activity. It was a very fun and collaborative experience because we were given picture cards showing climate-related concepts and issues and we had to link these images to create a climate story. Admittedly, I have a limited knowledge and background regarding climate change, with what I have learned from textbooks from my years in school, and I am aware that this information is already out-dated. Through this activity, it helped me easily understand how deep and concerning human activities influence climate change and how it affects our precious planet.

 

The next discussion was a Cultural Change workshop, where we discussed how understanding the layers of political and behavioral norms help shape the general public’s perception of the climate justice movement. As communicators, we need to leverage this information to effectively frame our story-telling and to trigger the feelings and emotions of our audiences.

 

We had a focus group discussion with individuals from two of the host organizations included in this program. It was inspiring to learn about their experiences on social activism and how they have found their place in the green sector. It was also interesting to learn that defamation is taken as a serious matter and is punishable in Thailand, which essentially reminds me that we need to be careful of the facts and information that we share to the general public. While it is our grave responsibility to report what is happening behind the scenes, at the same we need to stick to the facts and set aside our personal opinions on the matter to maintain our credibility.

 

I do believe there is a gap on how the experts feed information to the general public to make the topic interesting and at the same time calling for urgent attention. One of the reasons, I think, is because climate change is very scientific and technical, overwhelming, and the public does not understand the gravity of the situation and how they are affected by it, even indirectly and in the most unassuming ways.

 

On the second day, we went to one of the facilities of Precious Plastic in Bangkok. Precious Plastic is an organization that publicly shares their plastic recycling machinery designs free of charge, aiming to reduce plastic wastes and mitigate its effects across the world. We toured their small facility where we were shown their process of upcycling plastic wastes into new materials–from keychain souvenirs, plant pots, desk organizers to sturdy chairs and tables, cabinets, and cube organizers. They are also working on ideas on producing home kitchen wares using the same recycled materials. Each facility of Precious Plastic in different locations of Thailand produces their own variety of products. After the tour, we made our own accessories for free, using beads and charms made from recycled plastics manufactured in the same facility. We also bought some souvenirs to take home with us. I bought some elephant keychains, table coasters and a bottle opener.

 

 

Our next stop for the tour for the day was at Creative Migration Bangkok 1899, located in a historic building built in 1899. Creative Migration is an organization that aims to bridge the culture and climate issues together through multimedia arts, while also adapting sustainable and green practices in their productions. We had a cozy coffee talk in their cafe, particularly about the history of their organization and what they do. Unfortunately we weren’t able to tour the other areas of the site due to on-going renovations.

 

When we got back to the hotel, we had a group activity session where we were to strategize a communications campaign working with government units to promote reduction of single-use plastics in relation to what we’ve learned from Precious Plastic fieldtrip. It was a very productive session, because we were able to come up with a strategy in just about 10 minutes. Imagine what our group would be able to produce if we were given more time to do research and planning. This session would be most helpful for me because my host organization, 350 Pilipinas, is closely working with grassroot communities, and a huge chunk of the work involves collaboration with Local Government Units (LGUs), among other stakeholders. I am also looking forward to proposing a campaign to add to our portfolio during my tenure of fellowship.

 

The rest of the afternoon was focused on the discussion of David versus Goliath in the world of climate justice, led by Suthida Chawla from Tara Climate Foundation. I have learned that one of the biggest challenges in climate communications is the uphill battle against a monster of an enemy–I am talking about those massive companies who use a myriad of tactics within their disposal to divert the public’s scrutiny away from the serious gravity of their actions, after depleting our natural resources and leaving our planet at the edge of irreversible destruction.  These same companies use the money that they have profited after wearing out the Earth to villainize alternative solutions that are against their agenda. It is truly shocking how dark and entangled the issue of climate is when you start to go deeper down the rabbit hole.

 

This session posed a number of questions to us communications fellows: how do we approach the enemy’s schemes in our advancement of climate justice? Would it be logical for us to fight fire with fire? How do we grapple with these issues without sacrificing the facts and the truth, while also maintaining our ethics? These questions will definitely hang over my head as I dive my way deeper into the climate space. I am hoping that I do not lose sight of the goal and that I will remain hopeful and passionate about fighting for climate justice.

 

For our last day of session, we talked about climate intersectionality. Essentially, how do climate issues overlap with the existing and predominant issues in our society? I admit this has been a struggle for me, because at home we do not commonly talk about social issues, let alone climate-related ones. I became exposed to societal issues only when I entered college, because I studied at one of the state universities in the Philippines that is known for active student protests and activism. I must say that being exposed to a variety of people from all walks of life has helped shape my perspective of the society we live in, and joining a civil society group such as 350 Pilipinas would help me dive deeper to understand and to reflect on societal issues that I have come to overlook over the years, keeping myself grounded and involved in the development sector.

 

 

I understand that I may have written quite a long rant on why I joined the climate space. Yes, the fight for climate justice requires a strong sense of justice, a heart and political will made of steel, and a great demand of time and labor from us. One would argue that Earth’s destruction cannot be reversed and that we are just wasting our precious time.

So is the battle really worth it? I would say yes, definitely! One thing I learned from recent years is that transitions can make us feel scared of the other side while also overwhelmed with new information coming in. However, it is indeed doable–you just need to take that first big step, and the rest will follow. It is also inspiring to see communities adapt to the changing times and climate and how they take matters into their own hands. They are no longer ignoring climate issues and are now considering cleaner and sustainable options available to them.

Following their lead, what we need to do now as members of society is to strongly demand our elected leaders, our nation’s decision makers, to show accountability and to advocate for well-designed and inclusive solutions that will benefit the Filipino people, well above their own interests.

Attending this fellowship has made me realize a few things:

1) It is never too late to restart your career, regardless of age and professional background. All fellows came from the private sectors and are blindly navigating in this transition to this climate space altogether. You need to find your like-minded people because they will be your lifelines.

2) Climate space is a big unknown and there are already a lot of opposing entities that hinder us to achieve our goals. The battle will be brutal and can leave us fatigued in all aspects. On a brighter note, there is a delayed gratification for this cause and we have to keep going for future generations.

3) Change starts within ourselves. We need to break our own habits and choose to live mindful and sustainable. If a career shift, like I did, seems like a long shot, I suggest working on smaller steps first–try to sign-up on volunteering for climate-related actions or attend a community seminar about climate advocates. I would like to reiterate here that small steps, done collectively, is a powerful force. You are never alone in this journey!

 

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Jorranne “Jorr” Paraiso is a Communications Officer at 350 Pilipinas, engaging with local grassroots communities and the media to amplify campaign stories related to clean, renewable energy transition in the Philippines. Before joining 350 Pilipinas, she was a digital content editor at Reed Elsevier Philippines for over four years. Jorr has been leading communication campaigns that advocate for climate just transition, focusing on decarbonization in urban and rural communities in the Philippines. Her passion for green energy enables her to align practical solutions with strategies that are tailored for the masses.​ Jorr holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in Communication Research from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila. After a productive day at work, Jorr enjoys bonding with her dog to unwind.