Blogs
The bilateral meeting that I was part of was with the students and teachers in the Philippines from Saint Joseph's Academy, Las Pinas, Philippines. It was awesome to be able to talk with everyone and hear what climate issues they are experiencing and what is being done to solve and reduce the impacts of these issues. I learn't from the conference that their school has over 1422 students and 122 faculty staff. This is similar to Pimlico State High School in Townsville, Australia which has over 1800 students and 130 faculty staff. I also learnt that in Manila Bay their government has placed white sand which is crushed dolomite containing heavy metals that when it is washed into the ocean it increases the acidity of the water which has had a negative impact on the marine life and corals that are in the bay. Due to the siltation of the water due to this over 500m of corals in that area have been destroyed due to the dolomite sand. The chosen case study that our class presented was on unconventional gas exploration in Victoria and their presentation was on the dolomite mining. Some similarities with both of these issues is that they both have significant health impacts on the people working with it and the people that use it. Another similarity is that they both impact on the local marine life and reefs that surround the area. It was really good to hear that youth environmentalist over in the Philippines are sending out petitions to try and stop the dumping of the dolomite sand into Manila Bay. A challenge that both countries are having is getting the local and national politics to get on board and listen to what the youth have to say about the issues. It was great to meet everyone from the Philippines and I hope to be able to speak with everyone again.
