Do you see them?

Photo Source: Valerie Weigmann Instagram

Last week I was in Bangkok, oblivious to the fact that the Ms Universe Pageant was being held and the Philippine beauty Catriona Gray was winning. I don’t care much about pageants, and I didn’t know who she is, but on my return, my social media news feeds were filled with her photos, and the one above struck me the most.

Since I started working on children’s programs recently in Cambodia, I am acutely more aware of them now. And despite my long experience in social development, this is the first time I am working in an organization focused on children. I was pleasantly surprised that the new Ms Universe has done some work with children in the slums and highlighted them in the Q&A.

Vegans have the right to eat too!

Just grabbed this from the Greenpeace website: http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/ph/press/releases/Batarisorgph-Greenpeace-launches-online-platform-for-people-powered-environmental-and-social-change/

Ok, ok. I know what you are thinking. I’m a relentless petition signer, and I’m a serial petition writer. I’m overly optimistic, delusional, crazy even, to believe that online signatures could help change the world (in fact they do, too!) I decry the fact that I’m practically a nomad, a rootless environmentalist who couldn’t last more than five years in a place since I had the right to choose where to live. I would love to do grassroots action, and I envy a lot of my fellow greenies who get to build work in their communities. I have also done a lot of initiatives wherever I was in my home country. But I was disappointed when I had to uproot myself again and move. It is disconcerting, to say the least when you have to uproot yourself every so often. I am more aware of it now that I am a development worker abroad.

Top ten tips to become vegan

While helping fellow climate reality leaders prepare for our local event in line with the 24 Hours of Reality, I was assigned to write something about my own climate action, so I decided to write about tips on how to become vegan. Here is what I submitted: