Tara Sayuri Whitty

One of the great tragedies of climate change is that it will severely impact those who had very little to do with causing the problem.  Natural resource-dependent communities – such as small-scale fisheries – in developing nations face a number of ongoing and potential future threats caused by the actions of developed countries.

A friend of mine, Ryan, was in Palawan with me while he was a Peace Corp Volunteer.  Among his many impressive activities, he taught students about climate change.  I’ll never forget him relating this to me (paraphrased): “It’s frustrating, because they ask me what they can do about it – and they can’t really do anything to stop it, because they aren’t part of the cause.  All I can tell them is that they need to adapt and manage their resources to make them more resilient.”

The impact of climate change on my field sites was apparent…