In Conversation with Vhon Michael Tobes
Vhon Michael Tobes (he/him) is an 18-year old climate justice activist based in the Philippines. He is the director of Zero Hour Asia, the founder of Zero Hour Philippines, and an ambassador with the UN Environment Programme. Vhon is also a rising sophomore at the University of San Carlos majoring in political science, international relations, and economics.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The EJP How did you get into climate activism?
Vhon Many events led to my involvement in climate activism. The first was in 2013 when Super Typhoon Haiyan struck my island in the Philippines. Then in 2015, I represented my region at the National Science Quest and our topic was climate change. I was also inspired by my 8th-grade science teacher.
The EJP Writing is also a big part of what you do: You refer to yourself as a climate activist and a writer, how did your passion for writing start?
Vhon I taught myself how to speak English because our education system here isn't very good, especially for us in low-lying communities. So I started writing when I was in the third grade, first with poetry, then I joined my school’s publication, and ever since I've been trying to reinvent myself and try to find my style and my voice.
The EJP How do you feel about the steps that the Filipino government has taken to combat climate change?
Vhon They keep saying that they're taking action against climate change but in reality, they're not. A lot of the policies that they're submitting allegedly to save and protect the environment aren't really doing much, because they aren’t reviewed or held accountable.
The EJP Given the Phillippines’ hostile political environment, how do you feel about branding yourself as an activist?
Vhon I’ve talked about this a lot with my friends and some people at Zero Hour Philippines. I even had to shut down Zero Hour Philippines because we were being targeted, so now I’m currently running Zero Hour Philippines on my own. And the Philippines is the second most dangerous country for environmental defenders, with tens of hundreds of environmental defenders and Indigenous peoples killed every year.
The EJP How exactly has Zero Hour Asia/Philippines been targeted?
Vhon We've gotten death threats in our inbox. And it's funny because I'm the youngest of Zero Hour Philippines, and I'm leading it, so they think that I'm a terrorist. But I’m literally a child. I just graduated high school.
The EJP You write a lot about your mental health and struggling with eco-anxiety: Can you elaborate on how you have grappled with your mental health regarding the climate crisis?
Vhon In my most recent article, I reflected on my experiences with climate anxiety and burnout, but the more I learn their definitions, I don’t think they apply to me. I never really had the privilege to feel fear. The only thing I have ever felt was panic. I never had the luxury to feel anxious about what the days ahead would bring because I was busy thinking about the trauma, anger, and all the emotions that these present disasters have already brought us.
Then my mind starts controlling my body and I just freeze. I think my already existing mental health issues have been amplified by the climate crisis.
The EJP Your writing is very open, you are very emotionally vulnerable with your words. And, you know, historically, that's not been a space that men have occupied. How do you deal with and overcome toxic masculinity?
Vhon I’ve always been vulnerable, I’ve always toed the line between “masculinity” and “femininity.” Ever since I was a child, I’ve felt the need to express myself. In recent years, I've had people attacking me for being too feminine, or for being too vulnerable. But aside from that, I've always been comfortable with putting my emotions into what I write. I think it’s just my kind of style. That's the way I let the world see me. The real me. And not just this facade that I've created for people.
The EJP How did you organize the Zero Hour Philippines coalition into fruition?
Vhon I've actually never really gotten involved in national organizing, per se. Because like I said, I’m a grassroots organizer. I started my activism by going to different schools near me and different communities, and just talking to the people and sharing our lived experiences with climate change.
With Zero Hour Philippines, I’ve actually started it with a one-man protest, where I strike outside the capital building of different provinces and regions. At first, I didn’t post these protests on social media, because I didn’t know that was a thing, that you posted protests. But then I realized that it could be a tool for me, so I started posting about my once a month protests. That's when I started getting messages of support, and how I got people to join Zero Hour Philippines. From there, we organized our first Youth Climate Conference and Youth Climate March here in the Philippines.
The EJP Could you elaborate on what your methods of protest are?
Vhon I advocate for a lot of things, from anti-plastic pollution, anti-fossil fuel, climate education, etc. I've been trying to get my department of education to include climate education in the curriculum. Even in my own city, I've been trying to get them to get on board with this whole strategy to spread awareness about climate change by including climate education and activism into our curriculum.
But what I mostly do is that I get in touch with school organizations, youth organizations in schools, the Supreme Student Government, the Supreme Student Council, and the lectures they use for the environment in schools. For me, it’s more than just building partnerships with them. It’s about building actual friendship — that’s one of my approaches.
I also have a principle that I’ve lived by since I started activism, which is to educate, inspire, and mobilize. So I really focus on climate education, because we can't really inspire people if they don't know what climate change is. Then I try to inspire them into taking action by using my courage and my commitment to mobilize people. I don’t try to force them to join organizations because I believe that we each have our own different ways of expressing ourselves. I just tell them that you can do all sorts of actions at different levels: You can do it at your home, in your school, in your city, anywhere, really. And don’t be afraid of telling people what you know about climate change because in a short time, they would like to see your action and they will be inspired by it. And soon enough, you'll be leading a lot of people to take action against climate change.
The EJP What keeps you grounded and motivated as an activist?
Vhon It's about being authentic. Also, I grew up loving nature. My house is literally a forest. There are plants everywhere. Even inside our house. But yeah, I think it's in being authentic. If you know that this is your passion, you won't really lose focus. You might feel burnout. You will definitely feel stressed at times. But you really won’t get out of focus because this is your passion. You love it. And of course, it’s more than just being online. It’s also genuinely loving nature and the world around you.
The EJP Do you feel optimistic about humanity’s ability to successfully combat the climate crisis?
Vhon I’m not sure. This is not to say that I am pessimistic, but that I’m in between those sides of pessimism and optimism. I'm in this thin line between those sides. I think it's finally time for us, especially our governments to start hearing from grassroots leaders, indigenous peoples, and scientists because they know what climate change is. They know the solutions.
Our scientists have been explaining, and giving us solutions for years now. Also, our indigenous people and our grassroots communities have been telling us about climate change and have been telling us about what they’ve been experiencing for years.
I believe that those who are experiencing the issue firsthand, those who are on the frontlines, are closest to the solution because they know what to do. They know how it feels. They know the strategies to take in order to resolve this issue. But they don't have enough support. So we need to focus on how we can help our grassroots communities and use their lived experiences as not just inspiration to combat climate change but as a model of solutions to the climate crisis.
The EJP What is Zero Hour Philippines working on right now?
Vhon We’re currently working on partnering with different schools and also the Department of Education in different regions to draft a current curriculum with factual information about climate change that we hope will be very easy to understand. I'm also focusing on reclamation projects and demanding my city transition to renewable energy.