MANILA, 17 June 2020 – For the fifth episode of “Stories for a Better Normal: Pandemic and Climate Change Pathways,” as part two of the topic on “Growing Your Own Food”, House Deputy Speaker and Antique Representative Loren Legarda will gather experts and home gardeners to exchange stories, approaches and practical tips on building home and community food gardens, which help in building climate resilience and ensuring food security.

The fifth episode will be shown live on Thursday, 18 June 2020, 10 AM, via Facebook at facebook.com/conglorenlegarda and facebook.com/CCCPhl/.

Joining Legarda are millennial urban farmers and sustainable food advocates, including Carlo Sumaoang, Founder of MNL Growkits Corporation (a team of millennials first to offer organic plant kits in the Philippines);  Chef Jam Melchor, Head of the Slow Food Youth Network Philippines and Founder of the Philippine Culinary Heritage Movement; Karla Delgado, Director of Kai Farms (a permaculture farm engaged in seed-saving and education for sustainability based in Silang, Cavite); and Bea Misa-Crisostomo, Owner of Ritual (a sustainable general store).

University of the Philippines (UP) President Danilo Concepcion and wife Atty. Gaby Concepcion; Dr. Carlos Primo David, Chair of the National Panel of Technical Experts (NPTE) of the Climate Change Commission (CCC) and a UP Diliman professor on earth science and environment; and Dr. Pablo Crespo, president of the University of Antique, will also join the online conversation.

Reactors will include Assistant Director Rosana Mula from the Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Training Institute (DA-ATI), Atty. Paula Aberasturi of Down to Earth PH, and Ms. Sonia Mendoza of Mother Earth Foundation.

Legarda, author of House Bill No. 637 or the Food Forest Gardening Act of 2019, highlighted the importance of establishing food gardens as a sustainable practice to help ensure food supply and availability while helping address climate impacts, during the previous episode of “Growing Your Own Food” aired last May 21.

Part one of the topic also discussed the government’s “Plant, Plant, Plant Program” which aims to increase the country’s agri-fishery output in order to support productivity across all commodities, as well as the DA-ATI’s distribution of free household starter kits on home gardening for those living in areas with no adequate space for gardens.

For this upcoming episode, Legarda will further provide practical tips to encourage households and communities to start their own home and community food gardens as well as implement ecological solid waste management.

As an online discussion to promote health, environmental consciousness, and climate-adaptive practices, Stories for a Better Normal aims to change the mindset of individuals, families, and communities by demonstrating ways in which a ‘better normal’ can be realized within our communities.
           
This online discussion is organized in partnership between the Office of Deputy Speaker Legarda and the Climate Change Commission, with support from the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities and Mother Earth Foundation.