Nobody talks about rejection

Nobody talks about the sharp pang of failure that hits you like a thunderbolt after you get that rejection letter. Nobody talks about that heart-sinking feeling you get when you realize that the call for a third panel interview isn’t going to arrive. Nobody brandishes rejection in a world that celebrates bagging that dream job, […]

The Man from Kashmir

Before chancing upon his shop, I was taking a long walk from my hotel to the Chao Phraya River because I needed to see water, which calms my frazzled nerves and anxious soul. Well, sometimes, comfort can come in the form of a cashmere scarf in sapphire blue—the color of the sea—with the most detailed embroidery in gold.

The Philippines’ Commitment to Fight Climate Change

Before world leaders and climate negotiators converged in Paris last December, countries submitted their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to chart a low-carbon, climate-resilient future for the planet and its inhabitants.

Turning the Tide Against Marine Pollution

The health of our seas hangs in the balance not just because of overfishing, unsustainable fishing practices, and the intensifying impacts of climate change. Marine pollution also poses substantial harm to our seas. An estimated eight million tonnes of plastic waste – roughly 17.6 billion pounds – are dumped into our seas every year.

Keeping Hope Afloat Two Years After Haiyan

Today – more than two years after Haiyan – Erma’s husband and Bibot are back in the water with their own fibreglass boats. Fishers from their villages also rely on these humble yet powerful 15-foot bancas they themselves built.

Treasures of the Sulu Sea

Cagayancillo is a sixth-class municipality whose people live below the poverty threshold for rural communities. The environment is its lifeline; take away its richness and you cripple its people’s ability to sustain themselves, leapfrog into development, and secure a better future for their children.

No Bio, No Boto: A 10-Point Guide to Registering for the 2016 Elections

Our choice of national and local leaders will help create opportunities and influence policies that affect how we live. We all have our own long list of big dreams for our country, but instead of merely ranting about civic and national issues, we have the power to elect leaders and policymakers that could provide viable and long-term solutions.

The Magic of Mabag

I remember seeing the tall waves crashing violently against the limestone cliffs that defined the island’s shoreline. I remember how humbled I felt while standing in the great wide open, on the island’s northwestern tip — imagining the humpback whales swimming hundreds of meters away, beneath the Babuyan Channel’s glorious sapphire waters.

The Return of the Giants

Donsol in the Philippine province of Sorsogon is a popular tourist destination for whale shark interaction. A town whose booming economy was fuelled by the butanding, Donsol has risen from a fifth-class to a first-class municipality since a community-based whale shark ecotourism program was established in 1998.

At the Heart of Conservation

This is the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Marine Park, the Philippines’ hotbed of marine life, where the underwater world is at its busiest, wildest and most dynamic. Regarded as the Crown Jewel of the Coral Triangle – the planet’s center for marine biodiversity – Tubbataha is a priority conservation site of WWF-Philippines.