Renee Karunungan is a university student and researcher, as well as a climate-change communicator and activist. She keeps the blog ‘Stories of Survival, Stories of Us,’ in which she writes—well and movingly--about both the scientific and public-policy aspects of climate change. Her subject matter includes all aspects of climate change: climate-change science, climate-change mitigation, climate-change adaptation, and climate justice (as a Filipina, she is especially cognizant of how climate change has a disproportionate impact on women, children, and the poor).
She is also not afraid to stick up for herself, or to speak truth to power. And that is why she has run afoul of the president of the Philippines and on-again, off-again climate-change denier, Rodrigo Duterte, aka the ‘Filipino Trump.’ And just as young female critics of Trump, such as Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, routinely receive rape and death threats, so too does Ms. Karunungan. And while even in the United States such threats must be taken seriously, especially with Trump occupying the Oval Office, it is even more true in the Philippines, with extra-judicial killings being officially sanctioned by the Duterte government.
Ms. Karunungan has determined that the best way to keep herself safe is to continue with her education in the UK, well beyond the reach of Duterte and his henchmen. But education is expensive, and that is why she started the GoFundMe campaign ‘UK education will help keep me safe’ (updated to ‘Help me research how Facebook affects democracies.’) So please click on the link, read what she has to say, and if moved to do so, contribute what you can to help this worthy young person stay safe, and continue her good and important work.