Appreciating traditional knowledge – from elders to textbooks

ANNMARY RADUVA

AnnMary Raduva is a 16 year old in Year 11 at Saint Joseph’s Secondary School in Fiji. She is a teen climate activist and conservationist and founder of “Say NO to Balloon Releasing Fiji” (1) and “Young Eco-Champs Fiji” (2) . AnnMary is an internationally-recognised eco-champ, public speaker, influencer, advocate and student.

Informal education like songs, art, storytelling and traveling taught me more about how to preserve the environment than learning that in the classroom. It has helped me to recognise the pollution that is linked to the releasing of balloons. It will take a while for people to equate the release of balloons into the atmosphere with future pollution.

Pacific Islanders do have a special relationship with the climate because their lives evolve around the sea. It is their source of food security. My mother shares how the climate and the sea patterns dictate their protein supply: the darkest night of the month, lit lit he ta, means lobsters, and a moonlit and very low tide on the reef means red bass. They equate the weather patterns and seasons with food stock. The traditional navigators know the currents, the wind patterns, the stars to steer by and the season to set sail. They judge the prevailing winds and know the best tropical food to preserve for those long voyages. This knowledge needs to be re-taught, for us and the beautiful planet. The traditional knowledge is present in the villages, but how much of that is passed down to the children is an open question. My mother grew up on the far-flung island of Rotuma, 460km north-west of Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu. She relays how the elders taught them the tell-tale warning signs that a tsunami is arriving and identifying the beginning of the hurricane season; spanning November to April. They were lessons inherited during her childhood.

To some, my ‘Say No Balloon Release Campaign’ is an intrusion on their rights, a restriction on their event management and enjoyment. The establishment of the “Say NO to Balloon Releasing” and the “Young Eco Champions Network” aim to empower and support young activists, because we feel that not a lot of attention is given to young activists below the age of 18, thus the urgency to establish a network or league for young ecochampions. Not everyone’s story will go viral but the more empowering stories we have, the better it is. Additionally, this is our future we are talking about. The recent environmental breaches here in Fiji namely, at Savusavu and Malolo 3 , are a wake-up call for my generation.

I also created the Young Eco Champions network for children under 18 to reshape the awareness landscape around climate change and the ecological crisis. I am confident that this network of young, inspired and empowered activists will create change in protecting our environment. There is always a misconception that young children have no say on climate change and conservation issues, and we face discrimination because of our age and gender.

In my effort to raise awareness on the effects of balloons, I wrote a letter to the Fijian government calling on them to revise the Fiji Litter Act 2008. It needs to be updated. These environment guidelines must classify balloon releasing as littering and we must always look for ecofriendlier alternative ways to celebrate events and lifetime achievements. One of them is planting mangroves, trees and walking the conservation talk.

My knowledge of the environment started at home at a very young age. We lived, then, on the family farm and my late paternal grandfather taught me so much about the weather and its effects on farm life. He was a retired Fijian military officer and an organic farmer, and he would talk about how to preserve the soil and ‘rejuvenate’ its nutrients. He would patiently explain why the contour style of planting and how the seasons dictated which crops to grow. He also shared his experiences in the Middle East in regard to the weather patterns and the minimalistic lifestyle of the desert dwellers.

Later, in 2012 and again in 2016, I holidayed in the desert of the United Arab Emirates with my maternal grandparents. They live in the Oasis City of Al Ain and they took me to Green Mubazzarah, a parkland on the outskirts of the city. I was amazed at its greenery and well-kept lawns. Today, I am pleased to read that the mangrove walk in Abu Dhabi is now open to the public. It is ‘a gorgeous boardwalk amidst a landscape of mangroves that stretches along Yas Island.’ So basically, I learned more about the environment and climate change at home than at school.

There is a growing trend around the world recognising that disposable plastics are damaging to the environment. Global, regional and in-country awareness of both plastic disposal and release of balloons must begin at home and be re-enforced at school. If a child cannot identify that plastic is litter and is harmful to the flora and fauna, then we face an uphill struggle in preserving our environment. I know that the challenge to make the public aware of the harmful effects of released balloons is a task – particularly in Fiji – but I am determined to press on because it is so important to protect the environment and all the beautiful creatures. Some may say my passion is idealistic, I say it is practical and essential for the survival of our planet.

AnnMary on the streets of lower Manhattan with students from New York, at the New York City climate strike march on September 20, 2019. AnnMary says: “We had something in common - we are fighting for our planet together!”

Thinking of quality education for the future, all stakeholders must seriously consider including climate change and its escalating crisis into all school syllabi! It must be an integral part of any worthy curriculum not just another chapter in a glossy textbook.

There must be a global awareness of the effects of climate change irrespective of location, state of vulnerability, a country’s gross domestic product (GDP), its industrial might or if it is a laidback Pacific haven – even though our islands and atolls are on the frontline of climate change and sea level rise. Climate change matters the same everywhere in the world. Any school – formal or informal – must talk climate change in the simplest and most pragmatic way. Climate change awareness must start with toddlers and travel to the senior citizens. It is imperative that the world’s custodians – all of us – manage our resources, relook at green-clean-lean environmental practices and re-nurture Mother Earth.

1. https://www.facebook.com/annmary.raduva.3

2. https://twitter.com/annmary_raduva

3. Wasuka, E (2019, April 17) ‘Fiji Opposition calls for checks on other development projects in light of Freesoul case’. Retrieved from: https:// www.abc.net.au/radio-australia/programs/pacificbeat/fiji-opposition-calls-for-checks-on-other-development-projects/11023462.