Ateneo Institute of Sustainability hosts three sessions for TALAB 2024

With the theme of "Integral Ecology: Caring for Our Common Home," this year's Talakayang Alay sa Bayan (TALAB) inspired and challenged the Ateneo community to deepen their understanding and practice of sustainability. 

Last October 15, the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability hosted three TALAB sessions: "One Big Hive: Reimagining the Campus," "BiodivLab Aquatic Insect Workshop: Identifying the last, the least, and the lost from Philippine rivers," and  "Unpacking Sustainability: Navigating tensions in our common home." Across three events they hosted over 160 participants. 

The first event was entitled "One Big Hive: Reimagining the Campus," wherein participants went on a Sustainability Walk around the Higher Education complex and ideated solutions in a design thinking workshop. In the second event entitled "BiodivLab Aquatic Insect Workshop: Identifying the last, the least, and the lost from Philippine rivers," participants got a chance to experience the collection and identification of insects from rivers across the Philippines through a laboratory workshop. Finally, in "Unpacking Sustainability:  Navigating tensions in our common home," participants were introduced to definitions and models of sustainability and the challenges in operationalizing it in the modern world through interactive activities.

In "One Big Hive," participants were given prompts on different issues to choose from ideated plans, projects, and activities to address this issue. Participants could take inspiration from the sustainability initiatives on campus that were introduced in the Sustainability Walk, which helped contextualize how their ideas might contribute to campus sustainability and resilience. Speakers such as Daniel Ratilla (Program Head for Climate and Disaster Resilience), Marimar Baticulon (Program Head for Organizational Sustainability), Ivy Geraldine Ferrer (Program Officer for Climate and Disaster Resilience),  and Angelica Mata-Jamilan (Program Officer for Organizational Sustainability) taught and guided the participants throughout the workshop. Through this workshop, participants were able to reimagine what a more sustainable and resilient campus can look like. 

In the "BiodivLab Aquatic Insect Workshop: Identifying the Last, the Least, and the Lost from Philippine Rivers," the Ateneo Biodiversity Research Laboratory introduced their advocacy and taught the participants how to collect and identify different types of aquatic insects. The guidance of the SalaguGang assisted in teaching the aquatic insect taxonomy. The speakers included  Emmanuel D Delocado (Head of the Ateneo Biodiversity Research Laboratory & Director of AIS), Voltaire Rafael H Banzon, Jr. (Research Assistant of the Ateneo Biodiversity Research Laboratory), Joshua Covenant Angeles (Member of the Ateneo Biodiversity Research Laboratory, and Aaron Joseph Steve Dy II (Member of the Ateneo Biodiversity Research Laboratory). Through this workshop, participants gained an understanding of the relevance of dealing with often neglected biodiversity in protecting the health of our ecosystems and human communities. 

In "Unpacking Sustainability: Navigating tensions in our common home," Emmanuel D Delocado, the Director of AIS, deepened the participants’ understanding of sustainability and the challenges that come with attaining a sustainable world in modern times. The interactive activities allowed participants to gain a nuanced understanding of sustainable development and urged them to discern on how to navigate these different tensions.

The Ateneo Institute of Sustainability’s commitment to cultivating awareness and action reaffirms the University's role in shaping members of society that are committed to working towards a sustainable and resilient future, renewing the participants’ sense of purpose in being caretakers of our common home.