Currently Los Angeles—January 21st, 2022

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A mild heat from Santa Ana winds brings us warm, sunny weather this weekend. Usually, the Santa Ana’s make me a bit nervous, but this time around, we’re just getting lovely weather—no scorching temperatures, no powerful gusts that spark wildfires. It’s going to make the perfect, unseasonably warm weekend. From Friday through Sunday, the high will range from 70°-72°, but the dry desert air will make lows dip to about 49° in the early morning. You should already be applying sunscreen daily, but in case you forget, this weekend is time to lather up, as there won’t be many clouds in the sky. — Renée Reizman

Currently co-hosted a live Twitter Space conversation with Pacific Environment Weekly— highlighting the perspectives of climate and communication experts from Tonga— after the devastating Volcanic eruption on Jan. 15.

Pacific island Journalist, Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson lead a conversation with Joseph Sikulu, the Pacific Managing Director of 350 Pacific, and Josephine Latu-Sanft, international communication specialist.

They discussed the trauma of the event but also how the spirit of the communities in Tonga and the broader Pacific islands help people to navigate the climate crisis. They delved into the way western media often victimizes the people of the Pacific when discussing climate change rather than highlighting the work and unique resilience of the communities of the frontlines of the climate crisis. 

Sikulu, who is currently located in Australia, said that he went several days without hearing from his family members in Tonga.

“We’ve gone from worrying about whether or not they’re there or whether or not they’re safe to worrying now about whether or not they’re going to have enough water or food to get them through the next week.” said Sikulu, “Now it’s, how do we get support home as fast as possible?”

Latu-Sanft discussed how people without a connection to the Pacific consume coverage as if they are watching a movie, but will quickly forget about how major disasters impact communities once the action dissipates. 

“The coverage is very disaster-focused.” said Latu-Sanft, “People will move on, but the country will then start the real work of rebuilding, of getting all that mud out of the house and picking up the pieces.”

Sikulu and Cherelle Jackson said that the media pushes a victim narrative onto people from Tonga, however, the resiliency and work that those in the Pacific are doing around climate change are not often highlighted. 

“In these moments when the world is looking at Tonga and when the world is looking at the Pacific, we also need to be asking these questions around, not just what can we do now in the aftermath of this disaster, but what can we do to ensure the resilience of our islands especially in this time of escalating climate crisis,” said Sikulu.

Latu-Sanft said that people in Tonga use humor to cope and rebuild after disasters. She said that climate communicators can learn from this when framing climate stories so that people do not become overwhelmed and apathetic. 

“We can’t get around the fact that this is a devastating event. It’s traumatic for people.” said Latu-Sanft, “But the media has a taste just for that, rather than the positive stories.”

Look out for further discussions with the broader Pacific island climate community in future Twitter Spaces. Check out the latest story from Cherelle Jackson highlighting stories from Tonga after the eruption.