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Lou Albano
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For our Eco-Warriors series, Lou Albano of GMA News Online discusses the importance of journalism to environmental awareness
Albano’s climate journalism efforts earned her the distinction of being the only Filipino to be included in the membership of the second cohort of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network (OCJN) 2022. She joined international media practitioners from the BBC, Wall Street Journal, and NBC News.
In her two-decade stint as a journalist, Albano learned the importance of verified, science-based information, especially when writing about the environmental crisis. “Climate change is no joke; worse, it is not in some distant future. It is already here,” she shares with Tatler. “There is so much disinformation and greenwashing swirling around; we all need verified and factual information to help us understand it all.”
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Lou Albano
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She adds that journalists must bridge the gap between science and the masses. “This is where we come in. From helping explain terms like ‘weird weather’ and ‘net zero’ or the importance of the 1.5C limit of the Paris Agreement to helping understand how things like consumption, transportation and food waste contribute to climate change, journalists can help enlighten the public,” she says. “Climate change is an enormous, overwhelming intersectional issue; if anything, journalists can provide a starting point for understanding all of it.”
Albano shares that she has gotten closer to nature now more than ever as she embraces a deeper understanding of environmental issues. She also reveals that her disposition changed regarding lifestyle journalism and its relationship with heavier topics such as global warming. “I thought I needed to become a ‘real’ climate journalist reporting on the science, the policies, the disasters, and whatnot. After OCJN, I learnt I could remain in lifestyle and still report on climate; to one of my OCJN managers, ‘climate journalism isn’t a beat but an angle’.”
Among Albano’s most notable reports is the Presence of Microplastics in Metro Manila, which revealed that more than 800 cubic metres of air in the National Capital Region contain 155 suspended atmospheric microplastics for 12 hours daily. “It got national and international attention—several local governments wrote to GMA News Online to ask for a copy of the study, presumably to help them in their policies,” she says. “The scientists whose study I wrote about also said they had been invited to meetings with authorities and policymakers.”
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Lou Albano
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For Albano, collective effort is essential in achieving a more sustainable future. She proposes collaborative efforts, including raising awareness in one’s immediate surroundings. “There is so much we can do. We can start with the simplest: let us talk about it,” she says. “The more we discuss, the more people will become aware.”
In the coming years, Albano’s goal is to keep reporting about climate change and the environment. “I would like to give a helping hand through storytelling,” she says. “I would love to lead a climate group one day—I was refraining from calling it the ‘climate desk’ because that would mean climate reportage would be limited to a beat when it is intersectional with so many other beats.”
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Credits
Photography: Patrick Diokno
Content Direction: Anton San Diego
Styling: Kring Mallari
Hair: Nizel Reduta
Make-Up: Nizel Reduta
Grooming: Johnson Estrella
Set Design: Jagger Studios
Production: (Logistics) Dorynna Untivero
Production: (Assistants) Michelle Soriano
Location: Bulb Studios
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Jove holds a degree in Journalism and is currently pursuing graduate studies in Philosophy at the University of the Philippines–Diliman. She has flair for in-depth, interview-driven stories that explore politics and culture, shaped by her background in national broadsheets.
When she’s not on assignment, Jove spends her days painting, sipping lemonade, and walking her dog, Jupiter. She can often be seen in Escolta with a film camera in hand, browsing novelty shops in search of rare memorabilia. For leads, reach her at Jove@tatlerphilippines.com.
