Before joining Climate Tracker Asia, Lara’s idea of a climate story was fairly straightforward: weather, floods, heat waves and other environmental events.

That definition did not last long.

Over the course of the fellowship, she began noticing climate connections in places she had not immediately thought to look: food, education, politics, accountability and the everyday experiences of young people. Climate change was not simply something happening to the environment. It was woven into many of the systems shaping how people live. 

For Lara, that realization came with another one: there was still a lot she did not know.

At first, that could be intimidating. Lara found herself asking, “Can I truly become an environmentalist if I’m this uninformed?” and “How can I bring connection if I don’t connect with my own community?”

But those questions eventually became motivation. Instead of treating what she did not know as a reason to stay quiet, Lara began seeing it as a reason to learn more, ask questions and step outside her comfort zone.

Looking at climate through childhood

That curiosity eventually led Lara somewhere especially familiar: her own generation.

Together with fellow Diella Gelico, Lara is developing a youth-centered multimedia story about how climate change is affecting childhood in the Philippines.

Their project looks beyond extreme weather itself to ask what climate change can mean for the ordinary rhythms of growing up: going to school, following daily routines and navigating physical and mental well-being. They want young people to be more than subjects in a story about their generation. Their experiences and perspectives are central to understanding it. 

It also builds on something Lara has been learning about journalism itself.

Climate reporting can easily become overwhelming, particularly when audiences encounter one crisis after another. Lara once worried that journalism could feel repetitive because so much of the news seemed to focus on what had gone wrong. Climate Tracker Asia challenged her to think about what a story can do beyond documenting a problem.

For her, that does not mean ignoring difficult realities. It means remaining open to responses and solutions, and thinking about what readers are left with after the story ends. 

Becoming a bridge

Lara has also become more conscious of how journalists portray the people they interview.

She does not want communities experiencing climate impacts to appear only as “helpless victims.” Instead, she sees the storyteller as a bridge, responsible for creating connections between people while paying attention to the risks and sensitivities involved in telling someone else’s experience. 

For someone still preparing to enter senior high school, Lara does not pretend to have figured everything out. She is still looking for her niche, learning about the world around her and discovering what kind of stories she wants to tell.