In a world where changes are increasingly disruptive, creative works matter more than ever, not just to better understand our complex reality through stories, but also because stories shape our imagination and inspire the future.

“Harvest Moon is a book that heeds the call to reimagine how we are going to survive and thrive in a time of painful planetary transformation,” said Padmapani L. Perez, lead strategist for the Agam Agenda and Asia editor of the book. 

As the climate emergency continues to speed up it’s only natural that our anxiety ramps up as well.

“Through Harvest Moon, we hope to show that art and literature have a role to play, not just in communicating climate change, but also … in the attempt to a shift from global anxiety to buoyancy, hope and resilience.” she added. 

‘My People’

 “Photos can take us to places data will not reach” Denise Fontanilla said at the book’s launch on Feb. 18 by the Agam Agenda and the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC).

Proof of this was the ICSC’s initial effort to mount an exhibit of photographs titled “Visage,” in the halls of the Philippine Senate. Walking past the faces of people suffering the brunt of climate change (the very ones who would benefit from local climate adaptation action plans) provided the nudge to move senators towards passing and enacting the People’s Survival Fund Bill of 2012, the first such national climate finance mechanism dedicated to supporting climate action in Southeast Asia.

ICSC and Agam continue their climate action with similarly profound publications, including the National Book Award winner “Agam: Filipino Narratives on Uncertainty and Climate Change.”

The narratives and photographs in “Harvest Moon” span 24 countries and 11 languages. Over 30 climate buzz words were off limits to broaden the audience.

 “The new works in this book counter this with language and stories that make the crisis legible and that bring it home for those of us who are most vulnerable to its effects … This book is a gathering of diverse voices” Asia editor Perez said. She described how photo prompts were delivered to writers without caption or explanation, and collaborators never met or spoke with each other, yet results were “magical”.

The most striking example of this magic was of a photo prompt from Colombia, a healer woman seated before her loom. The image inspired a poem by Irma Pineda of Mexico titled “Desert” and bearing the line “I no longer can cry”. 

She had no idea the photo was from the Peninsula of La Guajira, where Climate change and mining companies have deprived the population of water. They can no longer cultivate the land, resulting in over 5,000 children dying of hunger between 2010 and 2018. They were so dehydrated that they shed no tears as they passed.

Such synchronicity begs us to reassess the concept of “My People”. The phrase is reexamined in this book as it must be in the face of this crisis. We must examine all we have in common and what the future is for “My People”.

Art as activism

“In a country where extreme weather events are remembered by their first names as if they are our friends, we don’t recognize they were created by the emissions we failed to prevent 30 years ago.” Red Constantino, executive director of ICSC reminds us all. “We don’t need to be anywhere or anyone in particular to do something about this. As citizens of the wider world – we can act.”

ICSC invites writers, artists, scientists, activists, and storytellers everywhere to join the global collaborative campaign WhenIsNow.org to demand urgent climate action for the planet. 

The book makes a unique contribution to the climate conversation. Placing ourselves in an emotional context addresses our situation as humans, in this together. Diverse voices and new narratives on climate change in the ”Harvest Moon” anthology will strike at your core and stay in your heart as only art activism can.

In keeping with the vision of a beautiful yet accessible book for diverse readers living in a time of climate crisis, ICSC is offering the limited Philippine edition of “Harvest Moon” at a significantly marked-down price of PhP599. The book is now available on Shopee and Lazada via Milflores Publishing, Fully Booked, Ayala Museum Shop, Mt. Cloud Bookshop (Baguio City), and Solidaridad Bookstore (Manila).