Asian Geographic2017

belOw right The boys wait

for their plastic collection to

be weighed at the recycling

centre. The money allows

them to buy food

belOw Christian Obregon,

11, pictured with his mother,

Lovely, 31, at their home

in Manila

AbOve left Happyland is a

district of the city where most

of Manila’s rubbish comes

in to be processed by the

people who salvage it

In many countries, particularly in the developed world, climate

change as a result of man-made pollution exists as little more

than a frightening prospect, even while widely acknowledged as

an accepted fact, empirically proven by modern science.

And yet, in many ways for some, it still seems remote,

abstract even – something that people hear about and talk

about, but which cannot be seen or fully grasped in our daily

lives. It’s out of sight, and out of mind.

But in Tondo, northwest of the city of Manila in the

Philippines, climate change and rampant pollution are realities

that residents live with every day.

Jennifer Mirador lives with her husband and five children,

among them brothers Reniel, 11, and Jerone, 14, in a house

made of randomly assembled materials, perched somewhat

precariously on top of the Capulong Bridge on Raxabago Street.

There is no electricity, and the family must buy water by the

bucket for five pesos (10 US cents).

The 70 or so pesos that they

bring in once every three

days, split three ways,

is used to buy food