THE warning is official. A powerful climate phenomenon is unfolding in the Pacific Ocean, and the world must pay attention.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) has warned that a strong to very strong El Niño is already present and could reach its peak before the end of 2026, with effects extending into 2027. It forecasts a potentially historic event.
This is not science fiction. It is science confronting our reality.
Every dining table, classroom, university, workplace and community must become a learning space.
We must learn. But the ultimate evidence of learning is change.
The El Niño phenomenon
El Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), characterized by unusually warm sea-surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.
A very strong El Niño is generally associated with sea-surface temperature anomalies approaching or exceeding 2 degrees Celsius above the relevant historical average.
El Niño alters atmospheric circulation and rainfall patterns across the globe. Some regions experience drought and extreme heat, while others face heavier rainfall and flooding. It can influence tropical cyclone activity, agriculture, fisheries, water supplies and energy systems.
For the Philippines, El Niño generally increases the risk of below-normal rainfall, dry spells and drought. Yet flooding and tropical cyclones remain possible. Communities may prepare for drought and still experience devastating floods.
El Niño is not the monster we created. The climate crisis we have intensified through unsustainable human activity is the greater monster we must confront.
We can no longer look away
The evidence of climate change is increasingly difficult to ignore. Recent years have brought unprecedented global temperatures, exceptional ocean heat, declining ice in many regions and increasingly damaging climate-related extremes.
The Philippines faces the combined threats of intense tropical cyclones, flooding, drought, sea-level rise, extreme heat and coral bleaching.
Climate change is no longer merely an environmental issue. It is a threat multiplier affecting food security, public health, economic productivity, biodiversity and human survival.
Climate change is projected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths annually between 2030 and 2050 from undernutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress alone (World Health Organization). Marine heat waves can trigger widespread coral bleaching, threatening biodiversity and the livelihoods of coastal communities. Droughts can destroy crops and reduce water availability. Flooding can increase exposure to waterborne infections and disrupt essential services.
Climate Action Education must teach not only climate science but also climate justice. The greatest injustice is that those who contributed least to global greenhouse gas emissions often suffer the most. Farmers, fisherfolk, Indigenous peoples, low-income families, children and small island communities are among those most vulnerable.
Protecting the planet must mean protecting people.
Climate action education: From knowing to doing
Climate action education is more than the transfer of scientific information. Consistent with Unesco’s education for sustainable development framework, it develops the knowledge, values, attitudes and competencies necessary to understand climate change, mitigate its causes, adapt to its impacts and participate in meaningful action. What It involves three interconnected dimensions.
Cognitive learning: I know. Learners understand greenhouse gases, global warming, the carbon cycle, ENSO, biodiversity loss, disaster risks and the relationships between human activities and environmental change.
Socio-emotional learning: I care. Learners develop empathy for vulnerable communities, concern for future generations, environmental responsibility and the confidence to confront climate challenges without surrendering to hopelessness.
Behavioral learning: I act. Learners acquire practical competencies in conservation, climate adaptation, disaster preparedness, sustainable consumption, environmental stewardship and civic participation.
The progression is simple but powerful: I know → I care → I act → I change.
We are all students in this global classroom. Climate literacy without climate responsibility is incomplete. Education that produces knowledge without transforming behavior has failed its greater purpose.
The world is calling
Climate action education is supported by international commitments.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13.3 calls for improved education, awareness and institutional capacity for climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning. SDG 4.7 emphasizes education for sustainable development and responsible global citizenship.
Article 12 of the Paris Agreement recognizes the importance of climate education, training, public awareness, participation and access to information through Action for Climate Empowerment.
Unesco’s Greening Education Partnership advances four interconnected priorities: greening schools, greening curricula, greening teacher training and education systems, and greening communities. Its targets include transforming at least 50 percent of schools in every country into green schools by 2030 and integrating sustainability into national curriculum frameworks in 90 percent of countries.
Unicef, likewise, emphasizes children’s vulnerability to climate change and the importance of climate-resilient education.
Youth-led movements such as Fridays for Future have demonstrated that students can become advocates, organizers, innovators and agents of social change.
Organizations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature, The Climate Reality Project, Eco-Schools and other environmental networks support environmental learning and community participation.
In the Philippines, Pagasa, the Climate Change Commission, the Department of Education (DepEd), universities, local governments and youth organizations have important roles in translating climate science into meaningful action.
What must we do?
If the monster we have intensified is the test, climate action education is the preparation humanity can no longer postpone.
First, make climate literacy nonnegotiable. Climate change, ENSO, biodiversity, sustainability and disaster preparedness must be meaningfully integrated into learning outcomes.
Second, invest in teachers. Teachers cannot effectively teach what they have not been adequately prepared to understand. The DepEd, Commission on Higher Education, teacher education institutions and professional organizations must strengthen continuing education in climate science, systems thinking, disaster resilience and the psychological dimensions of climate anxiety.
Third, transform schools into models of sustainability. Schools should demonstrate the practices they teach through water conservation, rainwater harvesting, waste reduction, energy efficiency, sustainable gardens, climate-resilient infrastructure and functioning early warning systems. But a school that repeatedly floods without improving its preparedness cannot credibly claim to be teaching resilience.
Fourth, make climate education Filipino, contextual and community-based. Our farmers understand seasonal uncertainty. Our fisherfolk observe changes in marine ecosystems. Indigenous communities possess valuable ecological knowledge accumulated across generations.
Their experiences should complement scientific evidence, not be excluded from it.
Finally, empower young people to act. Students should graduate not merely as climate-aware individuals but as environmentally responsible citizens capable of collective action.
The greatest examination of our generation
The ongoing El Niño will test our water systems, agriculture, energy security, health care institutions, local governments and collective resilience. But the greater examination is not simply whether we can survive another climate event. It is whether we are willing to change the behaviors, institutions and systems that continue to intensify climate risks.
Education is indispensable to that transformation.
A student who understands climate science may become an engineer designing resilient communities. A young person who develops environmental responsibility may become a leader who places sustainability above convenience. A child who learns to conserve water today may become tomorrow’s responsible policymaker.
And perhaps that is where humanity’s greatest opportunity lies.
The monster is not simply the warming ocean. It is our collective failure to change despite knowing the consequences.
Like a circle, we return to the classroom where learning begins, and to the world where learning must be demonstrated.
The ocean is warming up and warning us.
The science is speaking. The consequences are unfolding. The future is watching.
