By Josh Laurente | Co-Executive Director
Last week, the Marianas were struck by Super Typhoon Sinlaku. This slow moving, category 5 storm - intensified by human-caused climate change - wrecked havoc on our islands, destroying homes and leaving many without electricility, running water, or the means to provide for our families.
The GSC Food Resiliency Hub was not spared from Sinlaku's raging winds and torrential rains. Our fruit forest, comprising 17 of our 50 acres here, sustained heavy losses. Some of our oldest and most mature fruit trees, including lemmai (seedless breadfruit), dukduk (seeded breadfruit), laguana (soursop), and many others, did not survive the storm. The loss of so many trees not only deepens our island's food insecurity crisis, but also threatens to further harm the environment through increased soil erosion, the rapid growth of invasive plant species, and other impacts negatively affecting the land.
Without a doubt, typhoons bring with them anxiety, desctruction, and loss. However, they also present opportunities to grow back stronger. In Sinlaku's aftermath it's been beautiful to see so many people, both local and in diaspora, rally support for typhoon recovery efforts. Through mutual aid and financial support, our people are slowly getting back on their feet. Here at the Food Resiliency Hub and at our community gardens, volunteers have been showing up with helpful hands to repair the damage. So while we're saddened by the loss of so many mature trees, the spaces they've left have given us the opportunity to redesign our fruit forest and community gardens, plant more trees and medicinal plants, and grow more food.
We at GSC believe an abundant and prosperous future is not only possible for our people, it's necessary. But we need critical investment and community support to fully seize the opportunities that've been presented to us by the storm. This is a challenging moment for our community, but we have every confidence that we can weather any storm, and still grow back stronger than before.
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By Josh Laurente | Executive Assistant
By Josh Laurente | Executive Assistant
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