Miguel C. Cano
Chair, Organizing Committee of 2nd IESO |
Mabuhay!
An Olympiad is basically a competition. As such, it could be stressful at times, especially when you know that your country’s honor is at stake. However, Olympiads could also emerge as an avenue for solving real problems in our Planet, such as through cooperation and teamwork.
Climate change has become a defining issue at present. Scientists are becoming more convinced that the present generation need to get their act together to neutralize the effect of global warming. As such, in the 2nd International Earth Science Olympiad, as in the first IESO, we would like to underscore Cooperation, thus the theme - "Cooptition in Addressing Climate Change". Cooptition is a hybrid of two key elements in the IESO - competition and cooperation.
One of the venues, the Province of Albay, hosts one of the most beautiful volcanoes of the world – the near perfect cone Mt Mayon. The province is also the window for “newly-cooked” typhoons in the Pacific Ocean. It is also a coastal environment. As such, it is an excellent place to learn Earth Systems in action – how the volcano, the Pacific Ocean, the typhoon, and the people of Albay interact to define the complexity of their interrelated systems.
I invite all Earth-systems talented young people to compete and cooperate for a sustainable future!
Miguel C. Cano |
