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Artist Anina Rudio began advocating for the environment because of an open water swim. At the time, Rubio, who grew up in the city, was taking it upon herself to explore different parts of the country. “I saved enough money every month or so to explore different areas in the Philippines,” Rubio shares. “This meant going on island hopping trips and being by the...

At five years old, JP Alipio - founder of the Cordillera Conservation Trust and Cordillera Mountain Ultra - went on his first hike. He would later dedicate his life and work to wild spaces.  The La Trinidad native spent most of his formative years in the Cordillera, exploring nature. Growing up, he played by the river behind his house and the farms surrounding it....

“Photographer, whale dreamer, rainbow warrior, wall painter, garbage collector, long-distance walker, art teacher, baybayin teacher, biker, and globe trotter,” these are the names A.G. Saño uses to describe himself on his Instagram biography. Scroll through his feed, and you’ll find that all of these names ring true. Saño’s page is colored by previews of his work - rainbow-colored pedestrian lanes, customized sneakers, large murals,...

We always don’t need much to be happy. The fast-paced nature of modern life makes us forget that. Underneath the weight of our responsibilities and plans, it is easy to believe that we always need to do more, accomplish more, and have more.  We often bring this mentality with us when we travel. On vacations, maletas are filled to the brim with apparel and...

While an experienced mountaineer, the sea was a foreign frontier to Nini Andrada Sacro, known as Nanay to a whole community of mountaineers. The weekend was supposed to be a casual scuba diving session with friends. Instead, it became her life's turning point. Two months later, Nini would experience another turning point, an unforeseen crisis that would take her family to deeper waters. 

On March 16, 2020, the Governor of Bohol placed the entire island province in community quarantine even without confirmed COVID-19 cases in the province. For outdoor adventurers Rey Donaire, Bradley Ross Rayner, and Jammy Ungab, this could have been akin to a prison sentence. Instead, they used the lockdown to map out old, unpeopled forest and river trails that had not had human contact...

Long-distance ocean paddling is unheard of in the Philippines, ironic for a country where bodies of water should serve more like highways than dividers. Atlas recently caught up with the Philippine Outrigger Canoe Club who just finished a 227-kilometer expedition around Cebu. We discuss the freedom of navigation, what it took to unify paddlers from triathletes to 16-year olds, finding common ground, and (all...

The 1% is then given back to research grants and accredited environmental organizations for their conservation causes. So, whether you’re an individual or a corporation, this no-frills approach to regeneration is so doable, there’s no excuse not to do it. Everyone has a 1%.

The lucky few are those who live in the virgin habitats they are trying to protect, purposely enclosing their passion and profession in a life-long search for the biodiversity that lured them in childhood. Almost none would think of it immediately as a profession.

It’s only of late (call it a supply-demand fit) that these tried-and-true artforms have taken on a new mission: to preserve and promote what were ordinarily commonplace decades ago. Mountains without highways. Virgin beaches without commercial shacks. Bioluminescence on clear water. Dragonflies on lichen-laden trees. Wild hawks flying up on an unpolluted sky.