Welcome to my website! I’m Maria Nilad, a writer, organizer, and mental health counselor who is pretty much always thinking about what it means to be a good ancestor (what others would call a revolutionary).
I became politicized through the environmental and climate movement in university, where I took my Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies. The injustice of the climate crisis used to enrage me and render me helpless—how could anyone condone this? What can I possibly do?
I used to think that the problem of the world was that not enough people knew about the complexities of social and environmental issues, and fixing these issues simply required teaching enough people. (Man, was I wrong) When I moved back to the Philippines in 2021, I joined organizations, took part in various actions, and met people who pointed me on a path of further politicization and radicalization.
In this moment, I consider myself an anarchist. I am still learning what that means in praxis. Valuing freedom, autonomy, and diversity while living in a capitalist world is a contradiction, and I’m consistently complicit to systems of oppression. But at the same time, change doesn’t happen in a generation or two. It takes centuries, and I’m content knowing that my imperfect actions will lead, at least in part and as far as I can reasonably know, to a kinder future for everyone.
If you like my writing, all I ask is you consider buying me a coffee to sustain my work.
See you around!
