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Cities And Urban Change

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16 10, 2025

When the floodwaters rise: Putting women at the center of Climate Adaptation in Cameroon

2025-12-10T01:24:53-05:00Tags: |

The disproportionate damage that climate disasters have on women was evident in the aftermath of the devastating floods that hit Cameroon’s Far North region in 2024. Many of the women residing in affected cities rely on either public transportation which was halted by the waterlogged streets, or traveling by foot which was made more dangerous by unlit walkways and power outages. Furthermore, women in the affected regions report more feelings of danger in public spaces and face the greatest risks of displacement due to insecure land rights. However, an ongoing Sustainable Cities and Land Project funded by the World Bank and supported by the Global Center on Adaptation has proposed a variety of gender-responsive climate adaptation measures that focus on urban resilience, women’s land rights, and women’s safety. For example, in order for the climate adaptation project to take into consideration women’s safety following flood disasters, GCA recommended that beyond drainage improvements, the project also integrate solar lighting that can remain functional regardless of flooding. In Douala and Yauondé, only 24% of land titles in Cameroon are held by women, a framework that places women more at risk for displacement following climate disasters. In response, the climate adaptation project taking place will also prioritize strengthening legal clinics, leading awareness campaigns, and conducting training programs to guide women through land registration procedures. 

19 04, 2025

Women Friendly Cities Challenge

2025-04-19T16:59:10-04:00Tags: |

The ‘Women Friendly Cities’ Challenge is an initiative by the Women Transforming Cities International Society aimed at compiling and integrating an international collaborative library of Wise Practices. This website serves as a living library, featuring Wise Practices from around the world that contribute to making cities more women-friendly, providing women and girls with the spaces and resources to live full, safe, and meaningful lives. Historically, women and girls have long been an afterthought in urban design processes, often sidelined and excluded. The idea for this initiative originated at the United Nations Habitat III conference in October 2016 and was launched at the World Urban Forum in February 2018. These ‘Wise Practices’ are locally-appropriate actions, tools, principles, or decisions that significantly contribute to developing sustainable and equitable social conditions. They evolve and are refined as individual and community experience and knowledge expand, and can come from any sector, including governments, civil society, grassroots organizations, the private sector, or academia.

14 04, 2025

Plastics Reform, Regulation Urged by Los Angeles Reproductive Justice Group

2025-12-11T13:56:08-05:00Tags: |

Black Women for Wellness, a Los Angeles–based reproductive justice organization, launched a community-wide survey for a new report assessing the effects of plastics in southern Los Angeles. The organization highlights how environmental health complications and climate change target Black communities, and Black women in particular, in distinctive ways. Their report and activism underscore the necessity of researching and monitoring the effects that fossil fuel industry pollution and plastic production have on maternal health, newborn health, and the health of Black women overall. Plastics and other petrochemicals are projected to drive an estimated 30% growth in global oil demand by 2030. Today, Black and brown communities in Southern L.A. face disproportionate harm from pollution caused by oil drilling and extraction, as their neighborhoods sit atop an oil field containing thousands of active and idle wells. One important finding from the report is that although community members may want to prioritize sustainability and reduce plastic use, structural barriers make this difficult. For many individuals and families who can only afford low-cost necessities, such as plastic-wrapped food, avoiding plastic is simply not feasible. In response to these findings, Black Women for Wellness calls on the California state government to legislate a US$5 billion plastic mitigation fund, strategically financed in part by the polluters themselves, to support damage control for the communities most affected by plastics and the climate-related health complications they cause. Additional recommendations include educational initiatives on the plastic lifecycle, stronger regulations for the fossil fuel industry, and support for diversifying access to more sustainable food options for local communities.

27 12, 2024

For a climate-resilient urban future, we need empowered women

2025-12-11T13:39:37-05:00Tags: |

Farah Kabir, the country director of ActionAid Bangladesh, draws attention to the climate struggles faced by Bangladesh’s urban women. Bangladeshi women, who make up over half the population and are deeply affected by poverty, gender inequality, and limited resources, are at an increased disadvantage from climate-induced flooding, natural disasters, and sea level rise. Women and girls continue to face wage discrimination, health issues, malnutrition, and inadequate access to healthcare, hindering their resilience to climate impacts. Within densely populated areas experiencing increasing urbanization like Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna, and Gazipur, strong measures to address heat-related issues that include gender-responsive adaptation pathways are critical. Kabir calls for an immediate phase-out of fossil fuels and the implementation of gender-sensitive urban planning, enhanced climate finance, and community-based interventions to build resilience and avoid the worst impacts. She also emphasizes that community resilience is enhanced through women’s empowerment in education, resource access, and participation in decision-making processes. To achieve this, urban institutions must be empowered, decentralized, and supplied with adequate budgets and disaggregated data. Government efforts integrating gender considerations into DRR and community resilience, like the Bangladesh Climate Change and Gender Action Plan (CCGAP) provide a framework, but stronger implementation and monitoring are needed. The article concludes with a call to provide funding sources and support women’s organizations and women’s leadership in local governance and climate initiatives with specific attention given to issues of urbanization and development.

17 11, 2024

Women’s Leadership in Gaza’s Recovery: A Call to Action | Cities Alliance

2025-07-21T14:25:50-04:00Tags: |

At the 12th World Urban Forum (WUF12) in Cairo, Egypt, Cities Alliance and ClimaMed met with municipal representatives from Gaza and international urban experts to discuss the complex challenges faced by Palestinian local authorities and their communities. They highlighted the continued challenges that Palestinian women face and the need to center their voices in reconstruction efforts. Palestinian women have long faced pervasive societal barriers and economic stagnation, such as limited access to essential services and low participation in the workforce. The ongoing genocide in Gaza has greatly exacerbated these issues and put women at increased risk of gender-based violence and exploitation. A key takeaway from this meeting was the need for a comprehensive and inclusive reconstruction plan that explicitly supports women’s empowerment. The article goes on to argue that efforts to rebuild essential services and infrastructure must include direct input from women. Community-driven, gender-sensitive urban planning offers a promising approach that involves women in the design and construction of housing, healthcare, childcare, and safe public spaces. The need for tailored mental health support services to help deal with the psychosocial toll of severe trauma and violence is also emphasized. Despite the extreme challenges that Palestinian women and municipal actors face amidst the ongoing colonial violence, the implementation of a strong recovery framework has the potential to empower Gazan communities. By involving local women in the creation of inclusive, sustainable urban spaces, reconstruction efforts will reflect their needs and the richness of their homeland. One way that we can all support the women of Gaza is to fight for a free and sovereign Palestine.

18 07, 2024

Views: From Venus to Earth: Building cities that are inclusive of women

2025-06-11T23:04:09-04:00Tags: |

The article argues that cities often lack female representation in decision-making roles, leading to urban planning that overlooks women’s needs and perspectives. Despite progress toward gender equity, women’s marginalization in Malaysia’s built environment sector hampers the development of inclusive urban spaces, affecting housing, transportation, and safety. Engaging women in this sector requires more than increasing their numbers; it involves fostering an inclusive ecosystem where their voices shape planning and leadership. Encouraging girls to pursue relevant education and leadership roles and dismantling barriers like gender bias are essential in creating equitable and resilient cities. The article highlights gender-focused initiatives globally. In Vienna, Austria, gender mainstreaming integrates women’s perspectives in city planning. Curitiba, Brazil prioritizes women’s safety with women-only buses and well-lit stops. New York City, U.S.A. promotes walkability and public space revitalization, including the High Line Park. In Paris, France, Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s leadership enhanced sustainable development and accessibility for women. In Singapore, Dr. Cheong Koon Hean led initiatives improving accessibility, safety, and community spaces, catering to women and vulnerable groups. These women are leading the charge for safer, more accessible, and more equitable cities.

25 06, 2024

Three ideas to beat the heat, and the people who made them happen

2025-05-24T19:19:18-04:00Tags: , , |

The article highlights how extreme heat impacts vulnerable workers, especially women, and shares three innovations to mitigate these harms. One example is Hansa Ahir, a waste recycler in Ahmedabad, India, whose income has been halved because it’s too dangerous to work in midday heat. To address this, she bought a low-cost insurance policy through the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), which compensates her when temperatures rise. This provides financial security for women like Ahir, who depend on daily wages. Additionally, tools like Extrema Global, a mobile app that helps people find cool routes and rest spots, protect those exposed to heat, including women balancing outdoor work and caregiving. Legal protections for outdoor workers, like farmworkers in Washington state, where laws entitle them to water, shade, and breaks, show how workers in agriculture and informal sectors are particularly vulnerable. Extreme heat exacerbates gender disparities in income, health, and safety, but practical solutions are emerging to help women and other laborers adapt.

26 04, 2024

Building Gender-Inclusive Infrastructure for Climate Resilience in Africa

2025-06-11T23:00:12-04:00Tags: , , |

Emma Mayhew and Grace Muinga stress the need for incorporating a gendered perspective in climate-resilient infrastructure development to enhance effectiveness and avoid reinforcing inequalities. The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) integrates gender considerations into its projects, aiming to create infrastructure that serves everyone equitably amid the growing pressures of climate change. In Kenya, GCA’s climate risk analysis found that women are disproportionately affected by infrastructure disruptions from climate hazards like flooding and extreme heat. It also identified a gender-based digital divide and low female participation in decision-making. The analysis recommended collecting gender-disaggregated data, engaging stakeholders in gender-responsive ways, and implementing gender-responsive budgeting. In N’Djamena, Chad, GCA’s assessments highlighted the increased challenges women face during climate events given their primary responsibilities for childcare, water collection, and food gathering. Proposed solutions focused on reducing women’s burdens, improving access to resources, creating income opportunities, and boosting women’s roles in community decision-making. In Borana, Ethiopia, GCA’s gender action plan addressed the severe impact of water scarcity on women, who spend hours fetching water. Recommendations included forming gender-balanced management committees and addressing social norms that heighten vulnerabilities for women and girls during climate events.

26 03, 2024

The Hum of Summer Nights – Women’s Experiences of Urban Heat

2025-06-11T23:08:40-04:00Tags: , , , |

“Relentless heat makes outdoor activities a distant memory”: Seven women recount their experiences managing daily life under extreme urban heat in cities across the Middle East in an article authored by Marie Munzert, Lina Saleh Suleiman Abu Salim, and Emma Greer. The piece explores the unique challenges faced by women in Jeddah, As-Salt, Amman, and Dubai. In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a mother struggles with sleepless nights due to oppressive heat that impacts her children’s health and restricts outdoor activities. In As-Salt, Jordan, a woman selling vegetables at an outdoor market faces losses as the intense heat damages her produce and drains her energy, making her daily routine both physically and economically taxing. In Amman, Jordan, while evenings offer some respite, the heat affects the livelihoods of female vendors who miss market opportunities to care for their families. Safety concerns also limit their travel options at night. In Dubai, UAE, despite the availability of air conditioning, the relentless heat disrupts daily life, forcing families, including children, indoors and limiting outdoor play and school activities. The article highlights how pervasive urban heat disproportionately affects women and vulnerable groups, restricting economic opportunities, increasing health risks, and altering social dynamics. It emphasizes the importance of visibility and awareness of these impacts, urging local authorities to use tools like Cities Alliance’s Her4Climate to gather individual data and include marginalized voices in urban planning and develop climate-adaptive, inclusive cities.

14 02, 2024

Sweltering Cities panel warns Brisbane heat waves will worsen

2025-06-11T23:26:55-04:00Tags: |

Researchers have identified poor urban design as a key factor in creating heat islands in Brisbane, Australia, where temperatures can reach dangerous levels. Women, who often bear the brunt of these challenges, are leading efforts to address the issue. The Sweltering Cities panel – featuring women leaders such as Emma Bacon, the organization’s director – noted that heat waves, Australia’s deadliest natural disaster, disproportionately impact women in lower-income areas due to poor air quality, dense concrete structures, and lack of vegetation. Anna Campbell of Queensland Walks highlighted the lack of shaded walkways and water features in Brisbane, exacerbating difficulties for women who rely on walking as their primary transportation. She stressed the need for smarter urban planning that prioritizes women and vulnerable groups. Shannon Rutherford of Griffith University raised concerns about the severe impact of extreme heat on women's health, particularly for those from low-income backgrounds who lack access to cooling centers, leading to higher health risks during heatwaves. She emphasized that climate change disproportionately affects women, especially those with limited resources, and called for gender-sensitive urban planning as a critical component of climate adaptation and future infrastructure development.

25 01, 2024

Meet the woman in charge of Chicago’s fight against pollution, environmental injustice

2025-05-24T19:22:09-04:00Tags: |

Angela Tovar, Chicago's Chief Sustainability Officer, is spearheading efforts to combat pollution through gender- and racially-inclusive urban design. Drawing from her experiences growing up near steel mills and industrial pollution, Tovar is focused on addressing environmental harms in Black, Brown, and low-income communities, particularly in South and West Chicago. Her initiatives, centered on community and spatial justice, include improving zoning regulations, implementing community-level air quality monitoring, and developing green infrastructure that prioritizes vulnerable groups. Tovar's work ensures that historically marginalized communities are at the forefront of Chicago’s push for environmental justice and reduced carbon emissions.

19 01, 2024

New studies reveal impacts of climate change on kids, pregnant women in Indian cities

2025-05-24T19:30:50-04:00Tags: |

The studies reveal how climate change, air pollution, and inadequate public spaces disproportionately affect young children, caregivers, and pregnant women. Research conducted across 18 Indian cities including Delhi, Gandhinagar, and Kharagpur from January 2022 to December 2023 highlights that these vulnerabilities have long-term impacts on children’s development. Women, as primary caregivers and expectant mothers, face greater challenges due to exposure to harmful pollutants and extreme heat, particularly in urban areas. The findings underscore the need for child-friendly public spaces that offer safe environments for early childhood development (ECD) and accommodate the specific needs of children, caregivers and pregnant women. The studies aim to inform policymakers on designing accessible, supportive urban environments that address these gendered and age-specific vulnerabilities, shaping future urban planning.

24 11, 2023

When sea levels rise, so does your rent

2025-05-24T18:46:00-04:00Tags: |

Climate change and gentrification are intricately connected. Florida’s Miami Beach neighborhoods are experiencing this firsthand. Property development and displacement are working hand in hand to price poor Caribbean communities out of inland neighborhoods, away from rising sea levels. This process has led some to refer to the residents of Little Haiti as victims of the ‘climate-gentrification’ phenomenon, which constitutes “a process whereby wealthy people displace poorer people from areas that are better equipped to withstand the impacts of a changing climate.” Local Little Haiti resident Renita Holmes is a key voice campaigning against the displacement, saying, "I am resilient, I am empowered, and as long as I've got empowerment, resilience, and a voice, I will live here." Like many others in her community, her rent has skyrocketed as a result of the projected development and because, as she explains, "Land development is in, people development is out."

10 11, 2023

How Africa’s first heat officer is protecting women in Sierra Leone

2025-05-24T21:24:08-04:00Tags: |

Eugenia Kargbo, Africa's first chief heat officer, is leading efforts to make Freetown, Sierra Leone, greener and more livable amid rising temperatures. Sierra Leone is the 18th most climate vulnerable country in the world and the extreme heat poses significant challenges for residents, especially for women and those working outdoor and informal jobs. Kargbo's initiatives include installing shade covers with solar panels in markets and reflective roofs in informal settlements to reduce heat and combat the ‘urban heat island’ phenomenon. Despite these efforts, scaling up projects remains difficult due to financial constraints. Freetown's vulnerability to climate change is severe and, while local measures are helping, broader global actions to reduce fossil fuel emissions are crucial to curb climate change and support long-term resilience.

20 10, 2023

A community-centric approach to building a climate resilient Bengaluru

2025-05-24T21:30:47-04:00Tags: |

The southern Indian city of Bengaluru is experiencing rapid urbanization, population expansion, and strained resources in the face of increasing climate stressors. The city’s urban poor, women, and marginalized groups face greater risk, emphasizing the necessity of including them in urban planning to ensure climate-resilient living conditions. Ellara Bengaluru, a coalition involving citizens, civil society, policymakers, and academia, is working to address climate change impacts at the ward level, focusing on sustainable, economic, and behavioral solutions for lower-income and vulnerable residents. The Mahila Housing Trust, part of Ellara Bengaluru, uplifts women leading efforts towards more sustainable and gender-inclusive cities through collaborative efforts and community decision-making. Initiatives and community-driven projects like these uplift women by involving them in leadership roles and decision-making processes, addressing vulnerabilities while leveraging their knowledge to create inclusive climate solutions.

7 09, 2023

City increases local climate leadership with Women4Climate mentorship program

2025-06-11T23:30:37-04:00Tags: |

Vancouver recently celebrated its fourth Women4Climate Mentorship cohort, where 22 women completed a 10-month program designed to uplift emerging climate leaders and enhance climate action in the city. The program supports Vancouver’s Climate Emergency Action Plan by connecting mentees with established leaders to advance local climate initiatives through sustainability and innovation. Since its 2019 launch, in partnership with C40 Cities and the Zero Emissions Innovation Centre, the program has supported 43 mentees whose projects align with the city’s climate and equity goals. Highlighted projects include Melissa Hamer’s work on Net Zero Energy and Carbon design training at BCIT’s Zero Energy/Emissions Buildings Learning Centre, which involves partnerships with Indigenous communities. Arushi Raina focuses on climate adaptation for people with spinal cord injuries, distributing cooling devices to enhance safety during heatwaves. Darla Simpson leads a project to decarbonize multi-family residential buildings through retrofits. The Women4Climate program, active in 21 cities globally, pairs emerging professionals with established climate leaders to foster innovation and climate action, emphasizing safe, equal, and accessible cities.

23 08, 2023

Trash to Cash: Nigerian women are ready to tap into the economy

2025-03-23T01:23:42-04:00Tags: |

The Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) launched an initiative in the capital’s Surulere area that allows locals to turn single-use plastics into income. The "Trash to Cash" project encourages residents to collect and recycle plastics instead of discarding them, teaching that plastics can be turned into valuable resources and elongating their material lifecycles. The initiative facilitates a move away from linear consumption towards a circular economy, emphasizing responsibility through a value chain which offers both financial benefits and a cleaner, healthier environment. Laws against environmental pollution are enforced, but LASEPA also focuses on providing alternatives and education to encourage proper waste management.

3 07, 2023

How India’s Women Adapt to A Hotter World

2025-03-27T16:21:03-04:00Tags: |

Women-run initiatives are leading the way in mitigating the impacts of extreme heat on India’s most vulnerable. Godavari Dange has worked for over 20 years with women farmers on sustainable climate initiatives through the nonprofit Swayam Shikshan Prayog. Women farmers are the most at risk of high temperatures, so they have developed an alternative farming model. Dange and her team devised a plan to encourage women farmers to grow seasonal, climate change-resilient crops rather than water-intensive cash crops and to avoid daytime farming, encouraging dawn and twilight work instead. In slums, cool roofs are helping in areas that experience temperatures of up to six degrees Celsius higher than surrounding neighborhoods. Bharti Ben, a slum resident, has seen her house temperature soar to 45 degrees Celsius, making her home unbearable. Mahila House Trust, a local nonprofit, painted Ben's roof with a white reflective paint which cooled her home by five to seven degrees Celsius. This is a relatively affordable solution, costing 33 euros per coat of paint. Heat deaths go largely unnoticed in India, so the work by these nonprofits are essential.

24 06, 2023

The white roofs cooling women’s homes in Indian slums

2025-05-24T18:50:49-04:00Tags: |

Extreme heat is severely affecting women in Indian slums, particularly in Badi Bhil Basti, Jodhpur where temperatures can soar to 47.8C, causing health issues, discomfort and reduced productivity. A simple yet effective solution is helping: painting roofs with white solar reflective paint. This technique, promoted by the Mahila Housing Trust (MHT), helps to cool homes by reflecting sunlight. Pinky, a high school student from the Bhil tribe, and her community have painted their roofs, significantly reducing indoor temperatures. This initiative, part of broader efforts to build heat resilience, is already providing relief, contributing to improved health and safety outcomes. MHT's sustainable cooling projects provide an accessible and affordable way to mitigate heat. 

11 06, 2023

Women’s Action Towards Climate Resilience for Urban Poor in South Asia

2025-06-11T23:34:54-04:00Tags: , , |

The India-based NGO Mahila Housing Sewa Trust (MHST) operates across South Asia, with programs in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal that aim to support low-income women and their households in boosting their climate resilience. MHST's initiatives use an integrated model to organize and uplift these women, providing them with knowledge, leadership skills, and training to adapt to growing climate impacts. To date, the project has trained 1,500 local women to become ‘Climate Saathis,’ who educate local communities about climate change, adaptation, vulnerability and risk assessment, and implementing localized resilient solutions. By employing a women-led model, MHST focuses on local mitigation efforts addressing key climate impacts such as heat stress, water security, vector-borne diseases, and flooding—potent dangers already affecting women and the urban poor.

23 05, 2023

CityChanger Safaa Charafi: Creating Fair & Sustainable Cities with Intersectionality

2025-07-21T14:21:04-04:00Tags: |

Safaa Charafi, a Belgium-based gender consultant, shares her research on how diversity impacts urban planning and development. A recurring theme is the persistent failure of many planners to recognize and engage with the diverse realities of the communities they serve. This has led to urban designs that cater to a small group of privileged (often cisgender, White, male) individuals. Some of the issues she identified include the gender gap in architecture and planning fields, the gender divide and norms in the use of recreational spaces, and inequitable access to housing, transportation, education, public spaces and other amenities for marginalized community members. Charafi argues that resolving this requires meaningful participation and directly challenging power imbalances. She warns that if we fail to question accepted social norms and urban planning practices, we risk becoming part of the problem. She goes on to share advice for equitable, inclusive engagement strategies. Charafi advocates for using an intersectional approach that recognizes how an individual’s multiple and intersecting identities compound to affect their sense of safety, belonging, and unique experience of their city. Equitable urban design starts with engaging the community, improving representation and awareness amongst urban planning professionals, and using gender-mainstreaming and an intersectional approach. Simple, inexpensive, bottom-up solutions can often be the most effective. Charafi continues to work with city administrations and organizations to equip them with the tools to improve urban conditions for women. This work to provide equitable living conditions for marginalized communities directly impacts the long-term success of climate-forward urban planning and the continued resilience of urban communities in the face of the climate crisis.

16 05, 2023

Ecofeminism in Architecture: Empowerment and Environmental Concern

2025-05-24T18:39:56-04:00Tags: , , |

Camilla Ghisleni explores the concept of ecofeminism in architecture, highlighting female architects who are creating inclusive change within the field. The article begins by presenting the concept of how ‘othered’ both women and nature are when perceived through a male, patriarchal lens. Landscape architect Elizabeth Meyer has noted how in these male-centered societies, women and other marginalized communities are excluded. As a retaliation to this dichotomy, ecofeminism, a term created by Françoise d’Eaubonne around 1974, combines the ideologies of feminism and seeks to present holistic structures and worldviews that include regard for natural systems and connections. A key principle of ecofeminism is its emphasis on the disproportionate impacts women face concerning climate change. A UN report found that women are more often reliant upon natural resources due to their lack of financial wealth in comparison to men. Furthermore, they bear the brunt of the workload when it comes to child rearing and care for the elderly. This being said, architect Yasmeen Lari is making change for women as her work in improving the Pakistani chulah, an outdoor stove, by creating a cheaper and healthier alternative for women. These stoves are smokeless and are built on raised platforms which shield them from flood damage and create more sanitary and ventilated environments. Another project incorporating ecofeminsim is the Anandaloy Center for People with Disabilities in Bangladesh, which draws largely on women’s labor with earth and bamboo. Sustainability must go beyond technical dynamics and necessitates the inclusion of cultural, gendered, and economic dynamics.

10 05, 2023

Climate Change is devastating Puerto Rico. Its women environmentalists are fighting back

2025-04-19T17:33:35-04:00Tags: |

This article highlights key female figures in Puerto Rico’s environmental movement, who are working to ensure cleaner, stronger communities and protect vulnerable ecosystems. It presents a photo essay and oral history project by women activists and the 9 Millones group. These women have been leading community and environmental rebuilding efforts in the wake of Hurricane María, which ravaged Puerto Rico in late 2017. Their projects span agroecology, sustainable food production, marine education, and fighting beach privatization. Anabela Fuentes García, for example, teaches sustainable fishing and beach management to local children in her coastal town. Mariangelie Ortiz organized her community after Hurricane María and now fights bureaucracy to allow for local activism and change. Her design lab, La Maraña facilitates community participation in the rebuilding efforts. “Food liberates people," says Marissa Reyes, who is using agroecology to push for nutrition, education and greater food sovereignty for Puerto Ricans through the Güakiá Agroecological Collective. Ada Ramona Miranda is promoting health, clean energy, and ecotourism through her Hacienda Las Malcriá project. Yvette Nuñez, with a background in anthropology and urban planning, founded the Coalición Restauración Ecosistemas Santurcinos (CRES) which restores local ecosystems and creates healthy community spaces. Mariolga Reyes Cruz works to uplift communities and foster agency through actions that build food sovereignty, aiming to “decolonize our relationship with the land” through her initiative, Fideicomiso de Tierras Comunitarias para la Agricultura Sostenible. Vanessa Uriarte uses education and advocacy to engage the local community through building Playas pa’l Pueblo (beaches for the people); coastal community forests and spaces. Collectively, these women have helped reconstruct and revitalize both their environment and communities while enhancing citizen participation in design, activism, and rehabilitation projects.

10 04, 2023

Architecture as Activism: Yasmeen Lari’s Eco-Feminist Work

2023-10-17T15:42:57-04:00Tags: |

Yasmeen Lari, a Pakistani woman, has dedicated her life to intersecting architecture and Ecofeminism. She developed the Barefoot Architecture Project to address social, economic, and gender inequities that exist in rural Pakistan through conscious architecture. Due to overarching gender roles, many women play a large role in cooking, cleaning, and caregiving for their families and community. Lari developed the Pakistan Chula, an elevated, cost-effective and smokeless stove made with local mud and plaster. The Pakistan Chula has lowered risk for burns or lung conditions, minimized potential for flood damage, and has brought women dignity while preparing traditional food. In addition to co-constructing the chulahs, Lari also trained the women to create bricks, tiles, and flood-resistant houses using local materials. This has empowered local women to not only socialize and participate more in the community, but also increase their economic stability. Photo Credit: Copyright Yasmeen Lari/Heritage Foundation of Pakistan

20 03, 2023

Empower a woman with water and she can change her city

2025-04-24T16:45:46-04:00Tags: |

Empower a Woman with Water and She Can Change Her City publications, released by Cities Alliance during the UN Water Conference, highlights the link between water scarcity and gender inequality in the MENA region. With 11 of the world’s 17 most water-stressed countries located in this region, women and girls—who bear primary responsibility for water-related tasks—are disproportionately affected. The report showcases grassroots initiatives in Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, and Palestine that empower women in water management and calls for greater female leadership and decision making. Key recommendations include collecting sex-disaggregated data, mapping gender-specific needs, and building women’s capacities in water management and water diplomacy. The report stresses that achieving gender equality and climate justice requires inclusive water governance and engaging women as agents of change.

7 01, 2023

Shaping History: The Impact of Women Architects in Post-Colonial South Asia

2023-10-17T15:54:56-04:00Tags: |

Four South Asian women architects have been instrumental in reshaping their communities after their countries gained independence from colonial rule under Britain. Pakistan’s first woman architect, Yaseem Lari focused her architectural designs on postcolonialism, gender, climate change, and community participation as she had a role in the design for affordable housing following post-partition Pakistan. Marina Tabassum, a Bangladeshi woman also contributing to the design of low-income housing (post-partition) that considered river erosion, poverty, and preservation of local resources. In India, Pravina Mehta elevated egalitarian values, Indian culture, and social justice in her housing designs, after seeing the wealth disparities amongst her diverse community. Finally, Minette de Silva, from Sri Lanka introduced critical regionalism which sought to balance regional needs with the local ecosystem, resulting in modern buildings that used traditional building techniques and raw materials. Marina, Yaseem, Pravina, and Minette’s contributions have shaped South Asian society with architecture that brings forward the intersection of gender and the environment. Photo Credit: Copyright Randhir Singh 

22 11, 2022

How Floating Wetlands Are Helping to Clean Up Urban Waters

2023-12-07T17:35:07-05:00Tags: |

As urban waters continue to face increasing pollution and degradation, researchers are installing artificial floating wetlands to combat the issue. Susan Cosier, an environmental and scientific journalist, reports on how these efforts are playing out in Chicago’s rivers. Instead of the uniform steel walls that usually surround urban river edges, Urban Rivers, a Chicago-based nonprofit, is replacing them with floating wetlands to recreate a natural river system. The floating islands host a diverse selection of native flora which help to filter contaminants and capture chemicals and metals in the water. The removal of surplus agricultural nutrients prevents harmful algal blooms that block out crucial oxygen and sunlight from reaching aquatic life. One researcher found that one acre of floating wetland is able to absorb the nutrient pollution produced by 7 to 15 acres of urban development. These wetlands also provide habitat for other plants to grow and aid invertebrates like mollusks and crustaceans in repopulating in the Chicago River. These efforts are multiplying globally, with projects taking place across the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, and the United States. While these wetlands have incredible environmental benefits, researchers emphasize that they are just one tool that must be accompanied by other efforts to regulate and reduce pollution at the source. Photo Credit: Dave Burk/SOM

28 10, 2022

Cities aren’t designed for women. Here’s what’s needed next

2024-02-15T12:40:26-05:00Tags: , |

This article discusses the UN Development Program’s report, Designing Cities that Work for Women, which cites four critical areas of improvement to better suit women’s needs. These include: safety and security, justice and equity, health and wellbeing, and enrichment and fulfillment. The article further elaborates on these areas of improvement by discussing examples of changes needed to improve cities for women. The first is increasing female voices in leadership roles. This includes seeking out female viewpoints to inform city planning decisions, as well as using gender-disaggregated data. The second example is incorporating the celebration of female achievement within cities. This section cited how only 2-3% of city statues portray women. If improved, this can aid in women feeling a sense of belonging within their city. The third example is to improve safety in public spaces and on public transport through the use of design, violence prevention laws, education, and technology. Lastly, the fourth example confronts the need for increased water and sanitation, as the collection of water is vastly the responsibility of women and girls globally, with about one-third of women lacking access to safe toilets. The article closes by restating the importance of redesigning cities holistically and to increase the role that under-represented communities have in urban development.  Photo Credit: Unsplash/João Ferrão

17 10, 2022

Melbourne now has chief heat officers. Here’s why we need them and what they can do

2025-05-24T21:27:18-04:00Tags: |

The appointment of chief heat officers in Melbourne is a significant recognition of the severe urban heat challenges in Australia. The two women appointed, Tiffany Crawford and Krista Milne, will lead efforts to manage extreme heat risks in the city. This initiative is part of a global movement supported by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center to improve urban heat management. Various strategies will include monitoring urban heat, using cool pavement materials, and creating heat refuges. Despite existing research and tools like the Cool Routes project and the Urban Forest Strategy, Melbourne remains vulnerable to heat, particularly affecting those who are socially, economically, and physically at risk. These vulnerabilities highlight the necessity of considering gender, socio-economic, and housing status when designing and implementing effective and inclusive climate mitigation and resilience initiatives.

8 07, 2022

If we want to build truly sustainable cities, we need to think about how women use energy and space

2024-02-15T12:41:53-05:00Tags: , |

In this article, Rihab Khalid discusses her research on how cities are gendered and how men and women use energy differently in Pakistan, India, Nigeria, and Ghana, finding three important components to energy usage differences. The first component of Khalid’s research finds that there is a gap in gender-specific data that tells us how and when women use energy. The second component is that women are underrepresented within the energy field and account for as little as 22% of energy workers. Lastly, even when energy policies attempt to be gender neutral, they still often marginalize women’s energy needs. For example, Khalid cites power outages as having a greater impact on a woman’s daily routine as opposed to a man’s, as women still do the vast majority of unpaid domestic work. Furthermore, Khalid discusses the importance of including gender in urban planning and development as women face numerous difficulties in urban spaces, such as not having access to or feeling safe on public transit. Khalid closes by emphasizing the connection between energy, gender, and space and how their interactions must be considered in order to create better sustainable cities. Photo Credit: N/A

26 05, 2022

The War on my Homeland offers a real chance to save the planet

2023-03-29T12:27:51-04:00Tags: |

Svitlana Romanko is a Ukrainian climate activist, environmental lawyer, and mother writing from the frontlines of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Romanko explains that Russia’s invasion is funded and fueled by the coal, oil, and gas industries that also drive the climate crisis. Before the war, Romanko helped the Ukrainian city Vinnytsia create a roadmap to implement the European Green Deal to work towards climate neutrality. While the conflict has stopped those plans, Romanko points out that the war presents an opportunity for Europe to transition away from fossil fuels, both to stop the Russian invasion and for global climate justice. Photo credit: Olga Gordeeva/EyeEm via Getty images

24 05, 2022

(Re)designing the city for women

2025-05-24T19:10:46-04:00Tags: |

The Årstidernas park in Umeå, Sweden features a gazebo designed specifically for teenage girls, reflecting their inputs to ensure safety and comfort. This initiative is part of a broader effort to make urban spaces more accommodating to women, addressing issues often overlooked in city and urban planning. Gender equality officers like Annika Dalén and Linda Gustafsson play crucial roles in urban policy, ensuring that new projects, from parks to bike routes, meet the needs of female residents. Umeå's gender-focused approach, in place since 1978, has gained attention across Europe, emphasizing that gender-sensitive urban design enhances safety and inclusivity for all residents. Gustafsson emphasizes the deep relationship between gender and sustainability, explaining that “Umeå is committed to becoming climate neutral by 2030,” but “if we don’t work simultaneously to combat climate change and achieve gender equality, we’re not going to get there.”

17 05, 2022

Pollution responsible for one in six deaths across planet, scientists warn

2023-03-29T12:28:34-04:00Tags: |

Pollution is killing 9 million people a year. Toxic air and contaminated water and soil is an existential threat to human and planetary health. Increased fossil fuel burning, rising population numbers and unplanned urbanization have increased the numbers of deaths from pollution. Death by pollution disproportionately occurs in low and middle income countries. But pollution crosses borders and thus requires an international response. Pollution, the climate crisis and the destruction of wildlife and nature are interconnected and addressing one will benefit the others. Photo credit: Rupak de Chowdhuri/Reuters

15 03, 2022

The Lady With The Audiometer: Environmentalist Sumaira Abdulali’s Meticulous Fight Against Noise Pollution | Feminism in India

2024-09-16T10:57:53-04:00Tags: |

This article highlights the work of Sumaira Abdulali, an environmental activist from India known for her campaigns on noise pollution and sand mining. Abdulali frequently has an audiometer in her hand as she travels around Mumbai, taking note of how excessively high the noise reaches, especially during festivals. She founded the Awaaz Foundation, a public trust that aims to decrease noise pollution due to horns, firecrackers, construction activities, amongst other things. Thanks to her work, in 2016, the High Court created orders that significantly decreased noise pollution during festivals and celebrations across Mumbai. Abdulali also petitions against illegal sand mining and has been threatened, attacked, and intimidated by the sand mafia numerous times. One particular case, whereby Abdulali discovered illegal sand mining close to her own home, led to the Bombay High Court banning illegal sand mining along all coasts as well as to the banning of any sand extraction throughout the state of Maharashtra. In light of this event, Abdulali founded the Movement against Intimidation, Threat and Revenge against Activists (MITRA). Abdulali was also named the ‘Minister of Noise’ by press and government figures and has been awarded the Spikes Asia Silver Award for her dedicated work to noise pollution and sand mining lobbying.

9 03, 2022

‘Respect Science’: Mona Hanna-Attisha Shares Climate Lessons From Flint

2025-05-22T13:01:32-04:00Tags: |

Tragedy hit the predominantly Black city of Flint, Michigan when the water crisis erupted, exposing over 100,000 residents and children to lead. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician and professor at Michigan State University’s Hurley Children’s Hospital, brought the issue to light after observing a rise in blood lead levels among her young patients. Despite government efforts to hamper her credibility, she fought to decontaminate the city’s water supply. As a result of her diligent efforts, the city has not only complied with EPA criteria for over three years but has also taken active steps to replace lead pipes. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which implores the replacement of lead pipes across the country, stands as a testament to how Flint has become a model city for demanding safe and clean water practices. Hanna-Attisha has also equipped the future generation to fight and withstand the climate crisis by creating the Flint Youth Justice League, highlighting the numerous parallels between the Flint water crisis and climate change. Governments have consistently failed to address such issues and adhere to scientific evidence. Consequently, they fail to invest in overcoming crises, leading to reactive measures in times of need rather than preventive steps that could have saved the lives of disproportionately affected communities. Despite the dire conditions the city had to undergo, Hanna-Attisha emphasizes their resilience and how their story offers hope in combating future obstacles.

2 02, 2022

Permanently Organized Communities.

2023-02-02T16:25:03-05:00Tags: |

In this article Movement Generation founder, Michelle Mascarenhas, details why we need place-based permanently organized communities. Specifically now, the Covid-19 pandemic has offered opportunities to build the types of local systems our movements need, including but not limited to: shifting labor to mutuality and care, creating mutual aid networks, resourcing mutual aid funds, and working towards self-governance. Photo Credit: Brooke Anderson

28 01, 2022

The Young Activist Fighting To ‘Change the Faces of Power’

2023-02-01T23:10:09-05:00Tags: |

Ilona Duverge, a housing justice activist from New York City, experienced housing insecurity as a college student and is now a movement leader for systemic and electoral change. Low-income and public housing, especially in formerly redlined areas, can be inadequate in the winter due to lack of insulation and sufficient heating but dangerous in the summer given suffocating heat. This is exacerbated by the issue of climate change. Duverge has worked at the intersection of these issues, first volunteering with local campaigns and later becoming the deputy organizing director for U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign. She is also the founder of Movement School, which trains working class activists on how they can run for office, as well as a housing and legal fellow who helps tenants of public housing learn their rights. Duverge’s advocacy for the NYC Housing Authority to upgrade their housing with climate action and clean energy in mind inspired Ocasio-Cortez to introduce the Green New Deal for Housing, which would invest in sustainable housing upgrades and create green jobs. Duverge’s vision of the climate-economy link has sparked powerful action against poverty and environmental racism. Photo Credit: Ilona Duverge  

17 07, 2021

The Rebirth Of The Food Sovereignty Movement

2021-07-17T18:50:51-04:00Tags: |

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a wave of backyard food planting and production. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their local and regional food systems, and are taking initiative to support local food sovereignty projects. Doria Robinson of the urban farming project, Urban Tilth, describes the importance of CSAs in this time. Debbie Harris of Urban Adamah in Berkeley, California, points out the vital sense community urban farms create and nurture throughout times of hardship. Food sovereignty activists hope the push for local and equitable food systems continue after the end of the global pandemic. Photo Credit: Wendy Becktold

6 07, 2021

How Indoor Pollution Affects Women & Children

2021-07-06T17:01:25-04:00Tags: |

Indoor air quality and pollutants are today recognised as a potential source of health risks, with women and children being the main victims. While children’s physical characteristics make them more vulnerable to the effects of indoor health pollution with immediate and long-term health consequences, women in countries like India do all the cooking (with their children) and spend more time indoors. It is important to create awareness by educating people about the serious threat indoor pollution poses to health and well-being, in order to reduce exposure with better kitchen management and efforts to protect children. Photo credit: Chinky Shukla/ CSE

6 07, 2021

Women in the Water Sector: Working Together for the Future

2021-07-06T14:57:10-04:00Tags: |

Studies show that there is a lack of women working in the water sector, which includes a lack of women leaders. Specifically, less than twenty percent of water workers are women in the United States. But the water organizations that include female leadership tend to benefit—whether women are included in sustainability, community engagement or economic development roles. Keisha Brown, one such leader, has had extensive experience working in community-based partnerships to improve water quality while remaining accountable to the local communities the work is enacted in. According to her, the lens of social justice must be applied to the infrastructure industry and the impacts of infrastructure on people’s well-being should be carefully assessed. Photo Credit: Storm Water Solutions

6 07, 2021

Meet Your Farmer: Brooklyn Grange, The World’s Largest Rooftop Urban Farm United States

2021-07-06T14:52:59-04:00Tags: |

In Brooklyn, New York, Michelle Cashen and Anastasia Cole Plakias manage and lead Brooklyn Grange, the world’s largest rooftop urban farm. Eleven stories above the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the farm produces greens, fruits, and other edible plants. Cashen and Plakias describe their commitment to urban farming and providing fresh food without using pesticides and herbicides. Photo Credit: Local Roots NYC

3 03, 2021

Making Women’s Voices Count – Addressing Gender Issues In Disaster Risk Management In East Asia And The Pacific

2021-03-03T19:51:19-05:00Tags: |

This guidance note, aimed at world bank staff, clients and development partners active in gender and disaster risk management, provides an overview of the links between gender and disaster risk management. Natural disasters in the East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) region reveal gender inequalities in higher mortality rates for women rather than men. Gender-blind policies and responses perpetuate and increase inequalities for the female population and other vulnerable groups. Therefore, the guidance offers gender-sensitive strategies, recommendations and resources for the design and implementation of gender perspectives across a spectrum of disaster risk management policies, including plans and decision-making processes, recovery strategies, education and training. The gender-sensitive strategy is three-fold: use appropriate gender terminology; ensure equal gender representation in planning and consultation processes; train gender champions and female leaders to mainstream gender-equal institutional initiatives.

23 02, 2021

Urban Girls and women redesign their cities using digital tools | UN-Habitat

2024-02-15T11:54:58-05:00Tags: |

This article highlights the creation of a toolbox, titled Her City, from a group of young women in the Botkyrka municipality of Sweden that want to redesign their city into one where they all feel safer. The women joined forces with local municipalities in order to reconceive how the Fittja neighborhood can be transformed for the better. To do so, research labs with the young women and girls, stakeholders, and local authorities were created to collect data on what it is like to design a city from a girl or woman’s perspective. Data collection included interviews, safety audits, explanatory walks, and observations. Using the data, the group developed action plans to redesign the neighborhood through the use of Minecraft. These Minecraft plans were then sent to the Mayor of Botkyrka and the planning commission. One of the participants, Moné Ukonu, describes how the project began with the group walking around Fittja and highlighting all of the things that made them feel unsafe. Through Minecraft, the women were able to test out their ideas for a new city and see what they could do with the space. The current pilot in Fittja is being facilitated by UN-Habitat and the independent Swedish think tank, Global Utmaning, and has garnered widespread media attention. UN-Habitat has teamed up with other organizations to provide mainstream access to the toolbox, with the ultimate goal being to have any city that wants to build a city for the inclusion of all its citizens be able to do so through the use of the toolbox as a guide. Photo Credit: Tove Levonen

16 02, 2021

Get To The Bricks: The Experiences Of Black Women Foom New Orleans Public Housing After Hurricane Katrina

2021-02-16T20:43:53-05:00Tags: |

The report explores the experiences of almost 200 black women who were living in “The Big Four”- four large housing projects within the city of New Orleans - when Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005. They were displaced from their prior homes due to the hurricane and the closure and demolition of the public housing units. This case shows that the experiences of black women in public housing were not taken into consideration when developing a plan for post-Katrina recovery. U.S. policies were implemented in a manner that took away opportunities, supports, and infrastructures from low-income women and their families most in need of a reliable safety net as they sought to recover from a catastrophic set of disasters and endure the Great Recession. Including the various experiences and voices of these women in the policy discussion going forward will ensure that future disasters do not perpetuate the marginalization of the most disadvantaged members of our communities.

15 01, 2021

How to Build a City for Women – and Why Cars Take a “Back Seat” in Feminist Urban Planning

2025-12-11T13:43:23-05:00Tags: |

Lauren McAskie explores how the absence of a gender-inclusive perspective in urban design results in women being disproportionately disadvantaged in city travel. She highlights insights from Punt 6, a feminist urbanism organization based in Barcelona, that advocates for the inclusion of women as both subjects and experts in urban planning. Modern cities have been shaped by patriarchal and capitalist influences, primarily catering to male-oriented linear travel patterns centred around cars and work commutes. Meanwhile, women typically have more complex patterns and use public transport and walk more to fulfill unpaid and domestic labour, such as caring for children and elders. Yet urban spaces frequently neglect this diversity, and the dominant planning approach of large, homogenous areas designed for cars means that the mobility needs of women, children, and the elderly are disproportionately unaccounted for. The answer to this, experts argue, requires implementing "gender mainstreaming" — integrating an equal gender perspective in all stages of urban policies and designs. Vienna is presented as a leading example of this, having created the City Women’s office and conducted studies to understand how women move through the city, resulting in improvements in pedestrian access and street safety and making an equal gender perspective a legal requirement. Punt 6 outlines three pillars of feminist urban planning that all cities should adopt: centering the diverse realities of everyday life, creating safer urban spaces, and acknowledging women as community experts. They emphasize a comprehensive approach that involves full public participation at every stage and considers gender alongside factors like race and disability. While there is still a long way to go for most cities around the world, advancing an inclusive feminist approach to urban planning can lead to more cohesive and enjoyable urban environments that meet the needs of every community member. Transforming the way we move through cities also has broader environmental benefits — reducing transport emissions and improving community wellbeing directly improves our effects on the climate and our resilience to its impacts.

15 12, 2020

Focus on Housing and Jobs or the Climate Fight ‘Goes Nowhere’

2023-11-28T21:50:46-05:00Tags: , |

Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of Uprose, has been leading a movement to stop new developments in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood that would displace local communities. She has presented an alternative project that would give back to the community and help meet climate goals. Yeampierre has proposed that instead of the waterfront being bought and rebuilt by private developers, which would result in gentrification and the displacement of many BIPOC communities in the neighborhood, that a bustling green industry hub be built. This would support the shift to renewable energy through development of wind turbines, solar panels, and low-carbon technology, while providing fair salaries for neighborhood residents and also benefit immigrants and undocumented individuals without much formal education. These developments would sustain and develop communities that are at increased risk from the climate crisis. Photo credit: Pete Voelker

14 11, 2020

Women and urban place-making

2023-05-26T14:52:41-04:00Tags: |

This article summarizes the research of Professor Linda Peake, Director of the City Institute at York University since 2013. Professor Peake’s work focuses on the intersection of urbanization and women, as women make up a disproportionate amount of the urban poor and face the impacts of many social injustices such as employment and housing insecurity. Given this context, Professor Peake’s research aims to understand the relational transformation between poverty and 21st century urbanization. The research also seeks to explore traditional frameworks on ideologies surrounding the formation of urban spaces by looking into the ways in which women experience these environments within conditions of economic insecurity or other social burdens. As well, the research involves urban policymakers for the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality) and Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). The research itself is taking place in seven different cities globally: Cairo, Cochabamba, Delhi, Georgetown (Guyana), Ibadan, Ramallah, and Shanghai, for their varying geographic and socioeconomic conditions. Photo Credit: N/A

3 09, 2020

What Should We Know About Wildfires In California

2020-09-09T22:57:12-04:00Tags: |

This Greenpeace article lists trends impacting the occurrence of both forest and wildland fires today and solutions to those trends. The climate crisis is fueling extreme weather events, including an exceptionally dry winter and record-breaking heat waves which leave more dried up wildland vegetation to kindle the fires.  Despite this, the Trump Administration and the logging industry regularly use wildfires as opportunities to make the case for more logging under the guise of fuels reduction and fire prevention. Photo Credit: 2016 Erskine Fire in Central California, © US Forest Service

12 05, 2020

Japanese Youth Climate Activists Confront Society To Save It

2020-11-07T17:37:36-05:00Tags: |

Mika Mashiko is a 20-year-old climate activist in Japan who started a Fridays for Future initiative in her hometown of Nasu as a response to mass deforestation and corporate exploitation of natural resources. Mashiko has been working with the small group to spread increased awareness about climate issues, gaining greater support since it was founded in September 2019. This ongoing outreach has led to the local Nasu government officially declaring a Climate Emergency. Other youth activists including Yui Tanaka and Yayako Suzuki are demonstrating against the construction of new coal power plants and calling on the Japanese government to commit to greater greenhouse gas reductions. While public demonstrations are still less widely supported in Japan than in other parts of the world, climate activism is becoming more popular among youth and adult allies and increasing public pressure for accountability. Photo credit: Ryusei Takahashi, Japan Times

17 03, 2020

Air pollution likely to increase coronavirus death rate, warn experts

2020-03-22T21:29:12-04:00Tags: |

COVID-19, or the coronavirus, is known to affect the respiratory tract of those infected. But there is new evidence that indicates patients exposed to polluted air are at a higher risk of dying. Additionally, patients with chronic respiratory issues after being exposed to long-term air pollution are less able t fight off the disease. Science tells us that epidemics like this will occur with increasing frequency. So reducing air pollution is basic investment for a healthier future. Photo credit: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

3 07, 2019

Nurdle by Nurdle, Citizens Took on A Billion-Dollar Plastic Company — and Won

2020-11-20T17:34:49-05:00Tags: |

A federal judge recently ruled that Formosa Plastics, a petrochemical company outside Port Lavaca, Texas, can be held liable for violating state and federal water pollution laws. The company could face a penalty of up to $162 million. Thanks to data collected by resident volunteers, the nonprofit San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper brought a lawsuit against the company in 2017. According to the lawsuit, the company violated its environmental permits for years, dumping millions of small plastic pellets - called nurdles - into Lavaca Bay. Among the volunteers is Diane Wilson, a retired shrimper who has been trying to get Formosa to stop dumping in the bay since the early ’90s. Since the trial started, pollution levels haven’t changed, so she keeps gathering evidence with her kayak. Giving up is not an option for her. Photo credit: Wikimedia

13 04, 2019

GirlTrek: When Black Women Walk, Things Change

2019-04-13T16:36:26-04:00Tags: |

Morgan Dixon is the co-founder of ‘GirlTrek’, a national help organization addressing the disproportionate effects of the current health crisis in African American women. Starting with 530 women in their first year, the organization has since grown to about 100,000 African American women who walk together every day. Together the women of ‘GirlTrek’ not only boost their own physical health, they also improve the health of their families and communities while reshaping the narrative around health for women of color. Video Credit: National Sierra Club

4 04, 2019

How A Female Fast Food Worker Became An Activist

2020-11-20T17:32:47-05:00Tags: |

Shantel Walker is a manager within the fast food industry and an organizer for proper living wages in NYC. After working over two decades at Papa John’s Pizza where Walker was paid a minimum wage of $7.50, Walker started working with organizations such as the Fight for $15, and Fast Food Forward campaigns to champion the 3.7 million Americans working in Fast Food. Walkers advocacy also addresses the disparities in healthcare coverage, workplace and scheduling policies. Photo Credit: Alex Swerdloff

3 03, 2019

For Women In Solar Energy, Progress And A Ways To Go

2020-10-07T00:39:34-04:00Tags: |

When Kristen Nicole, founder of Women in Solar Energy, penned an open letter calling out the hyper-masculine and ‘booth babe’ culture that portrayed women as sex objects, it sparked a revolution within the industry to start examining their women-specific policies and initiatives. The solar conference culture perpetuates objectification with abhorrent displays such as women in cages dressed in leather cat outfits. However, numerous programs aimed at addressing gender diversity and increasing women’s participation in the field have grown in response. SEIA’s Women Empowerment Initiative as well as Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy campaigns have contributed to the shift in the awareness around the need for diversity. Whilst more female workers make up the solar industry today, and there are more women speakers at conferences, there are still shortcomings in that women continue to earn less than men and face barriers in climbing up the career ladder. Women of colour are also disproportionately affected, and Erica Mackie, co-founder and CEO of GRID Alternatives, calls for the solar industry to not just be energy-centred but also justice-focussed, and to recognise the intersection between race and gender inequities. GRID’s Women in Solar Program aids women from diverse backgrounds and their She Shines retreat is aimed as a training and team-building exercise for women in the industry. Photo credit: Stefano Paltera, US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon

28 01, 2019

How Three Black Women Use Food As Tools For Resistance

2019-04-13T16:33:22-04:00Tags: |

Monifa Dayo, Carrie Y.T. Kholi, and Binta Ayofemi are three women using food as a vehicle for social change. They are amongst a host of Black women exiting from the restaurant industry after experiencing racism and sexism in the workplace. Monifa Dayo runs her own supper club while consciously incorporating social justice into her business model. Similarly, Carrie Y.T. Kohli’s ‘Hella Black Brunch’ brings people together around food and the African diaspora experience. Binta Ayofemi’s ‘Soul Oakland’ focuses on Black urban sustenance and restoration. Each woman views herown work as a form of resistance to the current political climate, and seeks to inspire communities of color in doing so. Photo credit: Richard Lomibao

11 01, 2019

Air Pollution ‘As Bad As Smoking In Increasing Risk of Miscarriage’

2020-09-02T20:51:19-04:00Tags: |

A recent study, the first to focus on the effects of short-term exposure to pollution by women in urban areas, has found that air pollution is just as bad as smoking for pregnant women when it comes to increasing their risk of miscarriage. The findings of the study mention that air pollution is already known to harm foetuses by increasing the risk of premature birth and low birth weight. But this recent research found pollution particles in placentas. Rising levels of nitrogen dioxide emissions around the world has increased the risk of losing a pregnancy by 16%. Researchers compare it to how the increased risk of tobacco smoke in a woman’s first trimester can result in pregnancy loss. They recommend the best course of action is to cut the overall levels of pollution in urban areas. While they also recommend pregnant women to avoid exertion on polluted days and consider buying indoor filters, they recognize that in the developing countries, these are luxuries many can’t afford. Photo credit: Rex/Shutterstock

15 10, 2018

A Water Walk In New York City

2020-10-07T00:43:14-04:00Tags: |

During the month of July, women and men, engaging in a “water walk,” walked two miles through the streets of New York City carrying empty buckets. Two miles is about the length women and girls walk in developing countries each day to obtain water, so this walk was carried out in order to symbolize their hard work. Moreover, the walk ended at the United Nations Building, so it was intended to remind policy makers about the importance of clean water as well as urge them to consider water a human right. The walk also called attention to the fact that access to water is important but if distance, cost, or other factors make that access prohibitive, then simple “access” is not enough. Photo credit: Water Aid

30 05, 2018

Mother Justice Is Environmental Justice

2019-04-13T15:42:56-04:00Tags: |

Low to moderate income families and families of color often take on a disproportionate energy burden, sacrificing funds that would otherwise be used on food or medical expenses, to pay for utility bills. Energy companies do little to nothing to help ease this burden. And more time than not, these communities are in areas that are poorly maintained and plagued by pollution. In fact, studies have shown that 71% of African Americans live in counties with federal air violations, compared to 56% of the overall population. 70% of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, which generated 30% of the U.S. electricity in 2016 and discharged millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions into the environment. African Americans face the brunt of the health impacts associated with long-time exposure to toxins emitted at plants; children and the elderly are especially sensitive to such risks. These long lasting impacts take many forms, resulting in emotional, psychological and economic costs for these communities. Photo Credit: NAACP

24 05, 2018

Dolores Hayden’s Non-Sexist City

2023-05-26T14:56:45-04:00Tags: |

Irina Vinnitskaya describes Dolores Hayden’s (1980) essay “What would a Non-Sexist City Be Like? Speculations on Housing, Urban Design, and Human Work” as it relates to creating egalitarian and supportive urban environments for women. Here, Vinnitskaya elaborates on Hayden’s main argument, that the construction of cities and places are centered around the phrase “a woman’s place is in the home.” This saying translates into the perception that men belong in public life while women are domestic. Vinnitskaya highlights Hayden’s appeal for change to this system, as Hayden suggests that viable solutions will be found through community building, not through market answers (i.e. fast food chains to replace home cooked meals). Hayden proposes a solution for more egalitarian cities through the creation of participatory groups called HOMES: Homemakers Organizations for a More Egalitarian Society. These groups would be founded upon grassroots organizing and collective bargaining to obtain zoning permits and other accommodations to create proposed communal structures and spaces. Hayden suggests modeling HOMES after limited equity housing cooperatives as a way for collective arrangements to be organized, with any number of households being able to take part in the communal services of a HOMES group. Photo Credit: Routledge, 1999

18 05, 2018

The Entrepreneur Making Healthy Food Accessible To Her Brooklyn Neighborhood

2020-10-05T17:16:03-04:00Tags: |

Francesca Chaney is working to alleviate food insecurity and make the wellness movement accessible in her neighbourhood of Bushwick, New York. A dream since she was 19 years old, the café, Sol Sips, started as a pop-up shop and evolved into a permanent fixture in the community. With a popular brunch menu and sliding scale prices, a diverse range of community members visit the spot ranging from indigenous, Latinx, and people of colour to old-timers and families. She serves a community that has largely been left aside by the mainstream health and wellness movement and Sol Sips remains a contrast to the majority of vegan and plant-based restaurants. Chaney wants to counter the trend that to eat healthy is a privilege only for those who can afford it. This socially conscious space that pays mind to the demographic of the neighbourhood is one of a range of businesses fighting to make vegan and healthy food accessible. Photo credit: Sol Sips

13 04, 2018

How indoor pollution affects women and children

2025-05-24T19:05:41-04:00Tags: |

Indoor air quality and pollutants are recognized as significant health risks, particularly affecting women and children who spend about 90% of their time indoors and are more likely to come into contact with cleaning products. Children are especially vulnerable due to their higher oxygen consumption rates and narrower airways, enhancing risk for respiratory, immune, and nervous system issues, as well as allergic disorders such as asthma. Women in India face high exposure to indoor pollutants due to traditional cooking practices, leading to respiratory infections, lung cancer, and other health issues. Prevention through awareness and education is crucial, along with improved kitchen management and cleaner indoor air. Stakeholders, including the public and policymakers, must commit to addressing the health effects of indoor air pollution and their disproportionate social and health impact on women and children.

11 04, 2018

The Women Reviving Heirloom Grains And Flour

2020-10-06T23:19:28-04:00Tags: |

A group of women bakers in Los Angeles, California were selected to speak at the panel, “Bread Winners: A Conversation with Women in Bread,” organized by the California Grain Campaign in honor of Women’s History Month. The group of women assembled included baker Kate Pepper, California Grain Campaign Organizer Mai Nguyen, miller Nan Kohler, and baker Roxana Jullapat. The panel focused on the women’s involvement in the California Grain Campaign’s goal to push bakers to use 20 percent whole-grain, California grown-and-milled flours. During the panel Nguyen brought up the historical importance of women in agriculture, specifically in terms of seed conservation. Nguyen also expressed gratitude to cotton breeder Sally Fox, and chemist Monica Spiller, whose seed projects made Sonora Wheat a more familiar food amongst consumers. Photo Credit: Civil Eats

28 03, 2018

Female Farmers In The East Bay Cultivate A Sense Of Community

2020-09-02T22:42:25-04:00Tags: |

Kanchan Dawn Hunter of Spiral Gardens, Kelly Carlisle, founder of Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project, and Gail Myers, founder of Farms to Grow, are three women of colour who are challenging the dominant image of white, male farmers in the agricultural industry. Females farmers are underrepresented both in terms of ownership but also with respect to the power dynamics in the agricultural system. For them, the act of growing food is intrinsically political, and is a way of empowering marginalized communities to re-establish their food sovereignty and restore their connection with themselves and planet Earth. Spiral Gardens provides free educational programs taught at its community farm and hosts community work days. Acta Non Verba aims to empower young people through urban farming and conducts field trips and farm visits. Farms to Grow supports marginalized farmers around the country who are practicing sustainable agriculture. Other organizations such as MESA and Urban Tilth also work to support a sustainable and equitable food industry. Photo Credit: Andria Lo.

23 03, 2018

Impunity For Violence Against Women Defenders Of Territory, Common Goods, And Nature In Latin America

2020-10-23T23:16:06-04:00Tags: |

This report by Urgent Action Fund of Latin America and the Caribbean (UAF-LAC) analyzes the condition of women who defend environmental rights in Latin American countries. By analyzing the case studies of thirteen women defenders, a clear continuum of structural violence against the women emerges. On the one end, women defenders are subject to the criminalization of their activities and to harassment from various actors such as companies, the police, and the media. At the most extreme end of this violence continuum, women defenders are assassinated or “disappeared.” In cases such as these, the state, if it is not actively colluding with the perpetrators, often remains silent. UAF-LAC, then, calls for the state to protect women defenders by eliminating the impunity perpetrators currently enjoy, by eliminating the criminalization of defenders’ work and by creating a safe environment for them to work in. Specifically, the state must financially, politically, legally and psycho-socially support women defenders. Photo credit: UAF-LAC

1 03, 2018

The Formal Economy as Patriarchy: Vandana Shiva’s Radical Vision

2020-11-07T18:03:44-05:00Tags: |

At the Bond conference in London on international development, Vandana Shiva is a voice out of the chorus. Anti-“empowerment,” anti-“jobs,” and anti-“formal economy,” she rejects many of the mainstream women advancement narratives. According to her, the biggest challenge is getting to the point where women’s power, knowledge and production are being recognized. This is not possible within the framework of the formal economy because it is defined on the terms of the patriarchy by those in control of nature and society. Women living under principles of autonomy and dignity are called an informal economy, but they are simply living in a different system where the power of men over women is not the organizing principle. Photo credit: Stefano Guidi/Corbis via Getty Image 

9 02, 2018

Women’s Needs Must Be Accommodated In Disaster Relief Measures For Puerto Rico

2020-04-24T16:21:51-04:00Tags: |

Puerto Rico is in need of disaster relief that adequately addresses the disproportional impacts Hurricane Irma and Maria have had on Puerto Rican women. Women across the world are already more likely to experience higher rates of sexual violence, familial responsibilities, and restricted access to reproductive healthcare in the aftermath of climate disasters. Puerto Rican women in particular are at very high risk for intimate partner violence in the world without stressors such as natural emergencies. Given these statistics and the causal relationship between poverty and violence toward women, upcoming policies such as the new year budget must support women appropriately. Photo Credit: Mario Tama  

11 12, 2017

These Women In The Philippines Scour A Dump Site For Trash To Turn Into ‘Something Beautiful’

2018-07-13T16:56:50-04:00Tags: |

Lumago Designs is a social enterprise in Dumaguete City, Philippines that is run by and for women. Established in 2011, the organization allows women living near the city dump in the Candau-ay community to cultivate the skill of upcycling and reusing. Many of the women were once scavengers – sorting through the 80 tons of garbage sent to the dump a day in search of recyclable materials that they could sell. Now, they work to turn trash into beauty. Their jewelry, bags, and household items are sold across the Philippines and in parts of the US and Europe. Women are paid above minimum wage for the pieces they produce while they work from home. For many, being a part of this group and cultivating financial autonomy has been life changing. Photo Credit: Lumago Designs

23 10, 2017

Celebrating Women Of Color “Solutionaries” In Detroit

2018-01-23T17:55:44-05:00Tags: |

Women in Detroit, Michigan constitute 53 percent of the population, and 91 percent of all women in the city are women of color. Despite the high numbers, women of color continue to be excluded from decision-making processes when it comes to Detroit’s economic and social development. This report emphasizes the significance of including women of color by profiling 20 women from diverse backgrounds who are committed to empowering a just and sustainable future for Detroit through their work. Among the women profiled is Rev. Roslyn Bouier, who after overcoming domestic violence and drug addiction, managed to establish the largest food pantry in the city. Photo-credit: idreamdetroit.org

15 10, 2017

How To Turn Neighborhoods Into Hubs Of Resilience

2017-10-31T01:14:57-04:00Tags: |

Connectedness and equity are two key aspects of how we can change, reverse, avoid and mitigate climate change. Elizabeth Yeampierre, director of Uprose, a grassroots organization in New York, works with the Center for Working Families to build a participatory process for its resilience approach to climate change while maintaining quality and safe jobs. People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH) is a community group in Buffalo, New York that fights high energy costs through renewable and alternative energy projects, improving the urban landscape through their 25-square-block Green Development Zone (GDZ). Richmond, California is a historically black neighbourhood fighting toxic pollution and contamination by Chevron refinery. A coalition of local nonprofits  including the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment(ACCE), and Richmond Progressive Alliance, Faith-Works organized the community to win local elections and bring about change. Photo credit: PUSH Buffalo

2 10, 2017

Post-Hurricane Recovery Efforts Must Include Women’s Voices

2020-09-02T21:41:29-04:00Tags: |

In this article, Dr. Heidi Hartmann and Geanine Wester center the lived experiences of low-income black women impacted by post-Katrina recovery in New Orleans twelve years ago as a lesson for policy planning and development post-Irma and post-Harvey. They outline how women are more likely to live in poverty—especially women of color—and represent more of the elderly population, which make them more vulnerable to climate disasters and gender-based violence both before and after disasters. For the women in public housing prior to Hurricane Katrina, they faced recovery policies that effectively eliminated their homes to make way for mixed-income developments, dispersed and curtailed public services for low-income families, and devastated key community support networks. These stories underline the importance of including women, particularly poor women and women of color, in the process of rebuilding whole communities post-disaster.

30 08, 2017

Color of Climate: Meet Valencia Gunder, A Power Player In Miami’s Fight Against Climate Gentrification

2017-10-30T03:35:18-04:00Tags: |

Valencia Gunder, resident of a working class, predominantly black neighbourhood in Miami, is one of the main activists against the gentrification of another similar neighbourhood: Little Haiti. She works at an organization called New Florida Majority, which aims to empower marginalized segments of society. In this piece, Valencia tells us about how in the past, poor and black communities were pushed far away from the sea, into higher and cheaper grounds. Nowadays, with the sea-level raising, we see the gentrification and forcing out of communities like Little Haiti for richer and higher-end developments. Valencia is an active voice fighting for racial and climate justice, on behalf of those who usually do not get to speak out. Photo credit: Ashley Velez/The Root

26 08, 2017

In South Asian Slums, Women Face The Consequences Of Climate Change

2017-10-26T00:14:41-04:00Tags: |

Research by the Urban Institute quantifies how poor women in South Asia feel the impacts of climate change. Torrential rain and poor drainage contribute to the proliferation of disease, overwhelming women with more domestic work and sleep deprivation; not only that, but floods prevented women and men from working, leading to economic insecurity, alcoholism and domestic abuse. Climate change affects different aspects of women’s lives: their financial security, their marriage, and their physical well-being. Photo credit: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images.

29 07, 2017

Gender Into Urban Climate Change Initiative

2017-10-29T01:04:47-04:00Tags: |

Is the climate policy of your city genderproof? There is a triangular relationship between climate change, gender and cities. GenderCC launched the Gender into Urban Climate Change Initiative at the 2015 COP21 climate negotiations, with Johannesburg, Makassar, and Delhi meetings held since then to organize and empower women around the links between climate change, gender and cities. Photo credit: gender cc

26 07, 2017

Community Seeks Justice And Wants Measures To Be Taken Regarding Soil And Water Contamination By Health-Threatening Chemical Elements

2017-10-26T00:24:05-04:00Tags: |

Susie Worley-Jenkins and Vickie Pizzion of West Virginia tells us stories about chemical pollution, cancer, and abortions linked to environmental toxins in their communities. Out of 251 members of their community, at least 86 died from or are fighting cancer in the past two years. Many blame it on the PCB contamination dumpsite from Shaffer Equipment Company closeby. The lack of knowledge and warnings regarding PCB’s effects, combined with poor maintenance made it so that water, soil and air was polluted due to erosion and floods, explains Pamela Nixon, a former environmental advocate. Not only that, but this population faces yet another threat to their health through toxic fracking waste disposal, with hazardous volatile compounds contaminating their water. This has prevented residents from using their tap water and has even caused chemical burns, including in children, reports Sandra Keeney. Photo credit: Project Earth

15 07, 2017

A Canadian City Is Putting Warning Labels On Gas Pumps

2018-02-15T12:27:28-05:00Tags: |

Youth activist Emily Kelsall is at the forefront of the launch of a new program to place warning labels on all gas pumps in the Canadian town of North Vancouver. In collaboration with the climate action group Our Horizon, Kelsall has worked tirelessly to convince her local city council and mayor of the necessity of using this platform to connect with people and showcase the impact of fossil fuel use on climate change and the acceleration of environmental devastation. Photo Credit: Andrea Crossan

7 07, 2017

Afro-Latino Fest NYC 2017: Women, Climate Change And Rural/Urban Displacement

2017-10-29T21:48:03-04:00Tags: |

Afrodescendant communities in the West are particularly displaced by the negative impacts of climate change in cities. Women of color are on the urban frontlines of these communities. They are leading the struggle through mobilizing their communities and offering strategies to fight urban displacement caused by environmental issues and gentrification. This incredible Afro-Latino Fest in New York City video panel includes women speakers Nyasha Laing, Nasha Paola Holguin, Dr. Kesha Khan Perry, Ana Cristina da Silva Caminha, Zelene Pineda, and Thanu Yakupitiyage in dialogue about the issues at hand. Photo credit: Afro-Latino Fest NYC 2017

26 06, 2017

Afghan Women Refugees Resurrected As India’s Plastic Waste Warriors

2017-10-26T00:21:03-04:00Tags: |

Farah Naz is one of five Afghan refugee women who is not only battling traditional gender roles by working, but also becoming an unlikely fighter against plastic waste pollution in New Delhi, India. Through Project Patradya, a  business initiative, she is employed to produce and supply edible bowls, cups and cutlery for cafes, restaurants and parlors as an alternative to non-biodegradable plastics utensils. The idea is to also have training in sales and marketing, empowering women to run their own recycling business within three years.

7 06, 2017

Women’s right to the city; reflections on inclusive urban planning

2025-05-24T18:58:13-04:00Tags: , |

Ana Falú is an Argentinian architect, professor, researcher, and feminist activist whose work focuses on the shortcomings of traditional city design and planning, recognizing the unequal relations between men and women, and the opportunities to do better. Women's rights to the city have historically been overlooked, despite their active participation in city building and social movements. In Latin America, these challenges are exacerbated by high urbanization rates and climbing inequality. Therefore, urban policies and gender-sensitive planning must ensure equal conditions and opportunities for all genders and diverse groups, including transgender people and sexual minorities. Such planning can also address economic well-being, political participation, bodily autonomy, and equal access to urban resources. Falú' calls for the incorporation of women's right to the city into the Habitat III process and the New Urban Agenda in urban planning conferences, emphasizing the need for gender equality in urban planning to create more democratic and inclusive cities.

1 06, 2017

Reflective Paint Helps Women In Slums Combat Extreme Heat Caused By Climate Change

2017-11-01T23:49:26-04:00Tags: |

Climate change-induced heatwaves are increasing across India, endangering millions of lives and livelihoods. In response, groups such as the Mahila Housing Trust, are working with women in 100 slums across five cities to experiment with low-cost approaches to cooling homes using reflective paint and other simple methods to reduce the direct impacts being felt by marginalized and impoverished residents. Photo Credit: Mahila Housing Trust, Pixabay

31 05, 2017

Alice Hinman And Natural Beekeeping At Apiopolis

2017-10-31T22:42:55-04:00Tags: |

Alice Hinman is the founder of a bee sanctuary and sustainable honey company in Raleigh, North Carolina. A natural beekeeper, she see the decline in pollinator and honeybee population worldwide as an opportunity to tackle a global challenge, to which she is responding by producing honey for Raleigh's network of local restaurants. She is passionate about supporting local food and creating green jobs rooted in sustainability and community. Photo credit: Johnny Gillette

31 05, 2017

Urban Farmer Transforms Community Into Thriving Local Food Haven

2017-10-31T01:41:03-04:00Tags: |

Sheryll Durrant is a leader of the urban farming movement in New York City, which engages with more than 600 community gardens throughout the city with the GreenThumb program. She began volunteering at a community garden in her neighborhood during the financial crisis in 2008 and has since gotten higher education in farming. Through her work at the Sustainable Flatbush garden, Sheryll saw the importance of reaching out to the community to understand their needs, which increased member attendance at events and engagement with the garden. Sheryll also expanded her work to other neighborhoods with high levels of food insecurity or with many refugees, working as a garden manager and a seasonal farm coordinator at the Kelly Street Garden and the International Rescue Committee's New Roots Community Farm, respectively. Margaret Brown (Natural Resources Defense Council) who works on food issues, also reiterates how important these places can be for more access to fresh and quality food, as well as a place for socialization, integration, and nutritious education. Photo credit: Keka Marzagao/Sustainable Flatbush

31 05, 2017

10 Female Urban Farmers Setting The Tone For Sustainable Cities

2017-10-31T01:17:07-04:00Tags: |

Ten female urban farmers are changing the urban agriculture movement: Erika Allen carries out multiple food system projects in Chicago, while Natasha Bowens is a writer and advocate for the black farming movement. Kelly Carlisle is the founder of the grassroots NGO Acta Non Verba, which focuses on teaching youth about gardening, businesses and finance. Natalie Clark established the Harvest Blessing Garden in Jacksonville, an urban lot in where she teaches sustainable and urban farming. Gail Myers is an academician with a documentary Rhythms of the Land and a non-profit Farms to Grow, through which she explores food equity and racial relations. Read the article to learn about the work of Jamila Norman, Leah Penniman, Karen Washington, Yonnette Fleming, Lindsey Lunsford and more!

29 05, 2017

Meet The Ladies Who Are Growing Food In Los Angeles

2017-10-29T00:46:32-04:00Tags: |

Manju Kumar, manager of Sarvodaya Farms in Los Angeles, believes that today’s problems are rooted in our disconnection with nature. Her permaculture urban farm provides a pathway towards reconnecting with the land through growing food within city limits. For Kumar, farming is also act of women’s resistance because of the autonomy that comes with digging your hands deep into soil. Farming is still extremely male dominated in the United States. Moreover, in Los Angeles, 1 in 10 families suffer from food insecurity or go hungry despite Southern California holding claim to one of the most agriculturally productive territories in the world. Katie Lewis, Zoe Howell, Leigh Adams, Mireya Arizmendi de Haddad, and Lindy Ly are fellow women urban farmers and gardeners who are leading the way in making food more accessible for all. Photo credit: Link TV

24 05, 2017

‘My House Is In A Superfund Site’

2020-09-02T20:58:58-04:00Tags: |

In this video, Grist fellow, Vishakha Darbha shares how residents of East Chicago, Indiana are fighting widespread lead contamination in the soil and targeted displacement from public housing. Despite long standing knowledge of unhealthy levels of contamination since 1985 and Superfund designation in 2008, cleanup efforts have been slow and uneven, with some communities being ignored and evicted. Tara Adams is among the 1,000 residents evicted from West Calumet Housing Complex that are being left to fend for limited affordable housing and search for cleaner land and water. The Trump administration is also seeking to cut Superfund program funding by $273 million, leaving many more communities to suffer from historical pollution. 

26 04, 2017

Toronto General Hospital Nurse’s Plastic Collection Transformed Into Mural

2017-10-26T00:04:28-04:00Tags: |

Tilda Shalof is turning 28 years of collected medical waste into sentimental art murals that illustrate the medical care world and patient’s stories. As an Intensive Care Unit nurse at Toronto General Hospital, Shalof has always viewed the plastic caps and waste from syringe coverings and other medical implements as meaningful colorful bits connected to caring for the ill, and never as garbage. Each of the around 100 sterilized pieces she’s been collecting every day have been reused to create a stunning and powerful four-by-nine feet medical art piece made of 10,000 plastic pieces. Photo credit: Steve Russell/Toronto Star

6 04, 2017

Corrina Gould On The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust: An Urban Indigenous Women-Led Land Trust

2017-12-06T14:50:21-05:00Tags: |

Corrina Gould, a Chochenyo and Kerkin Ohlone woman leader, born and raised in Oakland, California, speaks about the history and work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an Indigenous-woman led initiative to reclaim and protect ancestral lands in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. She also speaks about her family's history, and the history of erasure, colonization and forced removal in the Bay. The recorded presentation comes from the second annual “Religion & Ecology Summit” at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). Photo credit: Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion Program.

31 03, 2017

Color of Climate: Is Climate Change Gentrifying Miami’s Black Neighborhoods?

2017-10-31T01:49:25-04:00Tags: |

Paulette Richards, from Liberty City, tells The Root how lately, many neighbours from one of Miami’s previously undervalued and black neighborhood are moving out due to a new type of gentrification: the climate gentrification. With the rise of the sea level, places like Richards’s home, farther from the ocean and higher than coastal areas, are now deemed as good neighborhoods to live. This is what drove Richard to start raising awareness and involvement of her community through different leisure activities revolving around climate change issues and also a summer program called “Climate and Me” targeted at youth members of the community. She is committed to making a change and helping her community face this gentrification, in addition to Marleine Bastien, from Little Haiti, another low-level income predominantly black neighborhood facing climate gentrification in Miami. Bastien is the executive directress of Fanm Ayisyen nan Miyami (Haitian Women of Miami), an organization that is focused on poor Haitian women, their families and their needs. Photo credit: Ashley Velez/The Root

31 03, 2017

Interview With Nancy Le: Using Nature As A Classroom

2017-10-31T01:20:06-04:00Tags: |

Nancy Le is the chair of the Los Angeles Chapter of Inspiring Connections Outdoors (ICO), a club that arranges outdoors experiences for urban youth from underprivileged communities. In her interview, she discusses the challenges of the program such as finding funding for trips, finding volunteer leaders that also come from Black and Latino communities, with whom the main public of these excursions can relate to. Encouraging youth to broaden their horizons through contact with nature is an alternative way of empowering them and hopefully they will continue to participate in the program as leaders. Photo credit: Sierra Club

27 03, 2017

Two Women Are Coaxing Los Angeles To Switch From Cars To Bikes

2017-10-27T10:43:46-04:00Tags: |

As people look to California to lead the way on climate action, Rubina Ghazarian and Avital Shavit are doing their part as Los Angeles-based transportation planners. They have been working for years to launch a bike-share system for the large, complex metropolitan area. Bike-share officially launched in 2016 and has already been credited with saving almost 300,000 pounds of CO2. Photo credit: Grist50!

27 03, 2017

Ahmina Maxey Fights For Safer Water Disposal

2017-10-27T10:38:16-04:00Tags: |

While living in Detroit, Ahmina Maxey successfully implemented a much-needed citywide recycling program. Now working with the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives organization, Ahmina focuses on what happens to garbage after it’s picked up. She fights for an incinerator-free future, eliminating the dangerous levels of CO2, arsenic, lead, and other deadly chemicals entering our communities. Photo credit: Grist50!

31 01, 2017

Architect June Grant Designs For Change

2017-10-31T16:28:46-04:00Tags: |

June Grant is a Jamaican architect in the United States focused on technology and design. She has a technology firm called Blink!Lab, through which she applies new technology and 3-D printers to make prototypes and designs that save energy and deal with waste on many fronts: water, energy, heat, etc. She tells us how small details and the use of topographic and geographic data can make a big difference in saving energy and resources. At the moment, June is working at San Francisco Bay Area, dealing with the rise of the sea level and its dangers to those living to close to the water, and has come up with an innovative wastewater treatment plant that could tackle a lot of the community’s environmental issues. Photo credit: Lori Eanes

29 01, 2017

The Urban Disadvantage: Rethinking Maternal And Newborn Health Priorities

2017-10-29T00:39:16-04:00Tags: |

What happens when those invested in newborn and maternal health in impoverished urban areas are faced with the reality that more than fifty percent of the world now lives in cities? Massive hurdles occur, especially when trying to translate maternal care from rural methodologies to urban ones, in a scramble to cater to the dramatically increasing migration of mothers into urban areas. The environmental destruction and gender discrimination that are embedded in urbanization are heavily felt by pregnant women and new mothers, whose vulnerability is compounded by climate change.

23 01, 2017

Thirsty For Change: The Untapped Potential Of Women In Urban Water Management

2017-10-31T13:18:38-04:00Tags: |

Waste, pollution, and the rising demand for water by an estimated 5 billion people by 2030 is placing stress on urban water infrastructure, resulting in health and economic impacts particularly felt by urban poor and marginalized communities. Urban centers in developing countries, where women and girls are the primary water resources managers, are already being hit hardest by water stress. Drawing on studies which find that water projects involving women are transparent and equitable, increasing the number of women working in the urban water sector will help solve challenges related to design, distribution, operation, and maintenance of water systems.

5 01, 2017

All-Women Alliance Tackles Industrial Pollution in Colombia

2017-10-29T21:51:56-04:00Tags: |

Colombia’s highly polluting construction industry is being transformed by an all-women alliance ready to make industrialization sustainable in efforts to help tackle climate change. The Fostering Cleaner Production Initiative invites Colombian women to take on industrial pollution for a greener future. Women within the initiative are being trained to bring pollution prevention to their current positions that deal with water, sewage, and varying construction companies. These women are being credited for the industry transitioning into renewable energies, and lowering waste. Photo credit: UN Climate Change Climate Action

7 12, 2016

It Was A Blighted City Block, But This Woman Is Turning It Into A Solar-Powered Ecovillage

2017-09-29T15:18:02-04:00Tags: |

After running for Highland Park’s city council three times, Shamayim Harris decided that she needed an alternative plan to make things better in her city, which has a history of administrative negligence. That’s when the idea of Avalon Village was born: an ecologically sustainable neighborhood that hosts a variety of community services, such as a center for children to eat meals and receive help with homework, all powered by clean energy sources. Photo credit: Zenobia Jeffries

31 10, 2016

The Guerilla Gardener

2017-10-31T02:00:07-04:00Tags: |

Natalie Flores and Sarah Klein started a garden in an occupied lot that was unused and grew it into a community garden with collaboration from neighbors to start Sunshine Partnerships. They continued and expanded their gardening into other neighborhoods across Los Angeleas, California, inviting the community in, and occupying places and hosting parties that tap into an existing network of urban gardeners. Sunshine Partnerships also collaborates with Transition Mar Vista, a grassroots community groups that has a project called Good Karma Gardens, to foster a network of people helping neighbors to build gardens in their homes. Julie, co-founder of The Learning Garden at Venice High School, is an example of someone positively affected by this project, turning her front yard into a vegetable garden. Photo credit: Ted Soqui

31 10, 2016

Gender, Urbanization And Democratic Governance

2017-10-31T00:44:55-04:00Tags: |

With the rapid growth of urban growth, increasingly impacted by climate change, there is also proving to be a rising rate of gender inequality within cities. This document explains how gender inequality and urban vulnerability to climate are linked. Political decision-making and social and economic power have a deeply rooted gender bias that favors men in urban areas. For this reason, gender equality and women’s empowerment are of principal importance in the post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda.

29 10, 2016

Sustainable Cities, Gender And Transport

2017-10-29T00:58:23-04:00Tags: |

This online factsheet from the Women’s Environment and Development Organization argues for centering gender in sustainable cities development. Although cities are providing economic growth and wealth, such wealth can replicate patterns of gender discrimination, linked to devastating environmental destruction. Environmental sustainability and climate change are embedded in gender equal approaches that result in more sustainable policy development, urban infrastructure, and transportation which meet the needs of all abilities, races, ages income levels. Photo credit: WEDO

26 10, 2016

Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments In Indonesia: Where Are The Women’s Perspectives?

2017-10-26T00:36:06-04:00Tags: |

In Indonesia, cities are developing methodologies towards climate change impact resistance and recovery by investing in city-level resiliency efforts. However, although women are most impacted there is insufficient data on women’s perspectives within urban resilience planning. In this assessment report, the Indonesian NGO Kota Kita presents the significance of a gendered approach in urban resiliency projects, how to improve women’s climate vulnerability assessment, and an examination of specific gender centered resiliency initiatives in Indonesia. Three out of four authors of this report are on the ground women researchers and activists. They are Sarah Dougherty, Rizqa Hidayani, and Dati Fatimah. Photo credit: Kota Kita

26 10, 2016

Gender Equality And Sustainable Urbanization

2017-10-26T00:27:58-04:00Tags: |

Over half of the global population lives in urban regions. Ninety-five percent of urban growth is happening in the developing world while the world’s urban population is predicted to increase to 70 percent by 2050. Urbanization is intensifying environmental destruction while simultaneously resulting in gender discrimination. This UN Women Watch report demonstrates the positive socioeconomic outcomes of cities that are designed for environmental sustainability and are also equipping themselves to eliminate urban gender inequalities. Adequate shelter, proper water and sanitation, and policy which tends to the unequal burdens women carry in moments of urban climate crisis are powerful solutions. Photo credit: UN-HABITAT

26 10, 2016

Lessons From Improving A Gender-Based Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment

2017-10-26T00:18:02-04:00Tags: |

Kota Kita Foundation, an Indonesian grassroots NGO, analysed its methodology for the Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment through a gender-focused approach, as women are the ones who suffer the most from climate hazards and are not well represented in data and resiliency plans. The low levels of female participation and deficient gender-disaggregated data raises questions about cities’ resiliency plans and the lack of consideration of women’s important role in Indonesian society. Photo credit: Kota Kita Foundation

26 10, 2016

Driven To Dhaka By Climate Change Disasters, Bangladeshi Girls Harassed Into Marriage

2017-10-26T00:12:38-04:00Tags: |

Driven into cities after losing land, farms and crops due to climate change disasters, poor Bangladeshi families, in fear of sexual harassment, bad reputation and loss of honor for the family, marry off their girls at an early age, explains Shahana Siddiqui, a gender specialist at Dhaka’s BRAC University. This short documentary approaches two 14-year-old girls, originally from villages in Jamalpur, whose families had to migrate to the capital after they lost their farms to natural disasters. Watch the film to know more about Brishti and Razia, one already married and divorced and the other trying to postpone her marriage as much as she can, despite her father’s wishes. Photo credit: Thomson Reuters Foundation

26 10, 2016

Ghana’s Eco-Friendly Bamboo Bikes

2017-10-26T00:00:35-04:00Tags: |

Ghanaian women and young people are taking sustainable commuting to the next level by constructing custom made bicycles out of the local material bamboo, grown by local farmers. Ghana Bamboo Bikes woman CEO and founder Bernice Dapaah has met the highest standards of innovating and shaping just, sustainable, new economies. Each bike is 100% recyclable and for every bamboo plant used, another ten are planted. After training and employing 35 locals, including people with disabilities, Dapaah wants to relieve more unemployment by hiring another 50 locals while also growing the localized ecological economy she has created in her community. Photo credit: AP

26 06, 2016

Does Nature Need Space In Our Cities? Study Of Bengaluru’s Ecology Offers Answers

2017-12-26T16:02:57-05:00Tags: |

Harini Nagendra, an ecologist by training and professor of Sustainability at Azim Premji University in Bengaluru, has been studying biodiversity and ecology of different public spaces for the past decade. In her new book, ‘Nature in the City; Bengaluru in the Past, Present and Future’, she takes her readers on an ecological journey of Bengaluru from an agricultural center to ‘concrete-ization’. She writes of the remnants of nature’s hotspots in the city and the deep bond between slum dwellers and nature. The book highlights the works of remarkable individuals and movements that are fighting for the rights of nature and saving Bengaluru from being grasped by the silent killer, ‘concrete-ization’. Photo credit: Harini Nagendra

26 06, 2016

The Women Behind Harlem’s Farmers’ Markets

2017-10-26T00:26:07-04:00Tags: |

In New York city, food markets that provide an alternative to commercial produce overwhelmingly cater to white privileged neighborhoods. In turn, low income areas are left with minor accessibility to healthy food. However, women are at the forefront of bringing healthy food markets to New York’s historically low-income neighborhoods. Sonya Simmons has been offering Harlem quality produce for 11 years by running the Grassroots Farmers Market. Martiza Owens helped teen mothers gain access to healthy food in the Bronx in 1993 and then went on to establish two farmer’s markets in the South Bronx. Today she is the executive officer of Harvest Home, bringing quality farmers markets to all five boroughs. Carey King of GrowNYC is also a leader in reinvigorating impoverished Harlem neighborhoods through healthy food. These women are literally partaking in sustaining the health of these communities. Photo credit: Patrick Kolts

31 05, 2016

Putting Gender Equality At The Heart Of The New Urban Agenda

2017-10-31T01:04:19-04:00Tags: |

By 2030, 60 percent of the global population is expected to live in urban areas. The New Urban Agenda is UN document that drafts a plan to dramatically rethink the way that cities are lived in and constructed today. UN Women Deputy Executive Director Lakshmi Puri speaks about the link between urban environmental sustainability and gender equality and an argues that genuine green cities are not possible without a focus on women’s empowerment and equality within urban settlements. Photo credit: UN Women

31 05, 2016

Gender Inclusion Critical For Sustainable Urbanization

2017-10-31T00:41:26-04:00Tags: |

Women from UN-Habitat, Cities Alliance, the Huairou Commission and UN Women are putting gender on the of top their urban cities and climate change agenda. Deputy Executive Director of UN-Habitat Aisa Kaycira emphasizes the importance of empowering women and girls as the leaders of transformation on the New Urban Agenda, a UN framework which blueprints how cities can be transformed into sustainable urban spaces through women’s empowerment. The New Urban Agenda looks to center grassroots women as the principal agents towards sustainable urbanization. Photo credit: UN Habitat

7 05, 2016

Florence Robinson Protected Communities Of Color From Pollution

2017-07-20T17:54:25-04:00Tags: |

“Cancer Alley” is an 80 mile strip of land along the Mississippi River where low-income communities of color co-exist with petrochemical plants, hazardous waste incinerators, and landfills. Florence Robinson, a resident of Alsen and a biology professor at Southern University, organized her neighbors in order to dismantle a hazardous waste disposal pit in 1993. She is the recipient of a Heinz Award for her work against environmental racism. Photo credit: heinzawards.net

27 04, 2016

The Environmental Equalizer: Sudha Nandagopal

2017-10-27T03:04:07-04:00Tags: |

Sudha Nandagopal oversees Seattle’s Environmental Justice Initiative, a unique program that recognizes environmentalism is typically unequal in the distribution of benefits and burdens of policies. As a means of increasing equality and community-driven solutions, Sudha convenes a working group representing the interests of people of colour, immigrants and refugees, low-income, and limited-English individuals to participate in environmental decision-making. Photo credit: Bill Phillips

26 04, 2016

Metro Buses Converted Into Mobile Food Markets For Low-Income Neighborhoods

2017-10-26T00:02:13-04:00Tags: |

Women are taking economic and political leadership in Toronto by transporting quality food to low-income neighborhoods through mobile food markets made from reused city buses. FoodShare, a non-profit working with Toronto communities and schools to improve the quality of food for all people, has teamed up with United Way Canada and the city of Toronto to make the project possible. The mobile buses offer a selection of everything from onions to lettuce to apples, and travel to low-income neighborhoods twice a week, transforming the quality food accessibility in the Toronto region. Photo credit: Blackbuisness.org

18 04, 2016

This Baltimore 20-Year-Old Took Out A Giant Trash Incinerator

2017-10-31T15:40:13-04:00Tags: |

Baltimore is one of the most polluted cities in the United States, and the neighborhood of Curtis Bay is particularly afflicted by respiratory disease caused by industrial emissions. Upon learning of a proposed trash incinerator in Curtis Bay, Destiny Watford led a four-year campaign to halt the construction of this harmful incinerator next to many of Baltimore’s public schools. Photo credit: Doug Kapustin/The Washington Post

31 03, 2016

Scaling Up Community Resilience In The Shadow Of Chevron – With Doria Robinson Of Urban Tilth

2017-10-31T01:46:42-04:00Tags: |

Doria Robinson is the co-founder of the Richmond Food Policy Council and Executive Director of Urban Tilth, a grassroots organization from Richmond, California, that works with growing healthier and just food in a sustainable manner. Through her organization, Doria hires and trains community members to be able to cultivate 5% of their own food supply. She has experience with organic farms, permaculture design, gardening and nutrition, and through her work, advocated for healthier options with salads in every Richmond school, and also campaigned for accountability after the explosion of the Chevron refinery, which ruined the region’s crops. Photo credit: Transition US

31 03, 2016

Elizabeth Yeampierre And Allies Standing For Social And Climate Justice, Not Gentrification

2017-10-31T01:10:16-04:00Tags: |

Elizabeth Yeampierre is a former civil rights lawyer and dean at Yale, who currently leads an initiative called Uprose and participates in the Working Families Party and a labor unions’ coalition, both local organizations from the industrial waterfront of Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York. Their goals are to revive the area, maintain it as a working and active place, make greener, more sustainable and climate-change resilient jobs, products and public spaces locally. Yeampierre has achieved quite a lot with these organizations, but reminds us that now the area is being scoped by big enterprises, who want to build a streetcar line until Astorias, Queens. These top-down projects are not on their best interests or commonly made, opposed to long-term community improvements and claims made by Yeampierre and other grassroots initiatives’ works at the waterfront. Photo credit: David Gonzalez/New York Times

15 03, 2016

Farm-To-Table Community Agriculture Led By Women

2017-07-19T21:28:08-04:00Tags: |

Leah Roberts, 37, sells produce from her farm to local Oregon residents and restaurants, an arrangement that falls under the umbrella of community-supported agriculture (CSA). Just this year, Roberts' Rockwood Urban Farm and about a dozen other CSAs started working with two local nonprofits to offer a new payment system that makes it easier for people of all incomes to purchase a CSA share. Photo credit: Pamplin Media Group, Jonathon House

8 03, 2016

Iconic Activist In Rio Watches As Her Home Is Bulldozed To Make Way For The Olympics

2019-01-21T19:51:23-05:00Tags: |

Like many other Rio de Janeiro residents, Maria Da Penha’s home was demolished by bulldozers to make room for the 2016 Summer Olympic headquarters. De Penha’s home was one of the last to go, and she has been fighting to preserve the history and culture of her community and to keep the government accountable. The government displaced most of the Vila Autodromo residents with cash buyouts or the promise of new apartments, and seized the land with eminent domain. Rather than just an economic concern, de Penha sees this as an attack on fundamental human rights, and says that all citizens need to be respected. Photo Credit: Will Carless

16 02, 2016

Facing Severe Food Shortages, Women In Venezuela Take Up Urban Gardening

2017-07-19T21:36:48-04:00Tags: |

Women like Josefina Requena have been first to respond to Venezuela’s food crisis by starting small-scale urban farms in their own homes, growing fruit and vegetables and keeping chickens to promote food security and community health. Photo credit: John Otia/NPR  

29 12, 2015

Four Women Leaders For Sustainable Cities

2017-10-29T00:54:47-04:00Tags: |

Four women are taking leadership on transforming their cities into more sustainable habitats. Ekroop Caur, managing director of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), is improving women’s transport safety so that sustainable commuting can feel safe and thus more desirable. The director of Philadelphia’s Mayor’s Office of Sustainability Katherine Gajerwski, is also head of the city’s Greenworks program, which links health and happiness through environmental commitments. Tanya Muller is Secretary of the Environment in Mexico City, taking on the impacts of air pollution and urban environmental health through a push towards sustainable transportation via expanding the city’s bus system, propelling investments in bike shares, and restricting the use of private car. A widespread expansion of green roofs is also on her sustainable city to-do list. Then there is the Mayor of Yokohama, Japan Fumiko Hayashi, a child care advocate whose success in eliminating long childcare waiting lists in Japan’s second largest city has removed women’s hurdles of getting back into the workforce post pregnancy. Photo credit: BMTC

26 12, 2015

Urban Farms: The New Frontier For Female Farmers

2017-10-26T00:38:28-04:00Tags: |

Research shows that women are increasingly trading in their desk jobs for urban farming in North America. The new trend departs from rural farming, where notably less women own farm property than men. Only 27 percent of women are rural farmers in Canada, and in the United States it’s less than that. However, today’s urban female farmers are challenging the the North American tradition of women as farmer’s wives, bypassing the gendered property barrier by growing micro-greens in their urban homes. Twenty-nine-year-old Vanessa Hanel’s Calgary based project Micro YYC focuses on basement-farmed greens nourished by grow lights, planted in seed trays and stored on industry shelves. Pea shoots, red cabbage, alfalfa, chervil, mustard greens are just some of the products she harvests and sells at the local urban Calgary Farmer’s Market each week. Photo credit: Imelda Raby

30 10, 2015

Gender and Urban Climate Policy: Gender-Sensitive Policies Make A Difference

2017-10-30T21:20:44-04:00Tags: |

This guidebook published by the Dutch government (GIZ), GenderCC - Women for Climate Justice and UN Habitat explores the theme of gender in urban climate change adaptation and mitigation. It explores the principles of gender-sensitive urban climate policy and advocates for more women’s representation at every level of policy-making.

29 10, 2015

Helping Women Take Up Urban Agriculture In Uganda

2017-10-29T00:43:58-04:00Tags: |

Dr. Diana is a Ugandan women farmer who has swapped mowing her lawn for growing fruits and vegetables in Uganda’s capital city of Kampala. She also raises chickens and cows in her backyard garden. Dr. Diana is also assisting other local women to start their own urban gardens through training sessions and chicken and seeds grants that start aspiring women urban farmers off on the right foot. Not only does Dr. Diana’s urban farm provide vegetables for the women, but good business and economic independence is also being established for Kampala’s women urban farmers by selling their produce to their surrounding communities. Photo credit: GGTN Africa Youtube

27 10, 2015

Resisting Urban Industrial Emissions In South Africa’s Vaal Triangle

2017-10-27T02:43:16-04:00Tags: |

The Vaal Triangle in South Africa comprises several cities and towns that are responsible for some of the world’s highest carbon-emitting industries. Caroline Npaotane is the co-coordinator of the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance. Along with a dedicated group of activists, Caroline is driving efforts to fight polluting industries. Their work has helped to bring in new air quality standards in the area, and has led to the Vaal Triangle being named as a priority area for climate change mitigation by the government. Photo credit: Thys Dullart

26 10, 2015

California Woman Helps Neighborhood Become Locavores, One Locally Grown Meal At A Time

2017-10-26T22:42:33-04:00Tags: |

Kimberly Leeds, resident of Aliso Viejo, California, is helping to bring community together and increase climate resiliency and sustainability through potluck meals designed to help guest think about the source and impact of their food - and grow a network to garden and exchange produce locally. Photo credit: TransitionUS

26 10, 2015

Young Women Representing At Black Farmers And Urban Gardeners Conference

2017-10-31T15:58:44-04:00Tags: |

Oakland resident Karissa Lewis is a black radical farmer focused on providing people with quality food in the face of rising rents and living costs in the East Bay’s quickly gentrifying landscape. The founder of Full Harvest Urban Farm, and employee at the Center for Third World Organizing, Lewis’s political commitments have included issues of environmental racism, while also engaging in struggles that deal with police brutality. She is a member of the Bay Area Black Lives Matter chapter and the BlackOut collective. Photo credit: Black Farmers & Urban Gardeners Conference

7 09, 2015

Women Revolutionize Waste Management On A Nicaraguan Island

2017-07-20T19:18:35-04:00Tags: |

Maria del Rosario Gutierrez used to make money selling scrap metals and plastic waste for reuse. Realizing that many women made a living scavenging for materials to recycle, she founded the Association of Women Recyclers of Altagracia to provide hygiene tips and training. The women have inspired their community with their efforts to recycle waste and keep their island clean. Photo credit: Karin Paladino/IPS  

28 08, 2015

5 Ways That Black Women Suffered Due To Katrina

2019-03-04T01:23:31-05:00Tags: |

A report published by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWRP) reveals the ways black women, especially those in public housing, struggled and suffered because of Hurricane Katrina. After interviewing 184 black women in public housing, the institute came away with five major insights dispelling myths about hurricane recovery. While some black women did find better lives in other cities, most of the black women interviewed wanted to come back to New Orleans. But, the report found, this transition was made very difficult because of poor recovery practices that often exacerbated existing inequalities. The report found that most women did not have enough housing to return to; the new housing situation also brought insecurities and a sense of not belonging to one place; and the vouchers provided aren’t covering their daily needs. Further, the public transportation infrastructure makes it even more difficult to get to work, and social safety nets were disrupted, making black women more vulnerable to various kinds of violence. Among IWRP’s recommendations were: improve communication among service providers, expand tenant vouchers, diversify policies for women and inclusion of low income women, and prioritize the voices of low-income women in planning decisions. Photo Credit: REUTERS/Lee Celano

7 08, 2015

La Finca Del Sur: Gardening For Social Justice In The South Bronx

2017-07-19T21:49:27-04:00Tags: |

Situated in the middle of a concrete jungle, La Finca del Sur is a thriving urban farmer cooperative led by Latina and Black women and their allies. Founded in 2009, the organization supports women of color to grow fresh and healthy food. Staff and volunteers are committed to building healthy neighborhoods in this low-income community through economic empowerment, nutritional awareness, food sovereignty, and advocacy for social equality and food justice. Photo credit: WhyHunger.org

31 05, 2015

A Tale Of Two Supermarkets: One Transition Town’s Efforts To Respond To Gentrification

2017-10-31T15:57:25-04:00Tags: |

Jeanette Origel is a Community Leader Fellow for the Jamaica Plain New Economy Transition (JP NET) and Sarah Byrnes is the Director of the New England New Economy Transition (NET) project at the Institute for Policy Studies. Both leaders write about the importance of thinking about the people in the community when planning concrete ways of improving a place’s resilience - be it through urban farms, renewable energy, or alternative ways of mobility. This is because by improving a community’s resilience, many times the neighborhood improves and then gentrifies, expelling its original inhabitants. Jeanette tells personal stories about her parents fear of prices increases and difficulties in finding products from Latin American countries after local renovations. Food access is only one example of how gentrification can affect a community. This is why Jeannet and Sarah work to bring communities closer together, teaching about climate change and how to adapt, mitigate and be resilient to it. Photo credit: NET

7 05, 2015

Phyllis Omido Shuts Down Dangerous Lead Smelter

2017-07-20T17:45:42-04:00Tags: |

Phyllis Omido, a single mother from Mombasa, Kenya took action to close a local lead smelter after finding out that her child was suffering from lead poisoning from her breast milk. She collected data in the form of local knowledge and hospital visits with patients suffering from lead poisoning, and founded the Center of Justice, Governance and Environmental Action. With proof of the plant’s impacts, Omido organized letter-writing campaigns and street protests, and in 2014 the smelter ceased operations. Throughout the duration of the protests, Omido was arrested and attacked by armed men. Today, Phyllis Omido continues to push for a clean and safe environment for all Kenyans. Photo Credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

5 03, 2015

How Are Women Changing Our Cities?

2017-10-29T21:43:10-04:00Tags: |

In England, women architects are leading innovative and creative design projects to get cities ready for a greener and more sustainable future. Lucy Bullivant, Irena Bauman, Alison Brooks, Alessandra Cianchetta, Liza Fior, Katherine Clarke, and Johanna Gibbons are using the ecological approach of soft planning—an innovative cyclical process that responds to climate change and urban ecological issues by focusing on reducing land waste in cities while preserving urban resources. These women architects pay particular attention to the incredible cultural diversity of London and pair it with the natural sciences to create more green space, sustain resilient urban environments, and construct greener infrastructure including silviculture trees and biophilic design. Photo credit: David Vintiner

1 01, 2015

Indian Women Initiate Water Management System For Women Farmers

2017-10-29T21:35:05-04:00Tags: |

In the Indian state of Gujarat, drought is disproportionately affecting female farmers, whose income is dependent on the monsoon. Leelaben Lohana is one of five women members of the women-initiated Bhungroo group. Bhungroo is a climate change resilient water management system that collects and stores rainwater underground. It is liberating women from the imposed debt and vulnerability that comes with drought. Bhungroo is also turning to the agricultural knowledge of Indian women in exchange for land ownership and local governance, protecting women from having to migrate into urban poverty by gaining self sufficiency in their local regions instead. Photo credit: UNFCCC

31 10, 2014

Women’s Environmental Network ‘Gardens For Life’ Resident Testimonials

2017-10-31T01:27:18-04:00Tags: |

The Women’s Environmental Network is organizing 15 new urban community gardens in Tower Hamlets, London, together with three local housing associations and support from the Public Health Departments from the City Council. Watch the video to see the testimonials and impressions from benefited residents and photos from the food and plants they grew in these gardens. Photo credit: Women’s Environmental Network

26 10, 2014

Former Black Panther Launches Oakland Urban Farm To Give Ex-Prisoners A Fresh Start

2017-10-26T00:46:26-04:00Tags: |

In West Oakland, former Black Panther Elaine Brown is using her tradition of revolutionary action to support ex-prisoners with job opportunities in urban gardening. West Oakland Farms is blooming with a colorful palate of peppers, corn, kale, squash and tomatoes. The inspiring 72-year-old radical envisions a joint project that will offer affordable housing, a fitness center, a juice bar and a grocery store, all run by her NGO, Oakland & the World Enterprises. Brown’s objective is to connect poor Black women and men to autonomously run land based resources that provide economic opportunities in a dramatically gentrifying city. Photo credit: Twilight Greenaway

11 09, 2014

Voices Of Hope/Elizabeth Yeampierre: “There’s Nothing More Sustainable Than A Poor Person”

2023-04-16T16:28:45-04:00Tags: |

Elizabeth Yeampierre is a Puerto Rican attorney with African and Indigenous ancestry who has been an integral part of New York City's environmental justice efforts. She is highly experienced in community organizing, adaptation and resilience. At the Voices of Hope symposium, Yeampierre draws on her years of activism and lived experience to identify the biggest challenge to addressing the climate crisis: privilege. Throughout her speech, Yeampierre speaks to many ways in which power and privilege is hindering the transformative change to climate justice as well as solutions from the perspective of a frontline, grassroots level. Yeampierre poses questions for the listeners to reframe/redefine what they think of as community, place, potential, and being an American. 

26 08, 2014

Mother Nature’s Daughter

2017-10-26T00:41:31-04:00Tags: |

Kristina Erskine, Iyeshima Harris and Maggie Cheney are part of the growing movement of urban farmers planting and harvesting their produce at the Bushwick Campus Farm in Brooklyn. So are Pam and Esther of Hell’s Kitchen — a rooftop garden, and Jennifer, and Charlotte, and Kennon and Leah of Queens County Farm Museum, and Sarah, and Kate, and Shella, and Chelsea of East New York Farms. According to the New York Times, the approximately 900 food gardens and farms New York harbors are run by a predominantly women run pink-collar labor force. Photo credit: Erin Patrice O’Brien/New York Times

13 08, 2014

Gambia – Recycling For Women’s Wealth And Independence

2018-08-22T16:54:39-04:00Tags: |

The Women’s Initiative the Gambia (WIG), established by women, is leading the way in reusing, recycling, and upcycling waste. WIG representatives like Isatou Ceesay, aim to combine environmental education with skills to make marketable products, not only from trash, but also traditional crafts such as bead-making.  This provides income opportunities to women while addressing the rising environmental issues caused by the increasing waste pollution in Gambia. The generated income is helping participants invest their money back into their families and children’s education. WIG is currently working with four communities by training apprentices and teaching locals the importance of waste separation, recycling of plastics, and environmental conservation.

1 11, 2013

Nohra Padilla Leads Improvements In Recycling And Waste Sustainability In Bogotá

2017-11-01T02:47:42-04:00Tags: |

Nohra Padilla has had a long history of experience with waste picking, as she started the occupation from an early age to help her family. With the pass of years, she became one of the main leaders of waste pickers from Bogotá, growing the Association of Recyclers of Bogotá (ARB) into an organization of more than 3,000 informal recyclers and the National Association of Recyclers in Colombia (ANR), with 12,000 members into strong institutions that revolutionized the infrastructure of waste management nationwide. In 2011, Padilla managed to lead a law that prohibits contracts for waste management that do not offer jobs for informal pickers and had them be recognized as a part of the recycling and waste process in Colombia. Even amongst threats to her well-being, Padilla has achieved great improvements for sustainability and waste management in her country. Photo Credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

31 10, 2013

Construction Underway For Second Earthship Greenhouse In Philadelphia

2017-10-31T01:06:31-04:00Tags: |

Rashida Ali-Campbell is looking to build an Earthship in Philadelphia, a building which serves as an off the grid educational center. Campbell is the leader behind Earth Philly, an initiative that has already successfully constructed an earthship greenhouse in the Philly Emerald Street Urban Farm. Photo credit: Kim Glovas

29 10, 2013

Editorial: Gender And Urban Change

2017-10-29T01:06:06-04:00Tags: |

This editorial in the Environment and Urbanization Journal co-authored by Cecila Tacoli, argues that climate change increases environmental hazards for urban working women and hits low-income women the hardest. Poor health amongst these women is disproportionately higher due to bad sanitation and poor access to medical care. The problem is intensified by the fact that taking sick days in wage labor urban economies means a dangerous decrease in earned income.

29 10, 2013

Lessons From The Women Who Are Leading The Sustainable Cities Movement

2017-10-29T00:56:44-04:00Tags: |

Young women are holding the reigns of sustainable transformation in municipal government. Via associations like the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, women are coming together to share best practices. Gayle Prest, Sustainability Director for the City of Minneapolis, and fellow leaders Susan Torriente (Fort Lauderdale) and Vicki Bennet (Salt Lake) describe commonalities in their work using local cultural norms and habits to introduce sustainability. Photo credit: Grist/Shuttershock

25 08, 2013

Degrowth And Equality Of The Sexes?

2017-09-24T20:34:58-04:00Tags: |

In this interview, Sarah Nemno asks France’s Degrowth party member Vincent Liegey about how gender equality fits into degrowth economics. Liegey argues is that a degrowth of economics also means a degrowth of inequalities, including gender disparities. In exploring the topic, the two discuss the decolonization of our imaginations, of our western ideas of development, and above all of our masculinist and patriarchal frameworks. Photo credit: Projet Decroissance

16 04, 2013

Lori Gibbs Advocated For Health, Against Toxic Dumping For Decades

2017-07-20T17:32:43-04:00Tags: |

Lois Gibbs’ children started showing signs of illness after her family moved to Love Canal, New York and attended a school built above a landfill and toxic waste site. Gibbs mobilized the community in order to demand for fair compensation and cleanup, and formed the Center for Health, Environment and Justice to help communities advocate for themselves to industry and the government. Photo credit: Associated Press

1 01, 2013

Gender And Urban Change

2017-10-29T21:38:57-04:00Tags: |

This editorial in the Environment and Urbanization Journal, co-authored by Cecila Tacoli, argues that climate change increases environmental hazards for urban working women and hits low-income women the hardest. Poor health among these women is disproportionately higher due to bad sanitation and poor access to medical care. The problem is intensified by the fact that taking sick days in wage labor urban economies means a dangerous decrease in earned income.

18 05, 2012

Women Convert Solid Waste Into Bio-Gas In Nepal

2017-10-01T18:00:53-04:00Tags: |

It was 1992 when sixteen women gathered in Kathmandu to create the Women’s Committee for the Preservation of the Environment (WEPCO). The organization works to recycle solid waste via community composting, paper recycling and the production of bio-gas, while providing employment opportunities for the community.

31 10, 2011

Lessons From Ag. Street Landfill, An African American Neighborhood Built On Toxic Dump

2017-10-31T01:13:03-04:00Tags: |

Elodia M. Blanco, an environmental justice advocate on the Gulf Coast, tells us about moving to a black neighbourhood in New Orleans around 30 years ago, built on top of a landfill, and its many deadly consequences - and how that turned her into a fighter for environmental justice. Elodia fought for more than 20 years for rights and reparations for her community, who did not know their houses were built on the toxic dumping ground for Hurricane Betsy. She became the President of Concerned Citizens of Agriculture Street Landfill, and after years of struggle, offline lobbying and advocating for justice, some results from their class action lawsuit have been coming out recently. She strongly recommends people to never forget to ask questions when moving into a new place, because if people do not ask them, they are not going to be told willingly. Photo credit: Thom Scott/The Times-Picayune

26 10, 2011

Gender, Cities And Climate Change

2017-10-26T00:29:54-04:00Tags: |

GenderCC Women for Climate Justice co-founder, board member and independent researcher Gotelind Alber has focused much of her work on gender and climate justice. Her handbook Gender, Cities and Climate Change provides an outstanding framework for understanding how gender equality is fundamental to urbanization during climate change. The feminization of urban poverty and the disproportionate impact of climate change on women in urban areas are explained in full within this report. 

31 05, 2011

A Garden In My Apartment

2017-10-31T00:34:33-04:00Tags: |

Britta Riley is not letting her urban lifestyle stop her from growing her own food — arguably one of the best individual environmental actions we can take. In her tiny New York City apartment, Riley and some friends of hers are transforming old plastic bottles into planters to grow herbs and veggies. Tired of having to depend on others for everything, Riley is deciding to harness the power of co-dependence instead. After many trials and experiments, Riley and her friends have created a system that brings the delights of an outdoor garden plot into the urban apartment setting. Photo credit: TEDxManhattan

31 01, 2011

Time For A Cycling Revolution And “Critical Mass” In Cairo

2017-10-31T01:44:28-04:00Tags: |

Inji El Abd is a woman co-founder of Green Arm, a platform for environmental ideas in Egypt, and the Cycling for Change movement. She writes about the Cycling for Change’s demonstration of more than 150 cyclists in Cairo, demanding for a better future and the end of the regime, in January 2011. A month later, the revolution evolved into a green revolution, with people cleaning the Tahrir square and repairing the public space. Under the previous regime, it was difficult for cyclists to gather, as they were harassed by authorities, but now, with the right to peacefully demonstrate, there is hope for a more cycling-friendly city. Critical Mass is a bicycling event that happens worldwide every month, aimed at creating social space for cyclists, which has been considered as a cycling protest in many cities. Photo credit: Green Prophet

29 10, 2010

Gender Equality For Better Cities And A Better World

2017-10-29T01:01:50-04:00Tags: |

Like climate change, urbanization disproportionately affects women and girls. Underprivileged poor and, urban women, especially those who live in slums, have little decision-making power, and have few services and resources available to them. This WomenWatch feature is dedicated to understanding and developing the connections between urban development and gender equality and how such connections are exacerbated by climate change. Photo credit: UN-HABITAT

23 08, 2010

A Hard Fight For Political Representation In Biloxi, Missouri

2017-08-26T15:40:50-04:00Tags: |

Sharon Hanshaw first gathered a group of women to rebuild their lives after Hurricane Katrina in funeral home, one of the only buildings left standing amid the devastation in Biloxi, Missouri. A beautician turned activist, Sharon helped found Coastal Women for Change, a group that advocates for low-income people and people of color that are often overlooked in the redevelopment process. Traveling with the tour Climate Wise Women, Hanshaw continues to tell her story, highlighting the intersections of environmental racism, classism, gentrification and the disproportionate burden women continue to shoulder in the face of climate change. Photo credit: Debbie Elliott/NPR

26 10, 2009

Women Feeding Cities: Mainstreaming Gender In Urban Agriculture And Food Security

2017-10-26T00:44:25-04:00Tags: |

Globally, women are leading in household food production, in transforming unused city spaces into vegetable gardens, and in taking charge of raising animals. These tasks are fundamental to tackling malnutrition and food insecurity in cities and with urban poverty in general, urban crises that are all exacerbated by escalating climate change. Yet women’s central role in urban agriculture is being ignored despite their critical contributions which include generating income, providing household nutrition, and strengthening social inclusion within impoverished areas. The report Women Feeding Cities examines the fundamental contributions of women with the intention of bringing women into urban agriculture, development and research. Photo credit: RUAF Foundation

11 10, 2009

After Hurricane Katrina, Sharon Henshaw Founded Coastal Women For Change

2017-05-07T10:16:02-04:00Tags: |

Sharon Henshaw became a leader on climate change after Hurricane Katrina destroyed her home, her beauty parlour, and the homes and livelihoods of her neighbours. Henshaw and several dozen women met regularly to discuss how to meet the community’s needs in the context of climate change and the increased risk of natural disasters. They founded Coastal Woman for Change, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the community and the local economy recover, providing emergency preparedness training and gaining government support. 

1 06, 2006

Majora Carter: Greening The Ghetto

2017-07-20T17:56:40-04:00Tags: |

Majora Carter is a leader in urban environmental justice and a key organizer of the grassroots movements to "green the ghetto," pushing for South Bronx's first open water park and a greenway along the waterfront. Through her work with Sustainable South Bronx, Majora Carter has spearheaded sustainable job training programs and the development of urban green belts and parks in underserved and low-income communities across the city. In this TED Talk, Majora discusses environmental racism and the impacts of industry on people of color, and how a critical environmental justice framework can help people re-claim and re-green public spaces. Photo credit: ted.com

31 10, 1995

Goldman Environmental Prize Recipient Emma Must Stands For Sustainable Transport

2017-10-31T01:32:19-04:00Tags: |

Emma Must led a nationwide campaign against the building of roads throughout the country, which would have caused the displacement of hundreds of families and environmental destruction, and also advocated for alternatives means of transportation. She did so through many peaceful protests, chaining herself to bulldozers and joining the organization Alarm UK! and later with Transport 2000 and Global Justice, bringing attention to the issue. Due to her efforts, the British Department of Transport changed its road building policies and the government started proposals for sustainable transport. Photo credit: The Goldman Environmental Prize

1 11, 1994

Laila Iskandar Pioneers Justice And Health In Waste Management In Egypt

2017-11-01T02:41:35-04:00Tags: |

Laila Kamel Iskandar was a pioneer in waste management. She started an innovative social and environmental project of earning money out of recycling household waste in a community near Cairo, improving the lives of garbage collectors. She also began an informal school to teach about hygiene and health, with a flexible schedule to keep up with families of garbage collectors, where children started helping out and working at an early age. Laila later became the Volunteer Field Director for the Rag Recycling Center at the Association for the Protection of the Environment (A.P.E.), an organization with different projects targeted toward the garbage collector community, fostering tourism in the area. She also runs a Rug-Weaving Center for girls, where they learn handcrafts, and also to read, write and do basic calculations. Photo credit: The Goldman Environmental Prize

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