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Climate Education, Movement Voices And Changing Cultural Narratives

/Climate Education, Movement Voices And Changing Cultural Narratives

 

22 05, 2023

Tricia Hersey Wants Us All To Slow Down

2023-12-04T15:28:14-05:00Tags: |

Tricia Hersey, author of Rest Is Resistance and founder of Nap Ministry is drawing attention to the need for rest in a world that is obsessed with “grind culture.” While animals and babies listen to the cues of their bodies, adults are ignoring their physical and mental needs in the name of work. This is having consequences on public health and reinforcing oppressive systems. Our culture and systems have ingrained the need for us to be productive for as many hours as possible, with rest being of secondary importance. This is by no accident, but rather by intentional systemic efforts to ensure humans behave as machines. Hersey argues every system is involved in this - from schools and jobs to friends and faith organizations. Hersey emphasizes that humans are not on this Earth simply to work as cogs in a machine and argues that rest is not surrendering but rather is a way to take action and resist the systems that enforce capitalism and white supremacy. Photo Credit: Charlie Watts

20 02, 2023

Black Girl Environmentalist Rejects Climate “Doomism”

2023-06-04T09:46:13-04:00Tags: |

Recently climate "doomism" has been spreading across social media. It is the idea that humanity is doomed and the climate crisis is too far along to be stopped or helped. Wnajiku "Wawa" Gatheru, the founder of Black Girl Environmentalist (BGE), is fighting to challenge this thinking. She argues that an oversaturation of doomism can lead to a loss of power for Black girls, Black women, and Black non-binary environmentalists whose identities are intertwined with environmental racism. Arielle V. King, the programming director at Black Girl Environmentalist, speaks on the deeply connected relationship of racial and environmental justice and the ability of the environmental justice movement to create self-determination for Black, Indigenous and low-income communities. Photo credit: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Environmental Media Association/Courtesy of Arielle King and Roydenn Silcott

17 02, 2023

Mothers Of The Movement: Black Environmental Justice Activists Reflect On The Women Who Have Paved The Way

2023-06-04T09:36:09-04:00Tags: |

The Black community is disproportionately impacted by environmental racism and exposed to human-made environmental hazards. Black activists have been and still are trailblazing leaders and pioneers in the climate justice movement; however, they are often overlooked in history books and climate change conversations. To recognize this pivotal work, these interviews feature Black climate leaders' stories about the Black women who have inspired them in the environmental justice sector. A few of these include: Leah Thomas on Hazel M. Johnson, Abre' Conner on Kathleen Cleaver, Catherine Coleman Flowers on Sharon Lavigne, and Rhiana Gunn-Wright on Tamara Toles O'Laughlin, Colette Pichon Battle, Janelle Jones, Dr. Beverly Wright and Dorceta Taylor. Photo credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

21 11, 2022

Transforming Ourselves To Transform The World

2023-12-07T17:46:30-05:00Tags: |

Cuerpo-territorio, meaning body-territory, is an Indigenous philosophy whereby the body is conceptualized as political territory which, similar to land, has faced colonization and exploitation at the hands of the capitalist patriarchal system. Bodies are thus vessels that can be impacted by the world, but also can influence and improve the world. Nicole Froio guides us through the stories of five activists who embody this philosophy and have embraced their bodily autonomy to change their lives and the lives of others in their interconnected community. This highlights the toll oppression takes on the body as well as the power of one’s relationship with their body in fighting back against societal constraints such as patriarchy, racism, sexism and ableism.

17 11, 2022

Vanessa Nakate, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Wants to Center Climate Frontline Communities

2023-11-28T20:55:20-05:00Tags: , |

Vanessa Nakate, the founder of the Rise Up movement, emphasizes the importance of recognizing the ways that frontline communities are uniquely affected by the climate crisis. Her work in Kenya gave her first hand exposure to the impacts of the crisis on vulnerable communities. Many countries in the Horn of Africa, as well as developing nations around the world, bear the brunt of the damage from the crisis while contributing the least. In Fact, Africa accounts for less than 4% of historic carbon emissions, and yet Africans are among the worst affected by their consequences. Nakate focuses specifically on the impacts of malnutrition from drought, flood, and other climate disasters leading to food and water shortages. UNICEF’s Children Climate Risk Index found that nearly half of the world’s children live in 33 countries that face extreme existential threats from climate change, the top 10 all being African countries. Nakate stresses the importance of sharing stories and data even when it is difficult to hear, and the significance of ensuring that people of color, young people, and people in the developing world are included and heard in conversations around the crisis. Photo credit: Daylin Paul/UNICEF

25 08, 2022

‘Grandmothers Are Our Weather App’: New Maps And Local Knowledge Power Chad’s Climate Fightback

2023-03-05T23:46:25-05:00Tags: |

Mbororo environmental activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim has been working with communities in her native Chad to create maps, settling disputes regarding the sharing of natural resources. Ibrahim and representatives from EOS Data analytics used high-resolution satellite images to work alongside Indigenous leaders from more than twenty villages to map 1,728 square kilometers, collaboratively adding important markers like medicinal trees, sacred forests, rivers, settlements, roads, and more. Each community was given a laminated copy of the finished map, and Ibrahim is now working on a similar project in the Lake Chad area. Ibrahim hopes that her mapping projects will demonstrate the combined power of Indigenous knowledges and technology as a response to the climate crisis. Photo credit: IISB

23 08, 2022

Just 20% Of Climate Change Studies ‘Written By Women’

2023-02-26T13:06:25-05:00Tags: |

Recent studies reveal that women scientists and researchers from the global South are disproportionately affected by the disadvantages that result from the climate research and publishing gender gap. Across a 24 year span (1996-2020), only 20 percent of all climate change studies were attributed to women. During this same time frame, nearly 90 percent of all climate change studies were written by researchers in the global North. Because research and funding opportunities are often extended to those who have been recognized for their publications, women -- especially those from the global South -- are at a major disadvantage if they hope to advance their careers and research impact. Stories from women like Chioma Blaise Chikere, a professor of environmental microbiology and biotechnology at the University of Port Harcourt and director of the institution’s Entrepreneurial Centre, highlight the systematic exclusion that many women scientists face. Chikere faced obstacles that limited her access to educational resources, funding, mentoring, collaboration, and publishing and made her question her ability to become a world-class scientist. This exclusion slows global development and hinders possibilities for sustainable living and discovery. Some organizations like the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and The Chemistry for Climate Action Challenge lead the way with gender-based initiatives to address this gap, supporting and encouraging women scientists from the global South to pursue their very important work. Photo credit: CIAT/GeorginaSmith, (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

28 07, 2022

Humanity Can’t Equivocate Any Longer. This Is A Climate Emergency

2023-03-05T23:40:26-05:00Tags: |

Rebecca Solnit and Terry Tempest Williams invite readers to join them in declaring a climate emergency, arguing that where the people lead, governments will follow. Recent natural disasters, droughts, fires, water contamination, and rising temperatures have shown us that “the future the scientists warned us about is where we live now.” Solnit and Williams explain that the climate emergency requires an immediate transition away from fossil fuels and a commitment to collectively investing in newer, more socially and environmentally just methods of production, consumption, and travel. They urge people to come together in solidarity to save the planet from further destruction for the future generations who will call it home. Photo credit: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images

1 06, 2022

Interview: Osprey Orielle Lake, Women’s Earth And Climate Action Network

2023-03-05T23:36:00-05:00Tags: |

In this interview, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International’s Founder and Executive Director Osprey Orielle Lake discusses WECAN’s goals, the roles of women in movements for climate action, and Stockholm+50 with writer Selva Ozelli. Lake highlights the critical work that is being done by women and feminist leaders around the globe -- work that challenges systems of oppression (patriarchy, colonialism, racism, and capitalism) and aims to create more equitable, sustainable futures for people and planet. She explains that women are at the helm of grassroots and community-led efforts to advance renewable energy, food sovereignty, rights of nature, Indigenous human rights, and feminist economies. They are also fighting back against extractive industries, fossil fuel infrastructure, deforestation, and the destruction of biodiversity. Lake credits the work of these women leaders and organizations like WECAN with advancing toward a just transition. Photo Credit: WECAN

22 04, 2022

Helena Gualinga Is Preserving The Land And Teachings Of The Ecuadorian Amazon

2023-03-05T23:33:01-05:00Tags: |

Helena Gualinga, Native Ecuadorian environmental justice activist and land defender, considers herself a “spokesperson” for the Amazon and uses her voice to speak out against extraction, deforestation, and other forms of colonial and capitalist destruction of the land and waters she calls home. Gualinga has grown up amongst a community of land defenders and Amazon protectors, and she has learned from and rallied alongside her Sarayaku elders in the fight for environmental justice and human rights. Recently, she has been a speaker at the United Nations Climate Change Conferences, and in 2021 she co-led a youth climate march of more than 100,000 people. Gualinga and her sister were the first Indigenous women on the cover of Revista Hogar, a popular lifestyle magazine in Ecuador and used this honor as an opportunity to highlight the many Amazonian women who put their lives on the line to protect their territories, lands, and bodies from violence. Gualinga continues to raise awareness and resist colonialism through her activism, talks, and social media activity.

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

14 01, 2022

Selina Leem, 18 year old from Marshall Islands, speaks at final COP21 plenary

2022-05-14T15:58:09-04:00Tags: |

Selina Leem, an 18-year-old woman from the Marshall Islands, gives a captivating speech about the impacts of climate change on her native coastal lands during the closing ceremony of the COP21 climate change talks in Paris in 2015. This young leader shares the symbolism of the coconut leaf in the tradition of her ancestors and how she hopes to be able to pass this down to her children and grandchildren in the future. Leem calls for this to be a global turning point where leaders take responsibility for climate change and strive to create a sustainable world. Video credit: 350.org

6 01, 2022

Indonesia’s Womangrove Collective Reclaims The Coast From Shrimp Farms

2023-07-02T00:09:27-04:00Tags: |

Indonesia is home to the most mangroves in the world, however mangrove ecosystems are at risk to be cleared for development, a situation exacerbated by a poor economic state. Mangroves are locally and globally significant carbon sinks that provide many ecological services to coastal communities such as land protection from erosion and big tidal waves, increased biodiversity, and aquaculture. This article highlights the many ways the Womangrove collective are influential in combating mangrove deforestation. Womangrove was founded in 2015 by women in the Tanakeke Islands of Indonesia, and originally started as a business-orientated group aiming to plant and protect mangroves for sustainable aquaculture farming. Over the years Womangrove has developed into an ecological restoration program with a focus on addressing the deforestation of mangrove trees (replanting more than 110,000 mangrove seedlings!) and improving gender equality by providing local women educational courses and skill building.  Photo credit: Wahyu Chandra/Mongabay-Indonesia

14 12, 2021

10 Female Photojournalists With Their Lenses On Social Justice

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

Ten global female photojournalists are introduced for their courageous storytelling and social justice advocacy. Featured women include Lynsey Addario documenting global conflicts, Camille Lepage who covered Central Africa prior to being killed while on duty, Heather Agyepong engaging her subjects as participants in Ghana, and Ruth Prieto Arenas documenting the experiences of immigrant women. Homai Vyarawalla is honored as India’s first female photojournalist in the 1930s. In addition, Glenna Gordon is featured for building communities of trust with her work in Africa, and Arati Kumar-Rao for her environmental photography in South Asia. Final featured photojournalists include Lisa Krantz documenting women’s experiences of sexual assault in the military, Stephanie Sinclair portraying issues of child marriage and girls’ rights, and Malin Fezehai capturing stories of displacement from around the world. The influential work of these women documenting experiences on the margins of society is often met with intense risk. Photo credit: Arati Kumar-Rao

13 12, 2021

Nurturing Roots, Flourishing Movement

2021-12-13T20:58:40-05:00Tags: |

This webpage introduces us to the ‘memory project’ presented by FRIDA, a youth-led fund exclusively supporting young feminist organizing which was officially set up in 2008. On International Women’s Day 2018, through a collection of stories of innovation and creation; recognition; collaboration and action; and of collective learning, FRIDA acknowledged the individual lives of inspiring women who paved the way for today’s young feminists. Through this recognition, FRIDA asserts that memories are part of their resistance, as each story relates a memory, reveals a symbol, and shares the belief that feminist organising can change the course of history. The project was developed by young feminist consultant Christy Selica Zinn who collected and translated these stories (her work is on women’s rights, youth development and organisation change in Sub-Saharan Africa); and by illustrator and project designer Pearl D’Souza, who is based in Goa, India. Photo Credit: Young Feminist Fund

13 09, 2021

Stop Ignoring Mothering As Work

2023-02-02T16:26:11-05:00Tags: |

Writer Kimberly Seals Allers believes a major part of feminism is celebrating women as a whole, with mothering as a central and unique role that should be highly valued in society. Allers explores the alarming gender inequities ingrained in social and financial systems in the United States based on the undervaluation of maternal work alongside secular work which impacts women at all levels. She advocates for women to be honored and supported across society for their specific contributions as mothers, nurturers, educators, and other roles that extend far beyond the patriarchal confines of the ability to compete with men in professional roles. Photo credit: 10’000 Hours/Getting Images

6 07, 2021

A Call To Attention Liberation: To Build Abundant Justice, Let’s Focus On What Matters

2021-07-06T17:43:25-04:00Tags: |

Writer, speaker, and social justice advocate Adrienne Maree Brown discusses the power presence and attention as a force for change based on what individuals or groups choose to focus their limited energy on. She explores intentional mindset practices and group efforts that impact social justice work, including the concept of “principled struggle” that brings people closer together by fostering respectful conflict that is generative by nature. Brown also highlights “critical construction” as a key practice of co-creating thoughtful plans that build off of ideas from various perspectives provided within a coalition or group. These practices seek to reach beyond the pervasive mindset of scarcity that often dominates capitalist society to allow for collaborative, holistic methods to approach the fight for justice. Photo credit: Jeff Swensen / Getty Images

6 07, 2021

Earning Our Place On The Planet: An Interview with Adrienne Maree Brown

2021-07-06T17:39:42-04:00Tags: |

This transcribed interview, Justin Campbell introduces us to Adrienne Maree Brown, activist and author of Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (AK Press, 2017), a “radical planet/self-help” handbook for social justice organizers on how to change the world. Throughout the interview, Adrienne eloquently exposes some key themes of emergent strategy, which is anchored in the interconnectedness of the world we live in. In other words, individual/self-care and what we do to improve our relationships with each other both benefit the planet and our relationship with her. Adrienne also touches on the practice of generative conflict (relational), which is in contrast to pro-war mentality (fighting). In collaboration with activist Walidah Imarisha Adrienne also co-edited a science-fiction anthology Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements (AK Press, 2015), a collection of “Visionary Fiction” written by and for social justice organisers grounded on the principle that ‘all organizing is science fiction’. Photo Credit: Gant Studios

6 07, 2021

Intersectionality: A Tool for Gender and Economic Justice

2021-07-06T17:19:22-04:00Tags: |

Intersectionality is an analytical tool for studying, understanding and responding to the ways in which gender intersects with other identities and how these intersections contribute to unique experiences of oppression and privilege. It also helps in understanding how different identities impact on access to rights and opportunities and also links the grounds of discrimination (e.g. race, gender, etc.) to the social, economic, political and legal environment that contributes to discrimination. Most importantly, it highlights how globalization and economic change are impacting different people in different ways.

13 04, 2021

These Kids Are “On Fire” For The Earth!

2021-04-13T17:55:21-04:00Tags: |

Chrysula Winegar from the UN Foundation introduces the film series, Young Voices for the Planet produced by Lynne Cherry. Cherry lives in Frederick County, Maryland, and is the director of the non-profit Young Voices for the Planet. Her organization’s mission is to empower youth and children to inspire each other to take climate action as change agents in their communities. The broad stories showcased in documentaries by Young Voices for the Planet include the story of three nine-year-old girls in Massachusetts who changed an outdated law in their town forbidding solar panels on public buildings and the story of a young girl from Siberia who collected water samples as part of a scientist’s research showing the impacts of climate change in the Arctic. The documentaries are part of a curriculum available to teachers who want to inspire young people to take their own creative climate actions. Photo Credit: Global Moms Challenge

9 04, 2021

Women’s Environmental Network – Environmental Justice Through Feminist Principles

2021-04-09T13:34:58-04:00Tags: |

The Women’s Environmental Network is a UK organisation working to make links between women health, wellbeing and environmental issues; and by broadening the latter’s scope to include menstrual health, real nappies and breast cancer. The aims are to raise awareness of the gender implication of climate change; promote environmental justice through feminist principles and gender equality; and involve and empower women in climate change decisions and solutions on the ground. Hence, WEN thinks globally and acts locally by sharing knowledge, resources and seeds through community organisation, events, training and grassroots projects in East London. Featured in this video are WEN co-director Kate Metcalf and former co-director Connie Hunter; as well as project participants such as Mina (“we help each other”); Silam (“this had helped me be more conscious about our environment”); Laura (“it has helped me be a happier person”); and Gubsie “it changes people, it makes such a difference”). Video Credit: WEN

9 04, 2021

My Year Of No Shopping

2021-04-09T13:25:25-04:00Tags: |

The author Ann Patchett shares the journey to her pledge to stop shopping, inspired by her friend Elissa years earlier. The initial attraction for the idea turned into practice at the end of 2016, when she came up with an arbitrary set of rules for the year to make a serious but not draconian plan. In the article she shares all the “gleeful discoveries” of her first few months of no shopping as well as more long-term positive impacts on her lifestyle. At the end of the year, instead of ending the experiment, she decides to leave her pledge in place. Photo Credit: Wenjia Tang

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.

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.

26 10, 2020

Curated Resources – Rainbows and Storms: LGBTQI+, climate crisis and pandemics

2023-11-29T18:28:09-05:00Tags: , |

The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) has curated stories from across the world featuring women fighting for social and climate justice. Some features include poetry from Kamla Bhasin from India, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner from the Marshall Islands, and Aka Niviâna from Kalaallit (Greenland). These women reflect on gender, climate change, community, roots, and collective power, all of which are needed to bring about social and climate justice. This resource provides a short documentary that demonstrates the work of Noelene Nabulivou and a disaster response network that empowers local community members. Articles and podcasts written and produced by and for women outlining feminist framework for climate justice can be found in this curation. Photo Credit: AWID

26 09, 2020

Japanese Youth Demand Action On Global Warming In ‘Shoe Protest’ Outside Diet

2021-02-16T20:40:24-05:00Tags: |

Youth activists in Japan hold a COVID-19 safe climate protest as part of the Global Day of Climate Action displaying over 100 pairs of shoes outside the National Diet Building in Tokyo. In lieu of holding a street march, Mutsumi Kurobe and other young climate activists stress that the Japanese government must do more to take bold action on climate even and especially during the coronavirus pandemic. Over 30 partner actions were held by youth organizers across the country, many of which were led by local Fridays for Future chapters in alliance with the global student strike movement. Photo credit: Mainichi/Yuki Miyatake

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

21 08, 2020

Meet Women Environmentalists Exploring New Ways to Protect Qiandao Lake in E China

2023-03-19T07:49:19-04:00Tags: |

Mu Quan is an environmentalist in eastern China who has devoted her work to protecting what is locally known as “the most beautiful lake in the world” or Qiandao Lake in Zhejiang province. After seeing the detrimental impacts of fertilizers and pesticides from the area’s prominent tea and farming community, she sought balanced solutions to protect the lake while also benefiting the local economy. Quan founded the Qiandao Lake Water Fund which now consists of a five member all female leadership team supporting pilot projects that promote sustainable agriculture and environmental education. Their ecological rice field pilot project has gained praise for decreasing nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the soil while also improving irrigation, tea quality, and increasing farmers’ income. Photo credit: cnr.cn/Wang Haipeng  

13 08, 2020

The Women Battling Wildfires And Breaking Barriers In The American Wilderness

2020-09-09T19:33:02-04:00Tags: |

Hannah Gross is one of 10,000 female wild land firefighters in the United States. In this historically male-dominated field women often face implicit bias, sexism, and gatekeepers who didn’t make them welcome.  Various initiatives have been created to increase the number of women in fire, foster their leadership capabilities, and improve their operational confidence in the field. Thanks to some of these initiatives women are  present in every facet of the wildland fire world. Photo Credit: Alex Potter

24 07, 2020

Rice Production Necessitates Women Farmers

2020-09-18T17:28:40-04:00Tags: |

Women in Guyana are becoming a larger force in rice production, the country producing the most rice per capita in the world. When given access to the same resources as men, such as water and land ownership, these women farmers can help reduce poverty and improve nutrition.  In order to meet the increasing global demand for rice, it is imperative that climate change vulnerabilities and gender inequalities are simultaneously addressed. Photo credit: Tanja Lieuw

4 07, 2020

Climate Justice In The Time Of COVID-19: 5 Lessons From Women And Girls Leading The Fight

2020-09-08T22:13:16-04:00Tags: |

During the World Skull Forum, an intergenerational and intercultural panel of women climate activists hosted a webinar on the lessons we can learn during the COVID-19 crisis in order to pave the way for a green recovery and a just transition. Notwithstanding its drastic negative impacts, the current pandemic has also proven the capability of the global community for changing behaviour quickly and profoundly in the face of a serious crisis. Therefore, the panelists urged for the climate crisis to be taken just as seriously, underlining the importance of science and traditional knowledge, human behaviour and collaboration. Photo Credit: Skoll Foundation & Rockefeller Foundation

24 06, 2020

Where Do You Draw The Boundaries Of Home? Understanding Bioregions Might Give You An Idea

2023-03-05T23:49:37-05:00Tags: |

Carlita del Sol explains the concepts of bioregionalism and place-based governance. In pre-colonial times, Indigenous Peoples lived on their ancestral territories for thousands of years, and hyper-localized knowledges of their regions were passed down through generations. These knowledges allowed Indigenous Peoples to live in reciprocal relationship with the land, taking care of the region and its “lifesources,” while also depending on the land, animals, and local food systems for their own survival. del Sol includes a list of steps that people can take to re-orient themselves with the bioregions that they are already in relationship with. Photo credit: Mervin Windsor (Haisla-Heiltsuk), from Decolonial Atlas

29 05, 2020

Gardens Have Pulled America Out Of Some Of Its Darkest Times. We Need Another Revival

2021-02-16T20:31:45-05:00Tags: |

As the COVID-19 pandemic ravages the United States’ economy, issues of food security have been magnified. Consequently, the importance of local gardens have been emphasized. From Victory Gardens during the first and second world war, to the emergence of urban vegetable gardens throughout US cities in the 1970s and 1980s, the United States has a rich history of local gardening initiatives. The pandemic has forced Americans to re-evaluate the many way local gardens benefit a community. In Richmond, California, Doria Robinson of Urban Tilth provides 227 families with weekly CSA vegetable shares. Serving low-income residents in a city with only one grocery store per 100,000 residents, Robinson’s work at Urban Tilth makes a great difference in the local community, especially in light of COVID-19. Photo Credit: Karen Washington 

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

21 04, 2020

Advice From Activists: How COVID-19 Is Changing Climate Activism For Young Women

2020-09-24T19:24:02-04:00Tags: |

Young women and girls from the frontlines of climate change are taking climate action into their own hands amidst a global pandemic. Eight-year-old Licypriya Devi Kangujam, from New Delhi, India, founded The Child Movement and stands for climate action and legislative environmental protection in India. Alexandria Villaseñor and Leah Namugerwa are leaders with Fridays for Future, where they participate in the global School Strike 4 Climate. While sheltering at home, Villaseñor encourages that we should be consuming less and promoting a sharing economy. These young women and girl activists suggest how we can all be part of the climate movement and understand its links to the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo credit: Alexandria Villaseñor

23 03, 2020

Coronavirus Holds Key Lessons On How To Fight Climate Change

2020-09-08T21:31:05-04:00Tags: |

Similar to the COVID-19 outbreak, the climate change crisis could have also been avoided, but will now require urgent action.  This provides leaders with the unique opportunity to acknowledge the importance of steep learning curves and swift action when combating climate change. According to climate experts, the coronavirus pandemic has provided a slight dip in greenhouse gas emissions, but aside from the decline of work commutes, business travel, and international trade, many of these effects are temporary.  The pandemic and climate change must be solved together: stimulus measures for COVID-19 economic strains should invest in climate change solutions, and governments need to encourage societal behavior shifts through political measures that support their residents. Photo credit: Salvatore Laporta / Kontrolab / Lightrocket via Getty Images

13 03, 2020

In Fiji, Lesbian Feminist Activist Noelene Nabulivou Strives For World ‘Liberated And Free’

2020-10-23T22:35:24-04:00Tags: |

Diverse Voices and Action for Equality (DIVA) was co-founded by Noelene Nabulivou with the aim to create an all inclusive peer support group of LGBT+ individuals and marginalized women in Fiji. The group gives a voice to all individuals who are victims to the widespread patriarchal power structures and homophobic attitudes in Fiji. Their work mainly focuses on activism, advocacy, policy and feminist knowledge sharing that targets all communities, but prioritises informal settlements, and women from rural and remote areas.  DIVA For Equality strongly advocates across genders and intersectional fields by tackling the interlink of LGBT+ and women rights with economic, ecological and climate justice. Having worked alongside regional and international organizations, DIVA for Equality aims to be an all inclusive voice in the global climate debate. Notably, the group initiated the regional coalition of ‘Pacific Partnerships on Gender, Climate Change and Sustainable Development’, which now has more than 50 island nations involved. Photo Credit: Reuters 

14 10, 2019

On Indigenous People’s Day, Anishinaabeg Leaders March Against Enbridge’s $7.5 Billion Oil Pipeline

2020-11-20T17:50:08-05:00Tags: |

Anishinaabeg leaders march in resistance to the proposed Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline in Clearbrook, Minnesota on Indigenous People’s Day. Tara Houska, member of the Anishinaabeg Nation and Founder of Ginew Collective, leads the march with more than 200 supporters to protect Ojibwe culture and treaty rights along with key water sources that would be compromised in the Great Lakes region with the potential to harm millions. The pipeline construction company, Enbridge, faces several lawsuits after the environmental review was overturned due to high risks to waterways. Houska and other Indigenous leaders continue to garner greater support for resisting construction and protecting their ancestral lands. Photo credit: Amelia Diehl/In These Times

16 05, 2019

These Five Black LGBTQ+ Activists Are Literally Saving The Planet

2020-11-07T17:58:13-05:00Tags: |

Explore what the environmental justice movement looks like led by those most impacted. Meet 5 Black LGBTQ+ community organizers and activists Asha Carter (she/her), Dominique Hazzard (she/her), Dean Jackson (they/them), Jeaninne Kayembe (she/her,they/them), and  Rachel Stevens (she/her,they/them). Follow their stories of activism to learn how creative and impactful movements within their communities have responded to healing environmental racism. Photo Credit: Asha Carter

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

9 04, 2019

What The Queer Community Brings To The Fight For Climate justice

2020-11-07T17:54:21-05:00Tags: |

To ensure the success of the climate justice movement is to ensure the liberation of Queer Communities. As we move forward in healing the climate crisis, the interconnectedness of Queer and Trans Communities with the Climate Jutsice movement must be realized. Many LGBTQ+ activists are lifting up the environmental movement with resilience and innovation while also participating in the divest movement and bringing equity policies to environmental organizations. Photo Credit: Dylan Comstock

12 03, 2019

The Untold Story Of Women In The Zapatistas

2019-04-13T16:02:00-04:00Tags: |

Victoria Law is a journalist who spent 6 years with the Zapatista movement in Southern Mexico and published Compañeras: Zapatista Women’s Stories. She gives an overview of the Zapatistas, the influence women have in the movement and the impact the movement has had on their lives. The Zapatistas began organizing in the 80s and declared war on the state of Mexico in 1994, on the exact day the NATO the free trade agreement began.  Since then the movement is renowned for the peaceful protests, indigenous organization, and their autonomy. Women have played a key role in the Zapatista communities accomplishing a drastic reduction of violence against women, the prohibition of alcohol (connected to abuse), the freedom to participate and lead in politics, and autonomy over their lives. Victoria sheds light to many things that can be learned from the organization of the Zapatistas and the key role that women continue to play in their liberation and in the liberation of their people. Photo Credit: Mr. Thelkan

28 02, 2019

Osprey Orielle Lake: Women Rising For The Earth

2020-04-24T16:36:50-04:00Tags: |

In this article, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) executive director Osprey Orielle Lake reflects on the broad and interwoven relationship between women and climate change. Citing activists such as Phyllis Young and Dr. Vandana Shiva, Lake connects the experience of each activist to global climate justice trends and movements. Lake also discusses the climate crisis as it is linked to systems of oppression and patterns of abuse against women and nature. While they are among the most vulnerable populations affected by climate chaos, women also offer the most hope for the future. Photo Credit: Emily Arasim/WECAN

1 11, 2018

These Climate Change Emojis Are Peak 2018

2020-09-03T00:06:03-04:00Tags: |

Marina Zurkow, an environmental artist and professor at New York University designed emoji’s that reflect the current and upcoming state of climate change. These “climoji’s” are made to shift people’s consciousness and normalize talking about climate change. These sticker sets are available for apple and android users. Climoji demonstrates how popular culture can connect audiences to difficult issues wordlessly, emotionally and with humor.  Photo Credit: Climoj

20 10, 2018

The Bearded Seal My Son May Never Hunt

2020-11-07T18:07:29-05:00Tags: |

The author Laureli Ivanoff is an Inupiat, a northern indigenous population with communities from Alaska to Greenland. She reflects on the future of her people who now have to learn to live without the cold: last winter there was less ice in the Bering Sea that any winter since the 1850 when record-keeping started. The Inupiat need the northeastern Bering Sea to stay cold so that the creatures they traditionally rely on can thrive. She particularly thinks about her newly born son Inuqtaq, to whom hunting was going to be an act of intentional decolonization, a way of keeping alive a custom that’s become sacred and of staying connected to his heritage and identity. As she hurts for him and for her family, Laureli hopes the world quickly adapts and also respects the earth as they have for millennia. Photo credit: Ash Adams/The New York Times

18 10, 2018

Why A Farmworker’s Daughter Interrupted Governor Brown At The Global Climate Action Summit

2019-04-13T16:39:10-04:00Tags: |

At the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco California, Niria Alicia stood up and sang out in protest to Governor Jerry Brown’s refusal to take action against oil and gas companies. In this piece, Niria describes why she joined eight other young people in singing the Women’s Warrior Song as an act of resistance at the summit. Niria sites her own identity as an Indigenous woman, and daughter of a farmworker to poignantly explain the consequences of fossil fuel divestment. Photo credit: Niria Alicia

15 10, 2018

Be The Hummingbird, Be The Bear

2020-12-15T21:40:17-05:00Tags: |

In this essay published in the Earth Island Journal, philosopher, writer and climate activist Kathleen Dean Moore calls to action the mothers, grandmothers, aunties, godmothers and all those who love the children. From her cabin in Alaska, she witnessed her a hummingbird saving her nestlings from a squirrel, and a bear saving her cub from wolves. She highlights the power of love, ferocity and responsibility of mothers and grandmothers protecting children and the planet against global warming and ecosystem collapse. She evokes grandmothers Annette Klapstein and her friend Emily Johnston, who shut off the flow of Canadian tar-sands oil by cutting the chain on an oil-pipeline valve in Minnesota. She relates the work of Leatra Harper and Jill Antares Hunker, mothers who devise strategies against fracking from their kitchen tables. This eloquent piece is illustrated by Lisa Vanin, whose work focuses on the magic and mystery of nature. Illustration Credit: Lisa Vanin

15 10, 2018

We, The Industrialized Ones, And The International Rights Of Nature

2018-12-19T17:26:25-05:00Tags: |

In 2008, Ecuador re-thought its democracy and included “Rights of Nature” in its constitution. Following in these footsteps, Shannon Biggs (United States), Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca Nation, United States), Pella Thiel (Sweden), Pablo Solón (Bolivia) and Henny Freitas (Brazil) have also started the process to incorporate the Rights of Nature into national legal frameworks. Mari Margil, associate director of the U.S. Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, helped draft state-wide legislation, the first of its kind in the world. Pablo Solon, an environmental and social activist as well as former ambassador of the United Nations, acknowledges that nature helps humans be more humane. Similarly, Patricia Gualinga, former director of Sarayaku Kichwa Native People’s head of international relations, views nature as an actor in democracy rather as an outside subject. Photo Credit: Hugo Pavon/Universidad Andina

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

5 10, 2018

Women In The US Food System Are Speaking Up About Domestic Abuse

2020-10-05T21:50:51-04:00Tags: |

From female farmers to female restaurant workers, women are consistently subject to sexual harassment at every level of the US Food System. Mostly depending on immigrant labor, the US Food System workforce is the lowest-paid and most exploited workforce in the country. The workers have little legal protections that are rarely enforced. For women, especially immigrant women, this means that sexual harrasment and unequal treatment on the basis of sex prevail. In recent years, initiatives such as the #MeToo movement, the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, and the Fair Food Movement, support and encourage women to fight against the patriarchal oppression they face. Photo Credit: Donald Lee Pardue

15 08, 2018

Five Reasons To Fund Women And The Environment

2023-03-19T08:22:24-04:00Tags: |

Women play a critical role in protecting natural resources worldwide. Global Greengrants Fund supports over 300 creative local projects each year led by women to protect the planet in communities around the world. Recent projects include women in Uganda constructing water filters to Indigenous women in Vanuatu becoming monitors of climate impacts on their native lands and women in South Sudan teaching other women how to use solar cookstoves. Despite the personal dangers many of these women face, women leaders like Berta Cáceres continue to stand up for the planet and to fight for future generations. Global Greengrants works to fill gaps in funding for women-led projects as part of their greater global network of activists, donors, and changemakers. Photo credit: Global Greengrants Fund    

4 08, 2018

Environmental Toxins Are Seen As Posing Risks During Pregnancy

2020-12-02T21:37:25-05:00Tags: |

In recent years, maternal-fetal medicine has responded to the risk that environmental toxins pose to pregnancy, calling for action to identify and reduce exposure to toxic environmental agents while addressing the consequences of such exposure. However, despite increasing awareness, a recent survey suggests that most doctors don’t discuss exposure to pollutants with their pregnant patients. While chemicals are virtually impossible to avoid completely, people can reduce contact with some of the most harmful and common toxins to prevent harmful consequences on fetal development, a critical window of human development. Initiatives like Project TENDR, Toxic Matters and SafetyNest, offer practical recommendations to prevent exposure. Photo credit: iStock

2 08, 2018

‘You’re The Naive One’: Youth Activist’s Open Letter To A Candidate For Governor

2020-10-13T20:14:56-04:00Tags: |

In this article, young environmentalist Vic Barrett responds to gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner who dismissed a fellow activist as “young and naïve” when asked about his campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry. Barrett cites the urgency of a climate crisis that is already impacting the lives of many, and the fact that youth will have to pay for the apathy and greed of individuals like Wagner. While Wagner and others choose to demean and undermine the youth’s vision for a healthy and sustainable earth, she argues that youth will continue to hold politicians accountable and build a better future. Photo credit: Handout

24 07, 2018

Mary Robinson Launches New Feminist Fight Against Climate Change

2020-11-20T17:18:39-05:00Tags: |

This Guardian article highlights former Irish president Mary Robinson’s effort to create a global movement called Mothers of Invention that promotes a ‘feminist solution for climate change, which is a manmade problem’.  Former UN commissioner for human rights and member of the Elders group, Mary understands how global warming adversely affects women and has focused on climate justice for over 15 years with the Mary Robinson Foundation Climate Justice. The Mothers of Invention initiative presents positive stories of both local and global grassroots climate activists, through a podcast series featuring women scientists, politicians, farmers and indigenous community leaders from Europe, the Americas, Africa and beyond. Reaching women around the world, the podcast is co-presented by Irish-born and New-York based comedian Maeve Higgins. Together, they broach such topics as colonialism, racism, poverty, migration and social justice, all bound up to feminism, through a light-hearted and optimistic approach intended to be fun. Photo Credit: Ruth Medjber

21 07, 2018

Meet the Teenagers Leading A Climate Change Movement

2023-03-19T08:00:42-04:00Tags: |

In this article, writer Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks features six organizers of the youth-led climate justice coalition, Zero Hour. Jamie Margolin, the founder of Zero Hour, is a 16-year-old organizer from Seattle, WA who began her advocacy work by writing op-eds on climate justice and has since formed the coalition to connect youth leading the climate movement in the U.S. Other lead organizers interviewed include Kallan Benson from Crownsville, MD, Madelaine Tew from Teaneck, NJ, Iris Fen Gillingham from Livingston Manor, NY, Nadia Nazar from Baltimore, MD, and Zanagee Artis from Clinton, CT. Each of these climate activists bring unique passion to their collective efforts ranging from art, to fundraising, to event organizing as they collaborate to fight for a safe and sustainable future for their generation and those to follow. Photo credit: Erin Schaff/The New York Times

13 07, 2018

These Young Climate Justice Advocates Say It’s Time For A Revolution

2020-10-23T23:31:05-04:00Tags: |

Youth activists Jamie Margolin and Nadia Nazar mobilised a youth march in Washington DC on 07/21/20 and co-founded Zero Hour, a volunteer-based organisation focused on climate change. With a diverse group of students, they created a platform highlighting the relationship between climate change, consumerism and systems of oppression, and their adverse impact on the natural world, animals and marginalized communities (indigenous, homeless, LGBTQ, different abilities and people of color communities). The organization is part of a global youth movement actively marching, lobbying, suing and engaging with local communities and state officials to find climate solutions. Zero Hour advocates for the power of young people to act, generate human change and cultural shifts without delay. As 350.org’s executive director May Boeve stated, we have the responsibility to stand with the youth fighting to protect our collective future whose voice should be at the center of the global conversation. Photo CHERYL DIAZ MEYER FOR HUFFPOST

6 07, 2018

The Elderly Kenyan Women Weaving Their Way To A More Sustainable Future

2020-10-05T20:25:33-04:00Tags: |

A group of elderly Kenyan women in Mathiga village, northeast of Nairobi, have become entrepreneurs by taking advantage of their basketry skills, in an area where they could barely manage to farm. By selling their baskets to tourists, as the demand increased, their livelihoods got better. Despite the challenges to the tourism sector brought about by attacks by Somali-linked Islamists, their goods still got attention, even beyond Kenya’s borders. Basketry has not only offered them a source of livelihood, but it has also opened doors for them in the world. Photo credit: Thomson Reuters Foundation/Caroline Wambui  

5 07, 2018

Activist Jamie Margolin Organizes Teen Climate Change March In Washington

2023-02-26T12:50:57-05:00Tags: |

This video highlights the work of teen climate activist Jamie Margolin. As the founder of Zero Hour, Margolin’s work aims to make young people's voices and perspectives heard, bringing public awareness to the urgency of their climate concerns and advocating commonsense climate change laws. In the video, Margolin asserts that climate change is the most pressing issue of our time, and her work is dedicated to demanding action from political leaders who have often prioritized their partnerships with fossil fuel companies over the people they serve. In 2018, she worked with Mrinalini Chakraborty, the head strategist of the Women’s March, to organize a Youth Climate March at the National Mall in Washington D.C. The march was followed by two days of lobbying and activism, all of which centered the voices of youth whose futures will be directly impacted by politicians’ inaction. Margolin hopes that this collective organizing will inspire politicians to take the necessary measures to secure a livable world and viable future for the next generation. 

26 06, 2018

How To Walk In A Beautiful Way In An Age Of Climate Change

2023-03-19T07:54:29-04:00Tags: |

Camille Seaman is a photographer who has traveled all over the world with her daughter, Tala Powis Parker, to photograph the changing climate in the Arctic and the Antarctic. After over a decade of chronicling the melting polar ice caps followed by a five-year hiatus, she returned on a trip sponsored by a Norwegian ferry line to further educate the public on the harsh realities of climate change. In this interview, Seaman and her daughter share their mixed emotions of awe, fear, grief, and hope as they demonstrate the power of intergenerational support and learning that is key to long-lasting climate solutions. Photo credit: Camille Seaman/Sierra Club

5 06, 2018

Agricultural Diversification: Empowering Women In Cambodia With ‘Wild Gardens’

2020-10-06T23:24:51-04:00Tags: |

A group of US and Cambodian Scholars from Pennsylvania State University have created the multidisciplinary project, “Women in Agriculture Network (WAgN): Cambodia” to teach Cambodian women farmers how to change their farming techniques for more beneficial outcomes. The project places particular value on native Cambodian plants that thrive throughout the year, even during wet- and dry-season food gaps.  WAgN also analyses Cambodian women’s roles in agriculture, and the notion that the “feminization” of agriculture does not coincide with an improved quality of life for Cambodian women.  Researchers at WAgN believe that their project has the potential to augment the societal status of Combodian women and improve their quality of life. Photo Credit: Penn State

3 06, 2018

Margaret Atwood: ‘If The Ocean Dies, So Do We’

2020-10-10T19:10:36-04:00Tags: |

In this BBC News report, we are introduced to the Under the Eye conference, held in London in March 2018. Guest speakers addressed environmental issues from a female perspective and included policy makers, scientists and artists, such as author Margaret Atwood, former Morocco's minister Hakima El Haité, and Green MP Caroline Lucas. They highlighted the close link between ocean pollution, climate change, poverty and women, and confirmed the disproportionate impact and adverse effects of natural disasters on women globally. Notwithstanding, they deplored the lack of female voices in high level decision making discussions on environmental and climate policy, despite women organising and resisting in the front line of natural disasters. Former UN diplomat Christiana Figures described the Paris agreement 2015 as a women-led collaborative venture and advocated that more women should be included in climate policy making negotiations, for they are the drivers and part of the solution. Photo Credit: Invisible Dust

1 06, 2018

Music And Climate Change

2020-09-23T21:06:48-04:00Tags: |

Tanya Kalmanovitch, musician and New England Conservatory professor, grew up in the early industrial mining days of Canada’s Athabasca Oil Sands, which has since grown into one of the world’s largest industrial projects. For many years, Kalmanovitch used music as an escape from the oil and gas baron reality of homelife in Fort McMurray. However, when clashes over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline made national front-page news, Kalmanovitch realized it was time to turn her music into an instrument for change. She began bringing stories of Fort McMurray together, speaking to Indigenous elders, activists, engineers, oil patch workers, and members of her own family. From the stories she gathered, including her own, she created the Tar Sands Songbook, weaving oil, climate, and music into one. Photo credit: Tanya Kalmanovitch

31 05, 2018

Marion Nestle Looks Back At 30 Years Of Agitating For Better Food

2020-09-02T22:31:18-04:00Tags: |

Marion Nestle, an NYU professor in nutrition and an influential voice in food advocacy, has been working in changing the landscape of the food system for the past thirty years. A pioneer of the Food Studies program at NYU, this interdisciplinary field looks at food through a political lens throughout its course of production, consumption, and waste. For her, there exists so much confusion about what people should eat because of the power dynamics at play with agribusiness aiming to sell as much as possible at the lowest cost. Despite the consumer ‘movement’ influencing what companies put into their foods, top-down change is required to deal with systematic issues such as hunger. It is this sort of regulation that is extremely lacking in the Trump administration’s food policies. Whilst the food movement is fragmented in terms of goals and issues at stake, Nestle is optimistic with the role that young people can play in food advocacy, especially at a local level. Photo Credit: Bill Hayes.

31 05, 2018

Margaret Atwood: Women Will Bear Brunt Of Dystopian Climate Future

2021-01-15T17:09:10-05:00Tags: |

In this article, booker-prize winning author Margaret Atwood warns that climate change is ‘everything change’, and will bring a dystopian future, much like in her ‘speculative fictions’. Margaret associates climate change with social unrest, civil wars, brutal repression and totalitarianism – a worsening in women’s hardship and struggles. Under Her Eye was a two-day festival, titled after a chapter from Margaret’s The Handmaid's Tale. Alice Sharp, director of arts and science organisation Invisible Dust, was the festival’s curator that brought together prominent figures from the arts, politics and science to focus on women, their futures under climate change and environmental damage, and proposals to avoid the worst effects of global warming. Christiana Figures, former UN climate chief coordinating the Paris climate agreement 2015 is hopeful that women environmental activism and leadership is increasing. Caroline Lucas, UK Green Party, adds that the arts have an important role to play in the future. Photo Credit: Liam Sharp

31 05, 2018

Jaylyn Gough Asks: Whose Land Are You Exploring?

2020-10-07T01:10:59-04:00Tags: |

Jaylyn Gough, a Diné outdoors woman, is addressing and changing colonial narratives of the outdoor industry. In 2017, Gough launched Native Women’s Wilderness. What began as a platform for Native girls and women to share photos of their outdoor experience has since morphed into a movement. One of Native Women’s Wilderness’ key initiatives is growing awareness around whose land is being explored and addressing the exclusivity and white centric culture of the outdoor industry. One idea is a symbolic reclaiming of the ancestral Paiute trade route, today known as the 210-mile John Muir Trail. Gough is optimistic that the shift towards reconciliation of the genocidal history of the United States can begin with the outdoor industry. Photo credit: Jayme Moye

30 05, 2018

Executed, Disappeared, Tortured: The Risks Of Defending Human Rights

2021-02-16T20:36:14-05:00Tags: |

In this 20-minute Guardian podcast, journalist Lucy Lamble talks to Fund for Global Human Rights program officer Ana Paula Hernández about her work supporting campaigners fighting to protect native lands. The conversation covers the brutal murder of Honduran activist Berta Cáceres, an ‘incredible leader in the social and human rights movement’. Fund for Global Human Rights supported Berta since 2013 when she had been criminalised and threatened to stop her organising work for the defence of nature. Despite her international recognition and the protection afforded by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Berta was shot for opposing the dam construction on the Gualcarque River. Since, her daughter Berta Isabel Bertha Isabel Zúniga Cáceres and co-founder of COPINH have claimed small victories with the withdrawal of European funders suspending development on the dam project. Ana Paula also mentions digital security and technology as allies in the protection of human rights defenders. Photo Credit: The Fund for Global Human Rights

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

27 05, 2018

Op-Ed: Dear Media: We Need More Stories About Resilience To Climate Change

2023-02-26T13:01:52-05:00Tags: |

In this op-ed, Elizabeth Arnold challenges the media to shift the climate narrative away from disasters and their “victims” to also center climate resilience and the ways that people in different communities across the globe are actively working to address climate change. This added focus would help to address what researchers are calling the “hope gap,” the feeling of hopelessness that people feel when the news evokes feelings of misery, fear, or doom. When people are exclusively confronted with the terrifying realities of climate disaster, they begin to believe that climate change is inevitable, and there is nothing they can do to help prevent the situation from escalating. Arnold argues that the kinds of stories the media chooses to cover matter; if a variety of stories are told in ways that empower those who are working to make a difference for the planet, others will be more likely to find ways to contribute to action. Photo credit: Al Grillo / Associated Press

23 05, 2018

Data At The Intersections: Advancing Environmental And Climate Justice Using A Human Rights Lens

2021-02-16T20:47:00-05:00Tags: |

Trends in human rights funding have shifted in the recent years. Currently, seven percent of all humans rights funding from foundations is earmarked for Environmental Justices and Resource Rights (EJ&RR). This indicates a 145 percent increase in EJ&RR funding between the years 2011 and 2015. However, funding peaked in 2014 and has since been declining, due to a few major foundations discontinuing their work. Another change has been the shift towards awarding smaller grants to smaller groups, in contrast to the historical practice of awarding large funds to established organizations. Thirdly, funding for human rights defenders increased 133% between 2011 and 2015 though the amount provided remains small. On the other hand, funding for Indigenous Peoples decreased to $15 million from $40 million during this time. Funding Indigenous Peoples is a crucial part of climate justice and particularly needed in our current state. Photo Credit: Human Rights Funders Network.  

21 05, 2018

Warming Waters Hurt Zanzibar’s Seaweed. But Women Farmers Have A Plan

2021-02-16T20:51:24-05:00Tags: |

Seaweed farming in Zanzibar, an archipelago off the coast of Tanzania, is largely done by local women farmers. Most of the men find the work too hard for the small pay, but the income remains significant to women. As a result of their engagement in industry, women farmers and their family have significantly benefited. However, the Western Indian Ocean’s temperature is rising, which is leading to loss of the seaweed crop. The women farmers are responding to this adversity in various ways. One solution has been to farm farther in the ocean. This solution requires the participation of at least some strong swimmers, but seeing as most women in Zanzibar do not know how to swim, many of the farmers are having to learn to swim as they go. Another solution the farmers have enacted is cooperating with local and international researchers. The hope is that fostering this dialogue will benefit both parties and that the seaweed industry will remain viable. Photo credit: Karen Coates

18 05, 2018

Sarah Myhre: Scientists/Feminist/Activist, All In One

2020-11-20T18:05:59-05:00Tags: |

Authored by Karin Kirk, this piece presents feminist, non-profit activist and academic researcher Sarah Myrhe, who argues for an entire new leadership to bring radical change to address climate change. She advocates addressing climate change through a humanist perspective, asserting that women are creative leaders in empathising with marginalised and discriminated peoples adversely affected by climate change. In the face of misogynist opposition within science, academia and the public sphere despite her scientific successes, Sarah became a founding board member for 500 Women Scientists; and co-founded, with Guiliana Isaksen, the non-profit Rowan Institute. The Institute’s mission is to integrate science and social justice into public leadership through compassion, information and equity as core principles; and develop ‘a future of strong and resilient leaders, grounded in human rights, integrity, and planetary stewardship’. Sarah was voted Most Influential People of 2017. Photo Credit: Unknown

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

1 05, 2018

Climate Solutions: #LeadingWomen – Alaska & Global Warming: Climate Genocide

2019-02-09T19:48:09-05:00Tags: |

Faith Gemmill sees the effects of climate chaos firsthand, and has the solutions: she is executive director of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), a grassroots Indigenous environmental network fighting to protect Indigenous land and culture in Alaska. Gemmill, Pit River/Wintu and Neets’aiiGwish’in Athabascan, lives a land-based, subsistence lifestyle in an Alaskan village next to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 110 miles above the Arctic circle. Her community’s livelihood depends on the Porcupine Caribou Herd -- but oil companies directly target this sacred birthplace and nursery, and rising temperatures have already caused many climate refugees to relocate. REDOIL provides knowledge and resources to build resilience in this vulnerable region. Because Gemmill’s community lives in intimate interdependence with the “biological heart” of the Arctic Refuge, they have been fighting for human rights for decades, with no sign of stopping. Photo Credit: MrsGreensWorld

1 05, 2018

Where Women Lead On Climate Change

2019-01-14T18:06:24-05:00Tags: |

Most of the Guatemalan population financially depends on farming. Facing destructive landslides, strong winds and volcanic peaks, the women of Guatemala came forward to find the coping strategies for water and forest conservation. Eulia de Leon Juarez, founder of a women’s rights group in Guatemala’s western highlands, says that climate change has changed the pattern of seasons. To address these micro problems at a macro level, women’s non-profit organizations like Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA) are working rigorously to develop women’s leadership. Climate change has amplified the inevitable process of migration, increasing the number of female-headed households in rural areas as more men move to cities. Solange Bandiaky-Badji, Africa program director for Rights and Resources Initiative, sees this as an opportunity for more women to take greater responsibility in their communities. Therefore, women should be seen as active participant preventing and coping with climate change and not merely as victim of it. Photo Credit: Sara Schonhardt

23 04, 2018

‘Speaking Truth To Power’: Female Activists Dominate Top Environmental Prize

2023-03-19T08:19:08-04:00Tags: |

Six out of seven of the global 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize recipients for grassroots environmental activists were women. One of the recipients was American activist LeeAnne Walters who led a mass citizen testing initiative in Flint, Michigan to prove high levels of lead in the contaminated water in her community. A team of two South African environmental activists, Makoma Lekalakala and Liz McDaid, also received the award for their hard-fought victory against the building of new nuclear reactors. Other award winners included Afro-Colombian activist Francia Márquez who advocated for ending illegal mining on indigenous land, French journalist Claire Nouvian for her campaign against deep-sea bottom trawling in France, and Manny Calonzo who worked to ban the use and sale of lead paint in the Philippines. Photo credit: Goldman Environmental Prize 

13 04, 2018

Women In Brasil Defending Our Sacred Waters- Stories From The Alternative World Water Forum (FAMA)

2018-08-02T15:16:41-04:00Tags: |

The author speaks about their experiences attending and speaking at the 2018 World Water Forum (FAMA) in Brazil. An event largely sponsored by Nestle and Coca-Cola, corporations pushing to privatize and control public water resources. Fearless indigenous women and activists used the event as platform to call-out and share their powerful stories of resistance. Their message to the world: water cannot be treated as a privately owned commodity; water is a human right and a common good of and for the people.  Photo Credit: Guilherme Cavalli/Cimi

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

2 04, 2018

In Service Of Climate Justice

2020-10-02T21:33:39-04:00Tags: |

Dineen O’Rourke was moved to step into leadership in the climate justice movement after experiencing the devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy in her community in Long Island, New York City in 2012. She has since become a powerful voice in the movement through her ongoing initiatives promoting community building, policy advocacy, direct actions, and storytelling. In 2017, O’Rourke and fellow climate justice advocate, Karina Gonzalez, co-led a delegation of 15 youth from different parts of the United States to attend the 23rd annual United Nations ‘Conference of the Parties’ climate negotiations. Despite the lack of political will exhibited by the United States during COP23, O’Rourke, Gonzalez, and a crowd of supporters protested false solutions presented by the fossil fuel industry to hold elected officials accountable. Photo credit: Dineen O'Rourke

30 03, 2018

Women Human Right Defender’s In Thailand

2020-09-02T23:48:59-04:00Tags: |

Even after 20 years of “UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders”, women human rights defenders (HRD) face systematic structural violence for raising awareness of political and environmental issues affecting their daily lives. To highlight the stories of these women,  the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok launched a project “Her Life, Her Diary: Side by Side WHRDs 2018 - Diary of Hope and Dreams" featuring 20 women defenders and their everyday struggle against social injustice. Photo Credit: Luke Duggleby

27 03, 2018

The World Is a Miraculous Mess, And It’s Going To Be All Right

2020-11-07T17:40:11-05:00Tags: |

In this article, Zenobia Jeffries interviewed activist, facilitator and author Adrienne Maree Brown for the 1st anniversary of her book, Emergent Strategy, a concept she describes as “the way complex plans for action and complex systems for being together arise out of simple interactions”. In short, this means transforming oneself to transform the world. Adrienne addresses movements building and how to include racial justice in broader conversations beyond Black Lives Matter such as #neveragain and #metoo. In relation to movements building and organising, she touches on themes such as connectivity, trauma, resilience and the capacity to heal, the difference between punitive, restorative and transformative justice, and pleasure activism. She suggests that pillars issues like climate change, racism and materialism are not going to be resolved overnight, but are transformative conditions that can be addressed through small compelling experiments and narratives becoming large enough to change the shape of society. Photo Credit: Bree Gant

8 03, 2018

Defeminisation Of Indian Agriculture

2020-09-02T23:19:40-04:00Tags: |

Women in India hold significant but overlooked roles in agriculture. The Census of India (2011) reveals nearly 98 million women have agricultural jobs. Due to decreasing economic opportunities in rural areas, young people and men are moving to urban areas, leaving women behind to farm. To recognize the importance of female farmers, the government of India declared October 15th as Rashtriya Mahila Kisan Diwas (National Female Farmer Day). This is a great step forward given women have been historical left out of agricultural narratives. The way forward is to give land rights to women while strengthening the existing government policies for female farmers in India. Photo Credit: Vikas Choudhary

8 03, 2018

Why We Need More Women For Our Climate In The Philippines

2018-08-10T16:12:48-04:00Tags: |

Kathleen Lei Limayo, a filmmaker and photographer, shares her views on why it is essential that more women get involved in the climate justice movement. Though new to this movement, Lei Limayo has dived right in and now volunteers with 350.org Pilipinas, using her talents to record stories about the effects of climate change in the Philippines. On International Women’s Day she calls on more women from diverse backgrounds to get involved, not only because climate change disproportionately impacts women, but also because we need technological innovations in the energy sector that are gender inclusive and empower women. Photo credit: AC Dimatatac

5 03, 2018

Decolonizing Birth: Women Take Back Their Power as Life-Givers

2020-12-15T21:44:23-05:00Tags: |

This article relates Zintkala Mahpiya Win Blackowl’s experience of giving birth to her six children in the comfort of home and safety of a sacred space. Writer Sarah Sunshine Manning relates how a heavily pregnant Blackowl, who is Sicangu Lakota and Ihanktonwan Dakota, joined the Standing Sioux Rock reservation resistance camp. This is where she eventually gave birth to her baby girl, Mni Wiconi (Water of Life). This story reflects the larger Indigenous birth movement in which Native-American women reclaim not only their roles as life-givers and birth-workers, but also their rights to their bodies, traditions and birthing experiences. Counteracting the medicalised and colonised hospital-based birth environment, nurses such as Nicolle Gonzales, Navajo executive director of the Changing Woman Initiative, promotes Indigenous birth and midwifery knowledge; Jodi Lynn Maracle, traditional doula of the Tyendinaga Nohawl nation, works towards the reclaiming of Indigenous women’s powers, self-determination and ancestral traditions. Photo Credit: Unknown

28 02, 2018

Legacies of Snow and Love

2023-02-26T12:57:55-05:00Tags: |

In this personal narrative from Torrey House Press’ Voices Rising collection, Ayja Bounous describes her profound connections with her grandfather and the land she grew up on. She parallels descriptions of her aging grandfather with the changing landscape in the Wasatch Mountains, Utah; she explains that time wears on her grandfather’s silvery hairline the same way climate change has gradually receded glaciers and snow. Bounous describes the frustration she feels when her grandparents fail to take climate concerns seriously, knowing that there will still be snow on the ground when their lives come to an end, but there is no guarantee that the same can be said for her own generation. This knowledge leads to Bounous’ declaration that she will spend her life fighting to protect the earth.

10 02, 2018

Women Scientists Describe Challenges Of Careers In Conservation

2020-09-02T22:11:04-04:00Tags: |

Camila Donatti, Director with Conservation International (CI) while acknowledging the division of labor among men and women, does feel that women and men need an equal amount of training to share knowledge about climate change. It is the best solution to engage them in good work while respecting their time limits. Shyla Raghav, an Indian American Climate expert with CI believes to find the best solutions for climate change we need to connect the women’s issues with climate change issues. Similarly Kame Westerman, a gender adviser with CI shared her personal experience of being discriminated against because of her gender. Margot Wood, associate scientist with CI shares the same experience while working on the field. Photo Credit: Benjamin Drummand

8 02, 2018

Our Relationships Keep Us Alive: Let’s Prioritize Them In 2018

2020-10-13T20:10:37-04:00Tags: |

This article as part of “Visions of 2018” explores the theme of transformation in activist movements. Written by Ejeris Dixon, a female grassroots organiser, we gain insight into how relationships can be improved within our groups, drawing on Dixon’s 15 years of experience. Call-out culture, neglect, secret maneuvers and a misalignment of values and actions can splinter and break groups. However, honesty, loyalty, integrity, accountability and commitment to personal transformation can repair relationships and rebuild trust. Essential transformations if social justice movements are to thrive in these oppressive times. Image: Jared Rodriguez / Truthout

7 02, 2018

Climate Change Isn’t Just About the Planet

2020-12-02T20:24:32-05:00Tags: |

In this article, winner of 2017 Nation Student Writing Contest Leehi Yona follows up on her thoughts about the most important issues of her generation. A community organiser, climate researcher and PhD student in environment and resources, Leehi reflects on the interconnectedness between wildfires and trans rights, Hurricane Irma and DACA. She argues that climate change is not a siloed issue and instead lies at the intersectionality of justice – racial, socio-economic, reproductive and environmental. She acknowledges the breadth of challenges faced by her generation, such as the ICE onslaught on undocumented immigrants, the cracked Antarctic ice sheet, the heat waves, xenophobia, fascism, Donald Trump’s policy of climate destruction, and how poor communities of color will be primarily affected by his environmental rollbacks. Whilst such trials can be overwhelming and strip people of hope for the future, Leehi proposes physical, social and spiritual resilience in response to these fights for equality. Photo Credit: Laura Hutchinson / Divest Dartmouth

2 02, 2018

Why Climate Deniers Target Women

2021-01-27T20:53:24-05:00Tags: |

In this thoughtful piece, journalist Jeremy Deaton highlights the link between sexism, climate denial and social hierarchy. He exposes the harassment endured by women involved in the field of climate change, particularly female reporters, policy-makers and researchers who are often targeted by right-wing political blogs. These women, such as former Canadian environment and climate change minister Catherine McKenna; atmospheric scientist Kait Parker; environmental reporter Emily Atkin; and climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe, face sexist attacks in response to their climate change public engagement and expertise. Deaton relates that, following social scientist views and empirical findings, it may be argued that men who value a hierarchical social system, from which they largely benefit, tend to downplay the risk of climate change and hold sexist views. The author further states that the climate crisis, rife with pervasive sexism, is therefore bound with other urgent societal issues such as racism, xenophobia and economic inequality. Photo Credit: Katharine Hayhoe

2 02, 2018

Why Climate Deniers Target Women

2021-01-15T17:17:19-05:00Tags: |

Women who work on climate science, policy, journalism, or advocacy continue to face harassment from climate change deniers, often in the form of sexist and dismissive labels. Although patriarchy and gender inequality pervade many social spaces, research shows that men who value hierarchy are more inclined to hold sexist views and deny the climate crisis. While the research draws no firm conclusions, it illustrates the power imbalances that enable both sexism and climate denial and the need for intersectional climate narratives that demand justice across movements. Photo Credit: Katharine Hayhoe

2 02, 2018

Rise: From One Island To Another

2021-01-15T17:11:52-05:00Tags: |

In a powerfully raw and attention-demanding short film, Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner and Aka Niviâna use poetry and imagery to showcase their inextricably linked climate realities of melting glaciers and rising sea levels. Jetñil-Kijiner and Niviâna highlight the interconnections between their ice and sea worlds and make it known that the rest of the world is as connected to our global climate change reality. The two women affirm that colonizers largely responsible for climate impacts can only hide behind screens and watch island and glacial ancestral homelands disappear for so long before they too are affected. Jetñil-Kijiner and Niviâna demand colonizer participation in climate action, and avow that they will not disappear while the world remains silent. Their poetic language showcases the strength and resilience of their communities and places the responsibility for climate change impacts squarely on colonizers’ shoulders. Jetñil-Kijiner and Niviâna declare that colonizers will no longer decide who will live and who will die--that, together, each and every one of us must decide if we will rise. Video credit: Dan Lin, Director

1 02, 2018

How the Wonder of Nature Can Inspire Social Justice Activism

2020-11-07T18:17:41-05:00Tags: |

Writer, activist, social justice facilitator (and more) Adrienne Maree Brown shares how the ‘wow’ or wonder of observing nature’s patterns of emergence can inspire social justice activism. Through extracts from conversations, she relates how people have gained and been transformed by exposure to nature, and how these exchanges have influenced her learning process in emergent strategy. Adrienne explains that paying attention to the beauty, magic, miracles and patterns of the natural world teaches about emergence. She refers to liberation educator and organiser Adaku Utah and her lessons from Mycelium Mushrooms in cultivating trust as an organising strategy (the mycelium organism uses trust as a mechanism to build and sustain an interconnected and mutually sustainable underground network with tree and plant roots). Adrienne also quotes independent strategist Ashingi Maxton on the pace of water, and to community organizer Hannah Sassaman on the learning from the seasons as teachers of evolution. Photo Credit: Ashim D’Silva/Unsplash

25 01, 2018

BBC To Air Major Nature Series Written And Directed By Women

2020-11-07T18:21:25-05:00Tags: |

Female directors Anne Sommerfield, Hannah Ward, and Clare Dornan are behind a landmark moment in broadcasting history: Their natural history series Animals with Cameras will be the first from BBC One to be entirely led by women. On their programme, threatened animal communities—ranging from meerkats and chimps to cheetahs and penguins—will be equipped with small, lightweight body cameras to help scientists better understand and protect vulnerable species. Their work comes at a time when there is a growing spotlight on women’s underrepresentation in film and television, especially on the awards stage. As the “best candidates for the job,” Sommerfield, Ward, and Dornan are bringing a female lens to stories of wildlife conservation. Photo credit: Anne Sommerfield/BBC

25 01, 2018

My Revolution Lives In This Body

2023-02-26T12:48:00-05:00Tags: |

This powerful spoken word performance, written by Eve Ensler and performed by Rosario Dawson, describes a revolution for “all that are life and give life.” The speaker describes this revolution as starting in the body and moving outward, placing women and Mother Earth at its center as it imagines a socially just world apart from the brutality of patriarchy and extraction. This is not a violent revolution, but a revolution against the violence perpetuated by capitalist, colonial, and heteropatriarchal systems that work to disempower women and destroy the planet. The speaker resists these systems and asserts that our “divisions are diversions.” She challenges women to stand together in connection with Mother Earth to build a better world. 

23 01, 2018

No Indigenous Women, No Women’s Movement

2018-08-14T14:16:07-04:00Tags: |

The term “feminism” continues to be debated in tribal communities. Laura Tohe, Indigenous scholar states, “There is no word for feminism in my language,” affirming, “there was no need for feminism because of our matrilineal culture”. Indigenous women, like Tohe seek to reconnect to the matriarchy and egalitarian roots of the land. The lived experiences of Indigenous women have been and continue to be different from those of white women. White women are oppressed by the patriarchy, but Indigenous women know that patriarchy alone is not the only source of their oppression. Colonialism, capitalism, racism, and rugged individualism work with patriarchy. Indigenous women have been organizing events and attending Women’s Marches across the United States to rematriate the space and spotlight the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). Photo Credit: Ted S. Warren / AP

17 01, 2018

Can Poetry Turn The Tide On Climate Change?

2020-10-10T19:15:39-04:00Tags: |

Marshallese poet and activist Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner uses the power of poetry to humanize the climate crisis faced by Pacific nations and demand swift global action. Her spoken word performance of Dear Matafele Peinem at the 2014 United Nations Climate Summit was an impassioned call to action to ensure a safe, vibrant earth and rich cultural heritage for future generations. Her poem was met with acclaim and helped to convey the threat of rising sea levels and more frequent flooding to her home nation. She continues to advocate through her art as well as her work with Jo-Jikum, a nonprofit educating and empowering Marshallese youth on climate change. Photo Credit: The Adelaide Review

17 01, 2018

Mother Earth’s ‘Me Too’: An Open Letter To Middle-Class Women

2018-10-11T18:13:07-04:00Tags: |

Women across the world experience violence, exploitation, and objectification. The trauma our culture has inflicted upon women extends beyond us. Mother Earth is also facing similar abuse. This piece is an open letter to middle class women to stand for the rights of Mother Earth, just like as they do for themselves via online campaigns like #MeToo. The author argues that the same mentality that seeks to dominate women also seeks to dominate the Earth; thus, we should use the power and momentum of the #metoo movement to consciously link women’s sovereignty issues to ecological issues. Photo Credit: Big Stock Photo    

10 01, 2018

Why you should listen to ‘racist sandwich’ podcast series

2024-09-13T16:12:23-04:00Tags: , |

Soleil Ho and Zahir Janmohamed launched the podcast "Racist Sandwich" to tackle race, class, and gender issues in the food industry. Through interviews with chefs, restaurateurs, and cultural critics, they dissect topics such as the impact of food photography on racial stereotypes, workplace harassment in kitchens, and the issues surrounding "wellness culture." Their platform aims to amplify diverse voices and challenge the predominantly white narrative in food media. Ho's experiences working in restaurants have shaped her perspective on discrimination and abuse, leading her to advocate for marginalized individuals in the industry. She emphasizes the need for diversity and structural changes in restaurant ownership and food media to address systemic issues of inequality and exploitation.

10 01, 2018

These Kids Are ‘On Fire’ For The Earth!

2023-02-26T12:54:39-05:00Tags: |

Chrysula Winegar discusses a new film series, Young Voices for the Planet, which features children and youth who passionately take a stand against environmental destruction and fight for more sustainable futures. Filmmaker Lynne Cherry is dedicated to helping young people share their stories, and her film series has been positioned in some school districts as part of the curriculum, inspiring countless children and youth to take action in their own communities. In these academic spaces, children and youth are encouraged to consider the local problems that need to be addressed, and, in class, they work together to formulate viable solutions that could make a positive, sustainable impact on their communities. These films – and the academic conversations they encourage – help young people to understand that they should not allow their age to limit their potential as climate justice leaders. 

6 01, 2018

Diane Archer Uses Art To Ground A Sense of Place

2018-02-06T15:23:04-05:00Tags: |

Diane Archer, an artist from the United States, has dedicated her life to creating mixed media art pieces including drawings, quotes and embedded objects, which are inspired from geographical places, science, philosophy and deep ecological movement. One of the recurring features in her creations is maps, using them to represent and unfold stories about sense of place and our understanding of world outside and world within us. Photo Credit:  Diane Archer / Earth is Land

5 01, 2018

6 Reasons To Reclaim Resilience From The Ground Up

2023-03-19T08:34:34-04:00Tags: |

Jill Mangaliman is a queer, Filipino American writer and community organizer from Seattle, Washington. They are the executive director of Got Green, a grassroots environmental justice organization advocating for bottom-up community-led solutions to climate change. Mangaliman describes how the term “resilience” has become another form of greenwashing used by many businesses and government entities, arguing that communities of color and poor communities must take back this concept as the original experts of creating resilience through struggle. They discuss the need for leaders in Seattle to create a truly resilient green city for all, not just for wealthy individuals and corporations. Photo credit: Renotography/The Seattle Globalist  

1 01, 2018

Our Movement Needs Radical Change: A Conversation With May Boeve

2018-03-02T13:59:37-05:00Tags: |

May Boeve, co-founder of the international climate action organisation 350.org and winner of the 2006 Brower Youth Award, talks to the Earth Island Journal about the direction of the climate movement. Boeve represents one of the few young women among top leaders in big environmental groups in the United States. She highlights the need for the climate movement to engage with diverse communities, bridge political divides, and construct a strong narrative that doesn’t reinforce fear and hopelessness around climate change, but instead engages people based on their everyday lived reality. The interview concludes with a vital question; how broad can we grow the global climate movement, and more importantly, can we do it fast enough? Photo credit: Zoe Loftus-Farren

27 12, 2017

Toxic Masculinity Is Probably Destroying The Planet

2018-03-02T20:08:00-05:00Tags: |

A recent article in Scientific American reveals that research involving over 2,000 participants in the United States and China has established a link between greenness and femininity. It also exposed that socialized gender roles mean men are less likely to embrace eco-friendly behavior. While some propose the promotion of more masculine marketing around environmental behavior change, instead, it is argued that toxic gender roles and patriarchy need to be examined as they often lie at the root of the exploitation of women’s bodies and the earth. Photo credit: Getty Images

24 12, 2017

Photographer Julie Dermansky Captures The 2017 Climate Movement

2023-03-19T08:15:38-04:00Tags: |

Writer, photographer, and climate advocate Julie Dermansky chronicles the year 2017 through images of the climate movement in the United States as well as the industries and politicians that contribute to the harmful impacts of climate change. Her powerful photos include the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., the battle against the Bayou Bridge pipeline, and the shadows of coal power plants in West Virginia. Her work seeks to shine a light on the dichotomy between the science and real human and planetary impacts of climate change compared to the lack of leadership on climate solutions at the political and industrial levels. Dermansky’s photography provides a visual tribute to the scientists, activists, educators, and communities that speak truth to power. Photo credit: Julie Dermansky/Desmog 

21 12, 2017

Was 2017 The Year That The Tide Finally Turned Against Fossil Fuel Projects?

2018-03-02T13:47:05-05:00Tags: |

In this article, artist and activist Suzanne Dhaliwal of the UK Tar Sands Network marks a year of successful divestment efforts against the fossil fuel industry to mitigate climate impacts and defend Indigenous rights. Dhaliwal highlights the decision of Canadian-based Indigenous Climate Action and executive director Eriel Deranger, to reject a cash prize tied to tar sands projects and pipelines. This moral stand is among divestment commitments in 2017 from many financial institutions including AXA, BNP Paribas, KLP, and the World Bank. Going into 2018, Dhaliwal writes that continued action must focus on an intersectional just transition that puts everyone at the table, reinvests in the communities most impacted by climate change, and does not leave behind those previously dependent on the fossil fuel industry. Photo credit: Flickr/BeforeItStarts

14 12, 2017

Photos: It’s Been 20 Years Since Julia Butterfly Fought Big Logging – By Living In A Tree

2018-02-14T22:19:59-05:00Tags: |

On December 10, 1997, environmentalist Julia “Butterfly” Hill, a member of Earth First! advocacy group, climbed to the top of a 200-foot-tall redwood tree in Northern California. Hill was protesting the destruction of nearby redwood forests by the Pacific Lumber Company. She slept on a 8 x 8 ft plywood platform in the 600-year-old tree named “Luna” for 738 days, withstanding El Niño storms and cold, wet winters. While her “tree-sitting” received criticism from Humboldt and lumberjacks, her nonviolent protest grabbed the attention of the press, and she was able to save the tree while simultaneously shedding light on the work of fellow environmental activists, and inspiring a generation of new young activists. Photo credit: Yann Gamblin/Paris Match via Getty Images

2 12, 2017

30 Books By People Of Color About Plants And Healing

2018-03-02T13:55:54-05:00Tags: |

Queering Herbalism present a diverse list of 30 books by people of color on herbalism and holistic healing. Although many black, brown and Indigenous communities rely heavily on oral traditions, many barriers exist when they seek to become published, meaning most books on this topic are written by white people. Books on this list cover topics from Indigenous rites of birthing, to African American Slave Medicine, and feature prominent herbalists and healers, such as Ayo Ngozi, who teaches herbal history and medicine making.

27 11, 2017

Women Speak: Casey Camp-Horinek Is Fighting Keystone XL In The Name Of Indigenous And Environmental Justice

2017-12-27T18:09:00-05:00Tags: |

Casey Camp Horinek, Ponca Nation Councilwoman, elder and long-time Indigenous rights and environmental protector, speaks with Ms. Magazine about her experience growing up as an Indigenous woman, and her work in the movements to stop extraction projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline - and shares her advice to young women, mothers and fellow grandmothers who are taking a stand for their communities and the Earth. Photo credit: Emily Arasim/WECAN International

26 11, 2017

Buffy Sainte-Marie: “Protest Songs Spell Out Problems. Activist Songs Spell Out Solutions”

2017-12-26T16:08:40-05:00Tags: |

Buffy Sainte-Marie is a Cree singer-songwriter, activist, and First Nations Indigenous woman living in Canada. Her work as a musician, especially from her new album Medicine Songs, reflects the struggles of Indigenous peoples who have been massacred and had their lands stolen. Since the Sainte-Marie has used her music to bring the the voice and issues of Native tribes into pop culture and in the music industry. Photo credit: Matt Barnes

23 11, 2017

5 Reasons Climate Change Is A Feminist Issue

2018-01-23T18:01:33-05:00Tags: |

Climate change isn’t only increasing the greenhouse effect, it is also creating an increase in the inequity of global power dynamics. With women representing 70% of the global poor, women are impacted first and worse by these changes. This overview article shares more information on this statistic, and five other examples which highlight why women are disproportionately impacted by climate, and why climate action must be pursued as a central goal of feminist organizing. Photo credit: Novara Media

21 11, 2017

Global Warming Might Be Especially Dangerous For Pregnant Women

2020-04-24T16:52:12-04:00Tags: |

Women scientists are finding that climate change will likely pose significant threats to pregnant women and their embyros, a group often left out of public health concerns. Rupa Basu, chief of air and climate epidemiology at the California Environmental Protection Agency, had been researching the connection between health risks and air pollution for the past decade, and looked more into the effects of temperature. Her research found that increasing heat and humidity raise the likelihood of premature and stillbirths every year. Similar conclusions were found by Nathalie Auger at Quebec’s institute for public health, as well as by Pauline Mendola and Sandie Ha at Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Mendola and Ha’s study found that a temperature increase in the top 10 percent range of a woman’s region could mean 1,000 more stillbirths every year, much higher than the researchers expected. Pregnant women are not often considered a group vulnerable to heat, according to Sabrina McCormick, a sociologist at George Washington University, which makes these findings an urgent call to reframe public health. While these and other researchers are eager to collect more data, it’s clear that pregnancy calls for more precautions and awareness amid climate change. Photo Credit: BLEND IMAGES / PEATHEGEE INC / GETTY

20 11, 2017

COP23 Endorses Mainstreaming Of Gender In Climate Action

2023-03-05T23:43:18-05:00Tags: |

Negotiators at COP23 approved The Gender Action Plan (GAP), a long overdue agreement that more consciously includes women in all Paris Agreement processes. This plan will lead to the development of gender-responsive frameworks for climate action and an increase in women’s participation, capacity building, and knowledge-sharing in decision-making spaces. Some women have raised concerns about the lack of funding that has been allocated for the work the plan requires. Still, the GAP is a crucial step in the right direction toward ensuring gender equity in climate action. Photo credit: UNFCCC / CC BY-NC-SA

9 11, 2017

Making Art, Making Change: Five Women Creatives You Should Know

2020-11-20T17:24:40-05:00Tags: |

In this exposé, writer Lauren Himiak presents artists whose imagination, art and advocacy create space for conversations and connection that influence personal, cultural and national debates transformation. Poppy Liu, playwright and storyteller, is the creator of Brooklyn-based grassroots movement Collective Sex around topics of sex, body, intimacy and identity. Sarah Edwards uses positive, nonviolent imagery and animal artwork to show humanity’s effects on the world and inspire reflection, conversation and action around climate change. Georgia Clark, Australian author and improv performer, organises New-York based female storytelling live event Generation Women; a unique, diverse and multigenerational literary salon with themed readings featuring a woman from each age group from 20s to 70s and up. Favianna Rodriguez creates visual art and prints that support social justice movements and conversation around immigration, climate change and racial justice. Tatiana Gill is a Seattle-based cartoonist taking on subjects like mental health, feminism, body positivity. Photo Credit: Kimberley Hatchett

7 11, 2017

Jackee Alston Talks About Her Inspiration To Sprout The Grow Flagstaff Seed Library

2020-11-07T17:34:23-05:00Tags: |

During a visit to Brandon, Vermont, Jackee Alston stumbled upon the town’s seed library. An avid gardener, the Brandon Seed Library inspired Alston to create her own seed library in Flagstaff, Arizona. She calls it The Grow Flagstaff Seed Library. Alston describes the difficulties of gardening in Flagstaff’s high elevation and explains that saving local seeds adapted to the climate makes it easier for residents to garden. Alston also emphasises the social aspect of the seed library by discussing the stories that seeds can tell and the deep land-based historical narratives that accompany seeds. Photo Credit: SeedBroadcast 

3 11, 2017

The Story We Want: Moms Responding To Methane Pollution And Oil In New Mexico

2017-12-27T18:10:51-05:00Tags: |

As part of the five-part ‘The Story We Want’ video series, the Moms Clean Air Force and Climate Listening Project travel to New Mexico in the Southwest United States, where they hear from Diné women leaders, including Kendra Pinto and Louise Benally, who are standing up to protect their families, communities and the Earth from methane pollution, growing oil and gas operations, and a dangerous "culture of extraction". Photo credit: Mom’s Clean Air Force

11 10, 2017

Edges Of Transformation: Women Crossing Boundaries Between Ecological and Social Healing

2018-02-20T17:54:06-05:00Tags: |

In the collective book Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices, several authors, including Jeanine M. Canty, call for a restoration of our collective relationship with place and the reintegration of feminine wisdom. Western culture, corporate globalization, and the idea that we are separate, distinct wholes have been devastating. As Canty explains, global healing will therefore only be possible once we embrace our collective wounding and honor diverse perspectives, including recognizing women, people of color, and Indigenous communities as the heart of movements leading the way toward a more resilient society.  Photo credit: M. Jennifer Chandler

10 10, 2017

Mother Nature’s Daughter

2020-12-15T21:52:39-05:00Tags: |

Authored by Erin Peterson, this article introduces us to St Olaf’s alumni Anne Christianson, a Minnesota native, feminist and environmental scientist. In 2016, along with 75 STEM women from around the world, Anne was selected to partake in the Homeward Bound leadership initiative, a 3-week expedition to Antarctica. For Anne, such an experience in an isolated and wild environment was both an impactful and powerful opportunity to build a significant network of allies, as it promoted collaboration, connection and support amongst the participants in meaningful ways. Interested in the intersection between politics and the environment, this expedition gave Anne a chance to consider new ways of bringing awareness to the troubling effects of climate change on women. The expedition provided these women scientists and leaders with coaching support for career and leadership strategies within their science and technology fields; and strategies for improved science communication and effective research disseminate world-wide. Photo Credit: Unknown

28 09, 2017

Why Are Britain’s Green Movements An All-White Affair?

2017-10-08T22:23:12-04:00Tags: |

Climate justice activist Suzanne Dhaliwal is co-founder of the UK Tar Sands Network. However, since 2015 she’s been a woman in the media writing on the problems with Britain’s predominantly white environmental movement. Dhaliwal reminds us that Indigenous people and people of color around the world are the first affected by climate change and the first to act. In this article, Dhaliwal emphasizes the importance of keeping frontline communities at the forefront of the movement. She’s putting her words into action by boycotting all white-only panels on climate change for the time being. Photo credit: Fiona Hanson/AP Images for Avaaz

24 09, 2017

Three Platforms For Girls’ Education In Climate Strategies

2018-01-24T11:52:49-05:00Tags: |

Globally, women and girls face acute impacts from climate change, however research has shown that investing in the empowerment and education of girls can act as a powerful remedy and solution to address climate change. This report discusses a few steps that can be taken to strengthen girls skills and abilities, while also moving towards global Sustainable Development Goal standards - including promoting girl’s reproductive rights, investing in girl’s education to develop leadership skills in them and by developing their life skills for green economy. Photo Credit: Brookings.edu

8 09, 2017

Decolonize Justice Systems! An Interview With Dine’ Lawyer Michelle Cook

2020-09-08T21:23:05-04:00Tags: |

All over the world, Indigenous communities exist and function within two justice systems based on different worldviews: the European and the Indigenous. Human Rights Lawyer Michelle Cook (Diné), member of the Navajo Nation and born of the Honághááhnii clan, discusses the unequal relationship between these two frameworks and explains how the language of Human Rights can help challenge the colonial legal system which understates Indigenous' institutions. Photo Credit: Indigenous Rights Radio.

4 09, 2017

They Don’t Call Her Mother Earth For Nothing: Women Re-Imagining The World

2017-09-04T12:37:37-04:00Tags: |

Jean Shinoda Bolen, Akaya Windwood, Alice Walker, Nina Simons, Joanna Macy, and Sarah Crowell are feminist icons and leaders who have centered much of their work on the inseparable links between women, race and the environment. This audio conversation between them delves into the complex issue of transforming relationships between people and the earth in order to bring gender and racial justice to our societies. Restoring the feminine and masculine balance in our world and in each of us is at the center of their explanation of how to enact long-lasting justice for both people and the planet. Photo credit: KRCB-FM Radio 91

1 09, 2017

To Fight Climate Change, Educate and Empower Girls

2017-11-01T22:57:25-04:00Tags: |

Supporting girls education had been found to be one of the most effective and equitable manners to address global climate change. Education helps girls deal with climate vulnerability and challenging circumstances, opens doors to healthy lives and women’s ability to contribute to fashioning climate solutions; and intersects with reproductive justice and women’s choices in their care for healthy future generations. This important analysis is shared by two women leaders of the Center for Universal Education in the Global Economy and Development. Photo credit: New Security Beat

1 09, 2017

CEJA Statement on Sexual Harassment in the Capitol

2020-09-03T00:29:16-04:00Tags: |

The letter illustrated the  between power structure and gender inequality. TheirThe pervasiveness of sexual harassment and asrelationsault has become the recent subject of public debate in the California legislature. With the help of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus and CEJA, an environmental justice organization, 200  women signed a statement against sexual harassment in Capitol. Many of these women spoke in front of the California Assembly Rules Subcommittee to bravely share their experiences of sexual harassment. This is a step in the right direction to ending sexual violence and a culture that permits and promotes the devaluation of women and gender non-conforming people. Photo Credit: CEJA

31 08, 2017

Jane Goodall Calls For Climate Change Action To Save Planet At Global Citizen Festival

2017-10-31T23:08:33-04:00Tags: |

At the 2017 Global Citizen Festival in New York City, Jane Goodall took the stage to urge us all to take swift action on climate change. Goodall's pioneering research on chimpanzees has changed the way humans percieve non-human species, popularizing the idea that humans and animals are interdependent life forms. Jane Goodall is also United Nations Messenger of Peace and Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute. Photo credit: Mary Kang for Global Citizen

29 08, 2017

Earth Scientist Targets Sexual Harassment With NFS Grant

2017-10-27T20:19:53-04:00Tags: |

Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe was awarded funding by the National Science Foundation, an effort to include more women in the STEM field. Berhe is a biogeochemist, and her work is dedicated to climate change impacts in the land of Sierra Nevada; she received an ADVANCE grant (part of the NSF program), in the value of more than 1 million dollars, in order to research about the issue of gender-based harassment in the earth sciences and look for new solutions. Her research team, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, is led by Professor Erika Marín-Spiotta. Focus groups at many University of California campuses (including UC Merced) have been created in order to test the efficacy of possible strategies to combat sexual harassment against women in STEM fields. Photo credit: UC Merced

27 08, 2017

Tia Hatton Is Suing The U.S. Government Over Climate Change

2017-10-27T15:12:54-04:00Tags: |

Tia Hatton, a University of Oregon student majoring in environmental studies, published this essay in Sierra Magazine about why she became a plaintiff in the case Juliana, et al. v. United States of America. Hatton and 21 other young climate activists are suing the U.S. government in a landmark case for failing to take meaningful action on climate change. The trial begins in early February 2018. Lawyers hope to prove that the US government knew for decades about CO2 pollution and rising global temperatures. Photo credit: Tia Hatton

27 08, 2017

Meet the Oregon Attorney Suing President Trump Over Climate Change

2017-10-27T12:06:09-04:00Tags: |

Julia Olson of the legal non-profit “Our Children’s Trust” is suing the federal government and agencies like EPA for neglecting to act on climate change. Olson maintains that the U.S. government has been aware of climate change and its impacts on people since George Bush took office, yet did nothing. Carbon dioxide levels have increased from 220 ppm to 440 ppm from 1789-2013.  Olson argues that the government is clearly violating the right of the kids to live sustainable lives by permitting the use and development of non-renewable energy sources like coal. She hopes the case Juliana v. United States will lead to concrete legal steps to curb greenhouse effects. Photo credit: Our Children's Trust

27 08, 2017

Here’s How Women Will Save The World

2017-10-27T11:26:29-04:00Tags: |

Journalist Angela Terry writes about the work of the Climate Change Coalition, a member organization that organises the Show the Love Campaign to highlight the aspects of the world people want to save from the destruction of climate change. Many of the Coalition’s supporters are women, and the video they made to inspire connection to the earth was viewed by almost 7 million people. Terry argues that women are at the forefront of online and offline organizing to battle climate change. Photo credit: Huffington Post

23 08, 2017

How An Environmental Activist Became A Pioneer For Climate Justice In India

2018-01-23T20:10:25-05:00Tags: |

Sunita Narain, an environmental activist and Director of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), India shares powerful analysis on the responsibility that wealthy countries have to take action to address their liability for global climate impacts, which is unjustly impacting citizens of ‘developing’ and low-income nations. She calls for climate justice, and for the Indian government to grow the country in a manner that relies on sustainability and equity, instead of copying western development mechanisms that bring harm. Photo credit: Centre for Science and Environment

18 08, 2017

Climate Justice Is Racial Justice Is Gender Justice

2020-09-08T21:50:16-04:00Tags: |

Though climate justice is not typically thought of as integral to civil rights or women’s rights, Jacqueline Patterson, director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, asks us to see their overlapping nature. Marginalized communities are often marginalized in many ways simultaneously: black populations are concentrated in poor neighborhoods, as is food insecurity, as are toxic waste facilities. While combatting climate change then, the concerns of marginalized communities need to be centered. Thus, access, affordability and viable livelihoods should be of high priority—as is consistent with a just transition. Photo Credit: Unknown

17 08, 2017

Siosinamele Lui: The Role Of Traditional Knowledge In Pacific Meterology

2017-09-22T22:50:17-04:00Tags: |

Siosinamele Lui is the Climate Traditional Knowledge Officer based at Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme.  She has spent a decade working for the Samoa Meteorological Service, in particular the Geoscience and Oceans observations before working at S.P.R.E.P. In this article she explains the role of traditional knowledge in Pacific meteorology, and how it aids a creating responses to climate change and natural disaster. Photo credit: S.P.R.E.P.

17 08, 2017

A Future We Can Vibe With

2017-10-08T22:48:41-04:00Tags: |

Artist Marcela Szwarc hosted a charity event entitled "A Future We Can Vibe With." It took place in Brooklyn, New York, and included artwork that focused on a sustainable future. The sales of the different artwork were given to Global Greengrants Fund. Marcela discovered the Fund when she researched about the 2014 Summit on Women and the Climate, due to her strong passion about the themes of climate justice and human rights. The artist stated that she believes in the power of art as a tool to help with climate change awareness, and she made use of this to raise the funds to help ensure that women are part of decision-making processes on climate. Photo credit: Global Greengrants Fund

15 08, 2017

Biomimicry: Imitating Nature

2017-10-31T16:37:10-04:00Tags: |

On the podcast Mrs. Green World, Nicole Miller discusses the concept of biomimicry, which is emulating nature's time-tested patterns and strategies in order to find sustainable ways to approach human challenges. Nicole is the Managing Director of Biomimicry 3.8, the leading organization in the world in biomimicry innovation consulting and professional training. Biomimicry 3.8, so-named due to the natural intelligence accumulated on Earth in 3.8 billion years of evolution, was founded by two women, Janine Benyus and Dr. Dayana Baumeister. Photo credit: mrsgreenworld.come

11 08, 2017

First Public Preview Of Land And Lens Photographs

2017-10-27T21:09:04-04:00Tags: |

The Women's Earth Alliance launched a project called the Seeds of Resilience Project in March 2017, with the partnership of Vanastree, a woman farmers’ seed saving collective in India. As part of the project, photography training with community members took place, with the purpose of storytelling, called Lands and Lens. In this preview can be found the work of nine women from rural India who were training through this initiative. Photo credit: Women's Earth Alliance

4 08, 2017

The Sophia Century: When Women Come Into Co-Equal Partnership

2017-09-06T21:30:54-04:00Tags: |

WECAN co-founder and director Osprey Orielle Lake, Amazon Watch executive director Leila Salazar, and renowned activist Lynne Twist are frontline movement leaders and educators on the interdependent rights of women and the environment. Discussing the The Sophia Century, a vision of a world where women come into co-equal and balanced partnership with men, — these climate justice voices are educating on how rising global women-led movements are enacting this vision. At the center of this narrative is how women worldwide are the most disproportionately affected by climate change while at the same time being the agents of solutions to the climate crisis. Photo credit: prx.org

1 08, 2017

Kahontakwas Diane Longboat: “The Good Mind Will Transform The World”

2017-11-01T04:09:18-04:00Tags: |

Kahontakwas, Diane Longboat is from the Mohawk Nation, Turtle Clan at Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Canada shares her thoughts on spiritual activism, peace building, and the importance of Indigenous women’s leadership in healing communities and the Earth. Photo credit: Diane Longboat

1 08, 2017

Climate Justice Is Racial Justice And Gender Justice

2017-11-01T00:40:33-04:00Tags: |

Jacqueline Patterson is an activist with the NAACP for women and women of color. In her interview, she tells us how much intersectionality there is around climate change - it is a multiplier of injustices and is intrinsically related to civil and human rights. She recommends that people who want to start fighting climate change-related issues start locally, at a welfare’s group, or any type of group that attempts to diminish injustices for the most marginalized segments of society. Photo credit: Cyrus McCrimmon

28 07, 2017

A Self-Care Guide To Helping The Planet

2017-10-28T22:23:33-04:00Tags: |

"Activist burnout" is a real phenomenon and can happen to those people who are passionate about an issue and sometimes, when tired, question the reason they are activists. Taking time for yourself, listening to yourself, focusing on hope, being around supportive friends, and knowing your limits are a few of the tips the article gives to people who need an extra push to continue their actions to help the planet. Photo credit: 1 Million Women

27 07, 2017

Performers Occupy British Museum With BP Oil Rig In Fossil Fuel Protest

2017-09-03T14:53:01-04:00Tags: |

30 actor-activists from the theatrical protest group "BP or not BP?" occupied the British Museum in protest of its sponsorship from the British Petroleum company and stolen Indigenous artifacts. They held the space for the whole afternoon with a series of performances involving a pop-up oil rig, a colonial explorer, a crowd of noisy dying animals, an angry climate scientist, a series of statements from Aboriginal communities and an oblivious "British Museum" being distracted from it all by BP. Photo credit: Kristian Buus, BP Or Not BP?

26 07, 2017

Winona LaDuke On How To Be Better Ancestors

2017-10-26T17:43:03-04:00Tags: |

In this article, Winona LaDuke, an internationally renowned activist working on issues of sustainable development renewable energy and food systems, reflects on how to be a good ancestor and on intergenerational accountability. She uses Standing Rock as an example and she explains that it should not be seen only as a place but rather as a state of mind. In Standing Rock we can see this unity, hope and will to protect and free Mother Earth from exploitation. She calls us to act as responsible ancestors, protect Mother Earth and care about our children’s future. Photo credit: Center for Humans and Nature

24 07, 2017

Humans Are Losing Touch With Nature – It’s A Tragedy With No Quick Fix

2017-10-08T22:53:03-04:00Tags: |

Deborah Orr, a columnist for the Guardian, writes about the results of research which point to the lack of connection between the British and nature. In this opinion article, Deborah discusses the issue that this distance with wildlife has for the environment, especially for climate change. She mentions heavy drinking and gambling as problems that provide an escape to bigger existential issues, and can heavily impact the future of our planet. Photo credit: UIG via Getty Images

19 07, 2017

Mothers vs. Loggers: The Destruction Of Białowieża Forest Splits Poland

2018-12-19T17:29:01-05:00Tags: |

Matki Polki na wyrębie (“Polish Mothers at the Felling” in Polish) is a grassroots group of mothers who protested against the rampant logging practices near Warsaw. Logging tripled in 2016, especially in the region of the Białowieża forest. Jan Szyszko, the  Polish environmental minister of Białowieża, claimed that logging would save the trees from beetles. However, the authorities failed to consider the historical and environmental importance of the trees. Most of the animals are dependent on the lichens, mosses, and fungi and other parts of the Białowieża ecosystem for their survival. Thus, mothers are coming forward to save their great heritage. Photo credit: Tomasz Wiech.

19 07, 2017

How To Be An Activist When You Don’t Like The Spotlight

2017-10-28T14:10:54-04:00Tags: |

1 Million Women provides tips for people who want to be part of the change in climate action but prefer quieter efforts over marching or public speaking. It showcases female activists including the Knitting Nanas, a team of grandmas who care about the impact of exploring natural gas; Wendy Bowman, leader in the fight against coal expansion; and the Clean Coast Collective, an Australian couple who engages youth in cleaning the beaches. Photo credit: 1 Million Women

17 07, 2017

Democracy And An Ecologically Sound Future

2017-10-08T22:57:31-04:00Tags: |

This article highlights the work of Heather McGhee, the president of the public policy organization Demos, which means "the people." Heather works towards more equatable economics, as well as for environmental justice. She was one of the speakers at the Bioneers conference in October 2017, titled "Uprising Bioneers," in San Rafael, California. Photo credit: Bioneers

14 07, 2017

Bay Area Gentrification, Global Warming And Community Justice Collide In The Hilarious New Trailer for the ‘The North Pole’

2017-10-08T22:33:47-04:00Tags: |

The North Pole is a television series that about Oakland’s residents of color who are up against the violence of gentrification and environmental destruction in the East Bay of the San Francisco metropolitan area. Produced by Josh Healey, the series focuses on communication and unity between residents of the area and new residents who are contributing to the gentrification of the area. Writer Chinaka Hodge, leading character Reyna Amaya, and former Black Panther party member Ericka Huggins are all women storytellers engaged in the creation of this intersectional climate justice initiative.  Photo credit: Colorlines

13 07, 2017

Women In The Lead: One Milestone On The Path To Equity, Justice, And Inclusion

2017-10-08T22:55:19-04:00Tags: |

Lauren Lantry is the media coordinator for the Sierra Club's Gender, Equity, and Environment Program, the Electric Vehicles Initiative, and the Green Transportation Program. Lantry writes about the recent election of officers of the Sierra Club Board of Directors, and the fact that it is the first time in its history of 125 years that the executive committee was made up of females. Loren Blackford is the new Board President, Susana Reyes is the Board Vice President, Robin Mann is the new Secretary, Liz Walsh is the treasurer, and Margrete Strand-Rangnes is the fifth officer. This milestone towards a more equitable world is important for climate justice, as the Sierra Club works in the protection of the environment. The National Program Director of the Sierra Club, Sarah Hodgdon, stated that with the newly-elected all-female executive team, there is a great set of skills available to deal with the issues pertaining to climate change. Photo credit: Sierra Club

2 07, 2017

How Being In Nature Makes Us Appreciate Our Bodies And Reject Unrealistic Beauty Standards

2017-10-28T14:13:31-04:00Tags: |

Viren Swami writes how being in a green space is good for mental health and increases happiness. Swami researched in order to test this theory with more than 400 American adults, focusing on body appreciation and its relation to being exposed to nature. Photo credit: 1 Million Women

1 07, 2017

The Solution For Reversing Global Warming Is Educating Girls And Family Planning

2017-11-01T23:01:02-04:00Tags: |

Salon Magazine speaks with Dr. Paul Hawken of Project Drawdown, who set out with a renowned international team to calculate out the most impactful, tangible climate solutions - and was surprised to discover that educating girls and empowering women is cumulatively the #1 most impactful global climate change solution.

1 07, 2017

Yes To The People’s Movement: Naomi Klein

2017-10-27T19:59:10-04:00Tags: |

Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine and This Changes Everything and No Is Not Enough, speaks with the Laura Flanders Show about her latest book, which explores the depth of the capitalist crisis, what it means for the Earth and global communities, and how movements of resistance and change can continue to take hold and change the global story of wealth and exploitation. Photo credit: Laura Flanders Show

1 07, 2017

Woman, Scientist, Activist: Female Researchers Take Charge

2017-11-01T03:39:39-04:00Tags: |

Dr. Sarah Myhre writes about intersectional feminism in this article for Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. An ocean scientist, Myhre explains how women are stepping up in an era of increased misogyny ushered in by the election of Donald Trump, and highlights women scientists' leadership in the climate movement, such as with the organization 500 Women Scientists. Photo credit: Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock

1 07, 2017

Beata Tsosie Peña: “I Do Not Separate The Struggle From My Spirituality”

2017-11-01T01:23:13-04:00Tags: |

Beata Tsosie Peña is a Tewa Indigenous woman from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico who is fighting for environmental justice and protection of her people's ancestral land and the health and well being of the larger regional community. The region has been heavily impacted by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a United States federal laboratory producing nuclear weapons and doing biological and chemical testing, which contaminates of water, soil and air. Beata joined TEWA Women United (TWU), an inter-tribal organization that seeks to empower women, and works jointly with Las Mujeres Hablan (The Women Speak) and Communities for Clean Water (CCW) in order to fight for environmental justice, cultural preservation, reproductive rights, health, and food security. Beata has a holistic approach to her fight, and the manner in which she stands up against contamination on Mother Earth as a dual attack on bodies, rituals, spirituality and beliefs. Photo credit: International Journal on Human Rights

28 06, 2017

Aditi Brennan Kapil, Playwright

2017-10-27T21:12:26-04:00Tags: |

This video by the UNFCCC Climate Action Studio shows Aditi Brennan Kapil, a playwright, during COP22 in Morocco. Kapil, a storyteller, talks about the importance of connecting art to climate action and making the stories about climate change impacts engaging for people all over the world. Photo credit: UNFCCC Climate Action Studio

19 06, 2017

Transit Riders Unions Versus Climate Change, White Supremacy And Disaster Capitalism

2017-09-24T18:29:25-04:00Tags: |

Social and ecological activist, author and co-founder of Collective for Social and Environmental Justice in Vancouver, Desiree Hellegers, is sounding the alarm on how a Trump election has further intensified the vulnerability of and violence against frontline communities of color in the face of climate change. Here, Hellegers shows how climate change is part of a white supremacist system driven by disaster capitalism. Hellegers explains how Transit Riders Unions are pushing back against this oppressive structure in the midst of antiracist and antifascist clashes in Portland, Oregon. Photo credit: WECAN International

18 06, 2017

The Victories Against Trump Are Mounting

2017-09-06T21:34:36-04:00Tags: |

Respected feminist author and activist Rebecca Solnit is putting women and the climate at the center of her articles about the dangers of the Trump presidency. Paying homage to growing transgender rights activism, Teen Vogue’s feminist coverage, Mormon women mobilizing in solidarity with undocumented families, and American politicians and activists pledges to continue their commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement, Solnit reminds us of our vast mobilizing power. Solnit is a movement and media voice amplifying the proliferation of feminist and climate action resisting Trump and the underlying inequality and oppression that has existed before him. Photo credit: UPI/ Bancroft Images

14 06, 2017

The Future Of Work: Consider The Changing Climate

2020-10-23T22:30:08-04:00Tags: |

Juliet B. Schor is a professor of sociology at Boston College who in this article weighs in on the most consequential changes in the future workplace. Whilst conversations about the future of work are mostly about machines, she claims that an analysis of the context must include consideration of climate change because it promises to be extremely disruptive. However, an apocalyptic future is not our only option. Her studies show that countries with higher average annual hours of work have higher carbon emissions, and the opposite is also true. “If we could open our imaginations to a society in which good jobs did not come with killer schedules, we’d reap many benefits” - she claims. In addition to reducing carbon pollution, both men and women could achieve “work/family balance”, have time for hobbies and participate in political life. Photo credit: Tatiana Grozetskaya/Shutterstock

13 06, 2017

“A Transformative Vision”: Naomi Klein on Platforms for Racial, Health & Climate Justice Under Trump

2020-10-23T22:41:01-04:00Tags: |

In this interview, Canadian journalist, columnist and best-selling author Naomi Klein talks about the broad lines of the Leap Manifesto – Caring for the Earth and One Another. The success of neoliberalism, she argues, is based on the fallacy it is the only viable economic system; that no matter how bad its policies, the alternative would be worse. However, the Leap Manifesto in Canada expresses the transformative vision stemming from the courage to step forward and envision a different kind of economy in which everyone is provided with quality healthcare and education. The manifesto, endorsed by 220 grassroots and NGO organisations, thrives on utopian imagination and advocates for a transition towards progressive trade policy, which includes broader issues on alternatives to fossil fuel, solidarity with refugees, racial justice and indigenous rights. Klein asserts that the bold people’s platforms emerging from grassroots social movements will lead politicians to follow suit.

13 06, 2017

Full Interview: Naomi Klein On Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics

2017-10-31T20:35:02-04:00Tags: |

Naomi Klein’s book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate has been called the bible of the climate justice movement. It cuts straight to the chase in identifying capitalism as the principal culprit of climate change, through stories from the global movement that widely uses the slogan “system change, not climate change.” Klein also notes that the ‘capitalist patriarchy’ is subordinating women’s bodies and the earth. In her new book No Is Not Enough, Klein takes on the catastrophic decisions President Trump is making on global climate progress by denying that climate change exists and by infamously pulling out of the acclaimed 2015 Paris climate accord. Yet, despite the setbacks caused by Trump, Klein explains that the climate movement is stepping up and fighting hard against the dangerous impacts that climate change policy will have on the interlinked issues of race, gender and economic inequality under Trump’s administration. Photo credit: Democracy Now!

13 06, 2017

Hurricane Survivor Jayden Foytlin Fights Climate Change In Oil Country

2023-03-19T08:31:25-04:00Tags: |

Jayden Foytlin is a 14-year-old hurricane survivor and one of 21 young leaders suing the federal government for inaction on climate change. She experienced the destruction of climate change firsthand in her hometown of Rayne, Louisiana where she woke up to a half a foot of water during a storm that flooded her home. Foytlin describes the isolation of being a teenage climate activist in the conservative town of Acadia Parish where offshore oil and gas is a major industry to journalist Neela Banerjee who grew up in southeast Louisiana. Although she experiences alienation from her local community, she connects closely with the other youth plaintiffs from different states leading the Our Children’s Trust lawsuit. Foytlin has the support of her mother Cherri and her sister Erin who are engaged in the movement and co-speak at public climate events. Photo credit: InsideClimate News/ Neela Banerjee

12 06, 2017

Seventy Miles In Nine Mile Canyon

2017-09-04T20:12:45-04:00Tags: |

Climate activist and storyteller Brooke Larsen has transformed her 3-day bike tour across the Colarado Plateau into a biographical story that educates on the multifaceted socio-political layers of environmental destruction. By juxtaposing the scenic terrain and the scent of wild sage wafting pass her as she pedals, to that of a landscape speckled with oil rigs, Larsen unveils the ecological impact of “progress” through her writing. Oil and gas corporations, the endangered prairie dog, and the history of the displacement of Indigenous peoples all come together in Larsen’s account of her bike trip. Personal reflections of individual contradictions, and challenging questions of how climate activists can form alliances with coal miners and unions are at the center of Larsen’s reflections on how to change the system and not the climate. Photo credit: Brooke Larsen

12 06, 2017

India’s Largest Collection Of Rural Folk Music Contains Over 10,000 Songs That Women Sing While Grinding Grain

2017-09-04T12:21:19-04:00Tags: |

Before sunrise in Pune, India, women in the group Garīb Dhongarī Sangatnā, or “Collective of the Poor of the Mountain,” can be found singing at the grain mills, where they work grinding grain into flour. For these women, singing while simultaneously producing a staple Indian food empowers the collective feminine voice. Lyrics deal with subjects of cast, religion, political movements and mythology as an act of female resistance to the impoverishment that India’s rural communities face. The Grindmill Songs Project (part of PARI-- People’s Archives of Rural India) is collecting and translating these songs, and has already published over 10,000 of them on their website so the world can listen these Pune female movement voices sing. Photo credit: PARI (People’s Archives of Rural India)

10 06, 2017

Two Poems On What It’s Like To Live With Ebola, Climate Change

2017-09-06T21:48:13-04:00Tags: |

Marshall Island resident Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner and Liberian business-owner Patrice Juah are fighting Ebola with the power of poetry. The Pacific Islands and Africa are grappling with the particularly grave effects of climate change: menacing droughts, flooding, and rising sea levels are displacing communities. Jetnil-Kijiner and Juah’s verses express both difficulty and resistance to the crises at hand. Addressing her baby daughter, Jetnil-Kijner’s writes “they say you, your daughter and your granddaughter, too will wander rootless with only a passport to call home…dear matefele peinam, don’t cry…because baby we are going to fight.” Photo credit: Larisa Epatko/PBS NewsHour

9 06, 2017

Alice Eather: The Slam Poet Who Forced Big Oil Out Of Arnhem Land

2017-10-09T20:26:04-04:00Tags: |

In 2013, Alice Eather, an Indigenous activist and poet from Australia’s Northern Territories, discovered that Paltar Petroleum had applied to frack the ocean of her community of Maningrida. Alice cofounded the Protect Arnhem Land campaign group, which mobilized local communities to oppose the project. In 2016 the company withdrew its permit application. Eather will be remembered for her fierce poetry, as memorialized in the documentary Stingray Sisters. Photo credit: ABC

8 06, 2017

Climate Change And Nutritional Security—Vicki Hird, Sustain

2017-10-27T20:31:46-04:00Tags: |

This article on the Women's Environmental Network (WEN) website was written by Vicki Hird, Sustainable Farm Campaign Coordinator at Sustain (she is also the founder of Sustain) and award-winning author. Hird writes about food security and its relation to climate change (specifically in the UK), and she breaks the issue down into categories such as eating, farming and producing, and governance.

6 06, 2017

Women Ocean Leaders Of Samoa: Tuifuisa’a Amosa

2017-08-26T15:51:57-04:00Tags: |

Dr. Tuifasa’a Aimosa is an oceanographer and Dean of the Faculty of Science at the National University of Samoa. Her academic research primarily explores ocean acidification and its impacts on marine life. She credits her interest in science to excellent teachers, even as she often found herself in her post-grad years as the only female student from the Pacific Islands studying marine science and oceanography. Dr. Tuifuisa’a is cognizant of the fact that hers is a male-dominated field, using her role as Dean to mentor young female students in the field, and hopes for more support networks for female scientists.Photo credit: Samoa Observer

5 06, 2017

Poem: For The Mamas On The Frontlines

2017-09-05T22:55:49-04:00Tags: |

Helen Knott is turning her daily activism into rhythmic pros in honor of the mamas on the frontlines of our interconnected struggles. Knott performed the lines “if mamas don’t fight for the children, then who will?” while reciting her poem at the 2017 Nobel Women’s Initiative conference. Drawing on the links between defending water and lands from patriarchal laws, Knott nods at women’s role in the climate justice movement while speaking truth to power across all stripes of social and political spectrums. Photo credit: openDemocracy 50.50

5 06, 2017

Women Ocean Leaders: Captain Fealofani

2017-08-26T15:54:48-04:00Tags: |

Fealofani Bruun is making history as captain of a Gaualofa, a traditional Samoan double-hull voyaging canoe. She trains crew members and steers the canoe, whose voyages have not been seen in Samoa for over 100 years. For Samoans, the traditional voyaging canoe holds a lot of knowledge about not only navigation, the ocean and the stars, but also traditional Samoan culture and values. For Fealofani, this cultural revival has opened her up to the ways in which equality and equity are embedded within the ‘canoe culture’, as well as how to use traditional Samoan knowledge to protect the oceans in the face of climate change. She calls for the recruitment of more young girls and women to the fight. Photo credit: Charles Netzler

4 06, 2017

While Trump Withdraws From Paris Climate Agreement, Teenagers Are Fighting the Climate Crisis

2017-09-04T13:00:22-04:00Tags: |

Teenage women are rising climate movement leaders. 15-year-old Jamie Margolin writes about being born onto a warming planet exacerbated by the Trump administration. She is being loud and clear about generation Z’s reality of living in a world where water, air and the survival of the planet are threatened. Yet, despite this grim reality, Margolin is emphasizing the importance of teenagers mobilizing against climate change, while simultaneously holding previous generations accountable for their complacency on the issue. In her extra time, she attends activist meetings, takes 3 trips yearly to her state capitol to lobby for climate policies, and puts together civic action projects to protect the planet. Photo credit: The Huffington Post

1 06, 2017

Kari Fulton Talks About Climate Change And The Threat Of Extreme Weather

2017-11-01T17:47:16-04:00Tags: |

Cultural historian and environmental justice advocate Kati Fulton speaks about the Trump administration's withdrawal from the Paris accord. Fulton points out that such an action reduces the amount of funding for climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, the impacts of which are not isolated to the United States but will be felt worldwide. She urges politicians to stop denying the threat posed by extreme weather, such as Hurricane Irma, and take measures to ensure environmental justice. Photo credit: CGTN America

1 06, 2017

Women Out Front: Indigenous Journalists On Building A Fairer Central America

2017-10-14T15:36:06-04:00Tags: |

From March 16 to 20, 2017, sixteen Indigenous women community journalists from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama gathered in Guatemala City to strengthen their capacities in radio production and exchange experiences, all within the framework of a critical analysis of discrimination faced by women. The workshop, hosted by Cultural Survival and the Channel Foundation, facilitated discussions of privilege, discrimination, marginalization and pain from patriarchal power relations. Coming together in the end, Cultural Survival pledged to carry out two further workshops based on theoretical classes on gender and feminism alongside a practical course on radio programming. Photo credit: Cultural Survival

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. 

18 05, 2017

Isabella Zizi: Each Step We Take Is A Prayer To A Just Transition

2017-10-05T18:11:38-04:00Tags: |

Indigenous youth activist Isabella Zizi recounts her personal experience witnessing the explosion of a local Chevron oil refinery, which led her to organize in many different movements, such as #IdleNoMore, Black Lives Matter and immigration rights. Today she fights as an Earth Guardians Bay Area crew leader and RYSE youth council member. She draws upon the resilience of her ancestors in her activism, “disrupting business as usual and visually being noticeable through creative art.” Photo credit: Alana Conner

17 05, 2017

Dear Tomorrow: A Letter To Our Children

2017-10-08T22:46:35-04:00Tags: |

Dear Tomorrow is an organization founded by two women, Jill Kubit and Trisha Shrum, who are both mothers and worry about the impacts of climate change in their children's lives. Dear Tomorrow is a platform where people can send letters to their loved ones in the future, so they know everything that each person is doing to fight climate change. The content of these letters is shared with the public with the purpose of engaging more people in climate action, so the future can be a better place for our children. Photo credit: Moms Clean Air Force

7 05, 2017

Interview With Anna Peters: Federation Of Young European Greens

2020-11-07T17:44:13-05:00Tags: |

In this short video (1:12), Anna Peters recalls how she started getting involved in activism at a young age (13 y.o.) by demonstrating against nuclear power plants because she felt strongly about the danger of nuclear power. Fuelled by a desire to do something and take action, she eventually joined the Federation of Young European Greens, which is an umbrella organisation encompassing 36 Young Green organisations from across the European continent. FYEG promotes capacity building, networking, political meetings; runs campaigns at street level and lobbies the European institutions on Green issues. Anna advocates the importance of showing initiative and act for what matters to one’s heart. The act of getting out there to do something and change things little by little can be empowering, especially for young women when they supported by mature people, family and friends. Photo Credit: Video Screen Capture

5 05, 2017

Women Lead The Way: From Violence To Non-Violence, From Greed To Sharing, From Hate To Love

2018-07-13T16:26:13-04:00Tags: |

Internationally recognised activist, scholar, and director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology, Vandana Shiva, was the keynote speaker at The J. Jobe and Marguerite Jacqmin Soffa Lecture on the April 27th, 2017. This lecture series brings renowned women from around the world to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, to speak on contemporary issues of global significance. Shiva’s speech, which can be watched in full, headlined the 2nd Annual 4W Summit on Women, Gender, and Well-being. Shiva spans issues of human rights, militarisation, agriculture, poverty, economy and global cooperation. Highlighting that women are leading the fight for an economy of life that prioritizes community wellbeing. Photo credit: Seed Freedom

1 05, 2017

How Sustainability Education Could Cure The Crisis Of Overconsumption

2017-10-28T14:05:52-04:00Tags: |

This 1 Million Women article, written by U.S. student Andie Mitchel, points to sustainability in school as a well to teach children about the many issues involved in overconsuming. It provides ideas on how to make less waste and have a more sustainable routine, and how to deal with the current economic system and the social pressures.

1 05, 2017

Women Climate Champions Spotlight: Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

2017-11-01T03:38:06-04:00Tags: |

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is both an Evangelical Christian and a leading atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech University. She authored the second and third editions of the US National Climate Assessment, and has over 120 peer-reviewed publications to her name. Hayhoe is both a powerful woman climate leader and a woman of faith, two identities that don't have to be contradictory. Photo credit: The Climate Reality Project

1 05, 2017

“Resistance As Daily Existence”: One Woman’s Story As A Climate Scientist Under Trump

2017-11-01T03:36:10-04:00Tags: |

Jane Zelikova is the founder of 500 Women Scientists, a group founded after she and a few friends circulated a letter rejecting the hateful rhetoric of the Trump campaign and affirming the women and people of color in the sciences. Zelikova works at the U.S. Department of Energy, which has seen cuts in funding since Donald Trump took office, however, she is committed to her career and fighting for action on climate, even in tough circumstances. Photo credit: Grist

1 05, 2017

Why This Muslim Woman Marched And Fights For Climate Justice

2017-11-01T00:45:08-04:00Tags: |

In 2007, Nana Firman, the co-founder of the Global Muslim Climate Network and Muslim outreach coordinator for GreenFaith, saw first-hand the devastating impact of climate change when severe flooding in Jakarta, Indonesia killed at least 40 people and displaced an estimated 450,000 people. Seven years later Nana would move to California, where she now works with faith-based networks which focus on climate justice issues. Her work is guided by her Muslim faith, which she states encourages stewardship of the Earth. Nana’s work also highlights the importance of having climate justice work firmly centered on analyzing and challenging the rising connection between markets and religious fundamentalisms, anti-black and brown racism, and the disproportionate impacts on women. Photo credit: Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences

28 04, 2017

Elizabeth Yeampierre On The Importance Of Activism To Combat Climate Change

2017-10-28T22:47:15-04:00Tags: |

In this interview, Elizabeth Yeampierre focuses on the significance of climate justice as the human rights movement of our time with a growing worldwide movement. She speaks to the intersection between racial justice and climate change, and how vital it is that most impacted communities are speaking out, joining together, and advocating on the frontlines of climate marches and policy and grassroots actions. Photo credit: BUILD Series

28 04, 2017

One More Barrier Faced By Women In Science

2017-10-28T22:29:48-04:00Tags: |

In this Scientific American article, Lily Cohen, an arctic researcher studying climate change, shares her experience as a female scientist in the field. She illustrates the lack of female representation in science and how this has resulted in inequitable policies and programs, even down to the lack of access to women’s clothing for scientists. Photo credit: Eli Duke/Flickr

28 04, 2017

A Conversation With Juana Alicia

2017-10-28T22:25:22-04:00Tags: |

Juana Alicia is an instructor at the Berkeley City College in San Francisco, California, and a muralist. The renowned artist was inspired by Diego Rivera's murals growing up in Detroit, and paints about her Latina background, immigrants, and powerful women. Her mural "Derrame" was inspired by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, and "Las Lechugueras" shows a pregnant woman picking lettuce in a scenario where it is raining pesticide, making reference to the issue of ecological disenfranchisement of women of color. Photo credit: Beth LaBerge

28 04, 2017

Meet The Globetrotting Cyclist Collecting 1,001 Climate Change Stories

2017-10-31T16:47:43-04:00Tags: |

Some cycle for exercise and others bike to work, but 24-year-old Devi Lockwood is a woman who cycles to collect voice recordings of stories about climate change and water from across the globe. Her journey began at the 2014 People’s Climate March in New York City where she collected stories from the 400,000-person march for climate justice. Since then, she has collected more than 600 recordings throughout 11 countries ranging from the United States, Cambodia, and Morocco, contributing to the trend of women-led climate education. Lockwood is aiming to reach 1,001 stories, all of which can be found on her 1001 Stories website. Photo credit: Carolyn Studer

27 04, 2017

Women Artists Are Bringing the Reality of Climate Change Into Your Living Room

2017-09-04T12:29:27-04:00Tags: |

Women artists are freezing time by documenting parts of our intact environment before climate change destroys them. For example, win sisters Christine and Margaret Wertheim have discovered a mathematical algorithm that enables them to crochet the world’s dying coral reefs. Spectacular multi-colored yarn, crocheted into prickly and wavy patterns, have inspired a worldwide, majority-women movement of coral reef crocheting, and an outcry from the public to save dying coral reefs. Furthermore, visual artist Zaria Forman’s paintings of unbelievably realistic glaciers are breathtaking, while also evoking a feeling of dread and urgency in the viewer who knows they are melting and causing rising tides. The Wertheim sisters and Forman’s art acts as climate education that inspires people to take action. Photo credit: Jenna Bascom, Courtesy of the Museum of Arts and Design & Zaria Forman, Courtesy of Winston Wächter Fine Art

21 04, 2017

Eighty-Five Percent Of Climate Change Commentators Are Men

2017-10-08T22:51:08-04:00Tags: |

An analysis by Media Matters point to the gender gap in the media portrayal of people affected by climate change. Around 86 percent of the people praised by the media platforms on the issue are men. The former president of the Sierra Club, Allison Chin, stated that the inequality women face regarding climate change is already extremely large in terms of the effects of environmental disasters, and the fact that the media makes the gender imbalance even larger is not helping to achieve gender equality. Senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress and an expert in global climate policy Rebecca Lefton highlighted the importance of having women's perspectives while Christiana Figueres, the previous Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, discussed the issue of women suffering the harsh impacts of climate disasters. Two recognized female scientists on climate, Heidi Cullen and Katherine Hayhoe, admit to sensing the gender disparity in their work for being women. Photo credit: Media Matters

14 04, 2017

6 Queer Women Literally Saving The World Through Environmental Justice

2018-02-14T22:11:39-05:00Tags: |

The voices of six inspirational queer leaders are highlighted to challenge the lack of representation within the environmental movement. Included are Rachel Carson, whose landmark text, “Silent Spring”, paved the way for the modern environmental movement; Mahri Monson who works for the EPA in Washington; and Rikki Weber who works for the environmental law firm EarthJustice, who have spearheaded fights for climate justice, while also making their workplaces more inclusive for LGBTQ and gender non-conforming people. Also featured is Rebekah Paci-Green, co-director of an NGO that helps schools become more resilient to natural disasters, alongside Judi Brown and Lindi von Mutius, board members of “Out4Sustainability”, an NGO that seeks to mobilise the LGBTQ community to take part in environmental action. Photo credit: Earthjustice

12 04, 2017

Finally, A Breakthrough Alternative To Growth Economics: The Doughnut

2017-09-24T20:09:59-04:00Tags: |

Economist Kate Raworth is linking a faulty neoliberal economic model to outdated and destructive concepts of the Rational Economic Man. Instead, she is advocating for a doughnut economy that puts environmental and societal well-being first. The outer ring of the doughnut represents the ecological ceiling of an economy, while the inner ring shows the resources needed to sustain a good life for all humans. The hole in the middle indicates the billions of people around the world who live in deprivation. Living within the doughnut means investing in wealth equality, which is intrinsically linked to respecting environmental limits. Photo credit: Kate Raworth and Christian Guthier/The Lancet Planetary Health

11 04, 2017

Going It Alone

2020-12-15T21:48:06-05:00Tags: |

Rahawa Haile is an Eritrean American writer. In this piece, she shares her experience of being a queer black woman backpacking across the Appalachian Trail and challenges the preconceived notion that ‘blacks don’t hike’. Rahawa addresses the politics, history, survival kills and fear inherent to the relationship between black peoples and the outdoors in a predominantly whites-only mind-set; and highlights that access restriction to natural sites are linked to the park system, Jim Crow laws and Native American removal campaigns. She cites Evelyn C. White, author of ‘Black women and the wilderness’, who describes wilderness as both an access to the past and a trigger of race-based suffering, since these places have history of abuse, eradication and persecution of non-white hikers. Rahawa also notes how this relationship is changing with black public figures like Oprah promoting a new vision of black people enjoying hiking through the wilderness. Photo Credit: Rahawa Haile

7 04, 2017

Cherri Foytlin And Her Daughters At The Peoples Climate March 2017 Press Conference

2017-12-07T19:04:08-05:00Tags: |

At the start of the People’s Climate March in Washington DC in 2017, Erin and Jayden Foytlin speak about the direct climate impacts they have faced at their home in southern Louisiana, including flooding, hurricanes, severe land loss. They are followed by their mother, renown Indigenous rights and Earth protector, Cherri Foytlin, who is State DIrector of Bold Louisiana, and a signer of the Indigenous Women of the Americas Defenders of Mother Earth Treaty. She speaks about the efforts of L'eau Est La Vie Camp to stop the Bayou Bridge pipeline, which would threaten Indigenous lands and vital waterways and wetlands across the region; and the power of youth, particularly Indigenous youth, in leading movements for a livable and just future. Photo credit: 350.org

1 04, 2017

Speaking Of Nature

2017-09-05T23:06:54-04:00Tags: |

In Potawatomi, the word “Aakibmaadiziiwin” translates into “being of the Earth.” There is no equivalent word in English. Potawatomi Indigenous woman and botany professor Robin Kimmerer explains how the nearly extinct language is a language of animacy — a semantic and grammatical concept that expresses language according to how alive the noun is. Kimmerer explains that listening to a bird occurs with a different verb than hearing a plane, however insects, berries and animals are referred to with the same grammatical value as a human. Unlike English, a language whose grammatical principals have worked to objectify, extract from, and colonize the Earth and the animal world, Potawatomi does not refer to nature, critters, and plants as “it.” Historically, these same English grammatical mechanisms aided in determining slaves as three-fifths human and women less human than men. Instead, Kimmerer provides an outstanding articulation of the revolutionary potential an Indigenous language brings to human and environmental life. Photo credit: Simen Johan, Courtesy Yossi Gallery, New York

1 04, 2017

Harvesting Hope Is On The Airwaves!

2017-11-01T02:10:55-04:00Tags: |

“Harvesting Hope” is a project of the organization MADRE that seeks to support Indigenous women farmers and their families. Together with their local partner, Wangki Tangni, they established a women’s rights radio station in Nicaragua. Called “Women of the Wangki”, the station reaches 115 communities throughout the north coast of Nicaragua. The broadcast includes themes such as human rights, community activities, information about the Harvesting Hope Project, and the impacts of climate change. With these kind of broadcasts, people of the region learn about better ways to prepare for higher temperatures and stronger storms. An example is Albertina, who sold her cabbage crops in a MADRE-supported farmers’ market, after she heard about it on the radio. Photo credit: MADRE

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

30 03, 2017

Three Poems Of Mourning For Teresia

2017-10-19T22:51:00-04:00Tags: |

Marshall Islander poet and spoken word artist Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner wrote three poems to process her grief for Micronesian poet and scholar Teresia Teaiwa, who passed away in March of 2017. Teresia’s work explored themes of cultural appropriation and erasure throughout Micronesia, and drew attention to the history of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. A mentor and friend, she will be missed. Photo credit: Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

27 03, 2017

Global Forest Coalition #Women2030 Media Training Toolkit

2017-10-27T16:05:38-04:00Tags: |

This Media Training Toolkit published by #women2030, introduces basic information about sharing stories with new audiences using photography and social media. #women2030 is a program that aims to achieve gender-responsive implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by engaging women and gender-focused organizations worldwide. It is led by several movements and organizations such as the Global Forest Coalition. Photo credit: Global Forest Coalition

27 03, 2017

Jackie Weidman Trains The Next Generation Of Energy Leaders

2017-10-27T10:45:29-04:00Tags: |

Jackie Weidman recognizes that an essential component of clean energy leadership is the participation of young people. In response, she began to recruit, train, and network a talented group of young professionals, which developed into the Clean Energy Leadership Institute. The Institute has already trained over 150 young energy leaders and is moving nationwide. Photo credit: Grist50!

27 03, 2017

Kait Parker Speaks Out Against Climate Change Deniers

2017-10-27T10:40:01-04:00Tags: |

When an alt-right site attempted to disprove climate change by using a misleading segment of meteorologist Kait Parker’s on-air segment, she publically challenged the site for its dubious methods. After receiving a wave of public and social media support, Kait is reaching out on Youtube to prove that climate change science is real, and is now developing a massive 50-part series titled ‘The United States of Climate Change.” Photo credit: Grist50!

26 03, 2017

Women Leaders Using Social Media To Change The Way We Live

2017-10-26T22:55:32-04:00Tags: |

This blog, curated and published by 1 Million Women, showcases the work of five female Eco-YouTubers who are using social media to spread information and share the many ways that individuals can fight climate change through lifestyle choices. Bonny Rebecca discusses how a vegan diet aids in water conservation; Lauren Singer manages Trash is For Tossers, a video blog that offers zero-waste tips; Rachel Aust inspires her viewers to live minimalistically; Keiran from Thrifted Living focuses on DIY and sustainable fashion choices; and Natasha from ThatVeganCouple discusses vegan diets and advocates for minimalist lifestyles. Photo credit: 1 Million Women

26 03, 2017

Making Women Proud: Rosa Palomino Chahuares And The Women Of Uma

2017-10-26T16:16:59-04:00Tags: |

Advocate for women’s and Indigenous rights, Rosa Palomino Chahuares of Peru, works as a radio-broadcaster and activist with the Network of Indigenous Communicators of Peru and UMA (Union of Aymara Women of Abya Yala) - working to protect the Aymara culture and language, and confront patriarchy in her community. Through her work with UMA’s women’s radio program, Wiñay Pankara (“always blooming”), Chahuares helps brings to light the situation and voices of Aymara women who are working for sustainability and justice in their communities. The women leaders continue to face challenges in gaining access to broadcast time and space on Peru’s national channels, but continue ceaselessly in their growing efforts. Photo credit: Rosa Palomino Chahuares

24 03, 2017

Arati Kumar-Rao: Environmental Photographer And Writer

2017-09-03T15:13:05-04:00Tags: |

Independent environmental photographer and writer Arati Kumar-Rao documents the impacts of environmental degradation and climate change on South Asia’s rivers. Through her photography and online journal, she serves as an advocate for the protection of the environment and the rights of people dependent on river ecosystems. Photo credit: Arati Kumar-Rao

22 03, 2017

What’s At “Steak?” The Need For A Just And Sustainable Global Food System

2017-09-13T10:57:48-04:00Tags: |

Ashlesha Khadse, a livestock researcher at the Global Forest Coalition, analyses the rotten meat scandal by JBS, Brazil's biggest beef exporter, comparing the case to other food frauds by corporations around the world. Ashlesha highlights movements that focus on sustainable food options and cites that activism to change state policies is a tool to fight the meat industry. Photo credit: Global Forest Coalition

14 03, 2017

Lyla June On Resistance And Forgiveness In The Final Years Of Patriarchy

2017-09-22T22:19:06-04:00Tags: |

At the 2017 Geography of Hope Conference, Diné (Navajo) woman Lyla June Johnston spoke about the history of gender- and race-based violence that enabled the genocide of Native Peoples across the world. She argues that we need to face this dark history and this logic of a sophisticated death culture to create a new way forward.  Photo credit: National Geographic

13 03, 2017

Lead Scientist, Lizzie McLeod On Women, Gender Equality And Climate Change

2017-12-13T13:04:22-05:00Tags: |

Lizzie McLeod works with the Nature Conservancy as the Climate Adaptation Scientist for the Pacific Region. After many years as a coral reef scientist, as part of her work she now helps facilitate learning exchange for women across many Pacific Island Nations, to come together and share their climate change experiences and expertise and lessons learned. The aim is to combat the severe lack of women in environmental decision making bodies and climate science, by bringing together women of various walks of life in one platform for knowledge sharing, development of new adaptation actions, and dissemination of collective knowledge. Photo Credit: Reef Resilience

8 03, 2017

Seventy-Six Women On A Glacier Are Changing The World

2017-10-05T17:44:21-04:00Tags: |

Seventy-six women scientists focusing on climate change made their way to Antarctica for a year-long women’s leadership program called Homeward Bound in 2017.  The program’s aim is to groom future women leaders in STEM who will also be able to lead public policy. Heidi Steltzer, a polar ecologist, and Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, concur that women’s participation in high levels of science research and policy could be improved. After seeing the melting of Antarctica, the women returned to their jobs with a renewed desire to advocate for swift action on climate change. Photo credit: Anne Christianson

8 03, 2017

How Women Farmers Are Battling Climate Change In Zimbabwe

2020-10-05T16:45:16-04:00Tags: |

In Chiware, Zimbabwe, farmer Chengetai Zonke has been forced to reduce her maize crop due to the climate change induced natural disasters creating unpredictable weather patterns. Like many other women in Zimbabwe, Zonke’s household’s livelihood depends on her farming and household work. Farmers across Zimbabwe have been forced to reevaluate their crop growing methods. Zonke has begun cultivating small-grain seeds to grow crops that are easier to care for and pay more, but she is still apprehensive about the future of women farmers amidst climate change. Photo Credit: Tonderayi Mukeredzi/IRIN

1 03, 2017

Self-Care As A Political Strategy

2023-03-19T08:09:16-04:00Tags: |

Ana María Hernández Cárdenas and Nallely Guadalupe Tello Méndez are two of the women leading the self-care strategy of the Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IM-Defensoras) and the Casa La Serena initiative. Created by and for women in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, IM-Defonsoras supports protection, safety, and radical self-care for women human rights defenders. Hernández Cárdenas and Tello Méndez explain the importance of self-care as a feminist and political strategy to sustain momentum for social movements as well as to avoid burnout, depression, and disease for those doing this critical work that is often undervalued in patriarchal society. Casa La Serena provides a safe place for women in the movement to relax, reflect, and rejuvenate during temporary stays built around comprehensive self-care for mind, body, and spirit.  

13 02, 2017

Learning To See In The Dark Amid Catastrophe: An Interview With Deep Ecologist Joanna Macy

2017-10-27T20:58:20-04:00Tags: |

Joanna Macy is an eco-philosopher, an expert on Buddhism and on deep ecology, and her work ranges from the cultivation of ecological awareness to the spiritual aspect of the nuclear age. Dahr Jamail interviews Macy and she discusses the impact of the Donald Trump election and the current moment of the "Great Turning," a life-sustaining society. Photo credit: Louis Canright

13 02, 2017

Biodiversity Here And Now

2018-10-19T19:02:03-04:00Tags: |

Gabrielle, an aspiring biologist and environmental scientist, is educating her community about the Central Cebu Protected Landscape (CCPL). The Central Cebu Protected Landscape, home to various endemic and critically endangered species, is a forest reserve located in the mountains and drainage basins of central Cebu in the Philippines. After working for a local NGO, Gabrielle learned about the forest “dead zones”, areas where invasive species like Mahogany have taken over and inhibited native species from growing. Now her main objective is to educate the public and protect the CCPL’s unique biodiversity and water supply.  Photo Credit: Commundos

12 02, 2017

Indigenous Women Take To Radio To Say No More Violence In Nicaragua

2017-10-14T15:55:48-04:00Tags: |

Violence against women and girls is common in Nicaragua, particularly for Indigenous women who often live in remote areas. In June 2016, the “Voices of the Women of Wangki Tangni” project established the first radio station to focus on women’s rights in the North Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. The project targets more than 63 communities in the region. The “communicadoras” or radio hosts are providing consistent information on women’s rights, human rights and Indigenous concepts of peaceful living. The station is the region’s only one to air programmes in the local Miskito language. Photo credit: UN Trust Fund/Mildred Garcia

10 02, 2017

The Planet Needs Radical Compassion

2017-10-27T20:34:08-04:00Tags: |

This article by Victoria Clayton, a writer in Southern California, discusses the urgent need for love around the world in order to solve the climate crisis. Clayton mentions Deborah Eden Tull, an environmental activist, sustainability educator and teaching assistant at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center, as an advocate for radical compassion for the planet as a way to take care of the environment. Photo credit: Guillaume Delebarre/Flickr

7 02, 2017

Sharon Bhagwan Rolls Amplifying Voices Of Pacific Island Women For Justice

2017-12-07T18:19:29-05:00Tags: |

Sharon Bhagwan Rolls is a Fijian human rights activist working on the intersection of gender and media as Executive Producer Director of femLINKpacific. The regional regional women-led media organisation has created a space for Pacific Island women to raise their voices for justice in their rights, communities, and for the for the land and oceans ecosystems of their homelands. Photo credit: FemlinkPacific

2 02, 2017

12-Year-Old Marley Dias Is Publishing An Activism Guide For Children And Teens

2017-09-13T10:36:17-04:00Tags: |

Twelve-year-old Marley Dias, who gained fame with her #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign, will publish an activism guide targeted for kids aged 10 and over. In the guide, Dias places special emphasis on the roles of social justice, equality, and inclusion in volunteerism and activism. Dias hopes to help kids influence change on a large scale through passion and books. Photo credit: Andrea Cipriani Mecchi/Scholastic

24 01, 2017

A Day With The Women Scientists Protesting Trump

2017-10-19T22:56:26-04:00Tags: |

Hundreds of women scientists joined together with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators at the Women’s March on Washington on the 21st of January, just a day after Donald Trump was sworn in as president of the United States of America. After Donald Trump won the election in one of the most controversial and polarized presidential races ever witnessed in the country, a new advocacy group called “500 Women Scientists”  was established. Women scientists face incredible institutional and systemic barriers such as sexism/misogyny, racism for black/women of color scientists, elitism/classism, in order to become and succeed as scientists. In the face of a president who has openly declared war on the science community, these women scientists are boldly fighting back but also striving to bring justice into their own work. Photo credit: Robinson Myer/The Atlantic

19 01, 2017

Women’s Marches, Occurring Across Seven Continents, Include A Focus On Environment

2023-03-19T08:28:12-04:00Tags: |

This op-ed written by Noël Bakhtian captures the truly global issue of climate change through the Women’s March Global movement. This grassroots campaign is active on all seven continents with women-led marches occurring in a growing list of 61 countries across the world set for January 21, 2017. Antarctica is the last to join the movement, with their focus on the fragile ecosystems in the Antarctic Peninsula and the continent as a symbol of global cooperation. The framework proposed for this growing global movement is based on Health, Economic Security, Representation, and Safety (H.E.R.S.) with climate change being a critical element across all themes. This framework is incorporated in different ways for each local march, with environmental justice, governmental accountability, and intergenerational engagement in climate action demonstrated according to local priorities. Photo credit: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

17 01, 2017

Rachel Carson : The American Experience

2020-11-20T17:41:36-05:00Tags: |

Writer and biologist Rachel Carson published the controversial book Silent Spring in September, 1962. Prior to writing Silent Spring, Carson was already one of the most celebrated writers in the United States, known for her work’s emphasis on the natural world. In Silent Spring, Carson unveils the damaging effects of the renowned synthetic pesticide DDT. She provides a counter-argument to the narrative of human domination of the natural world, and warns that humans need to take caution against the detrimental environmental effects their actions create. Silent Spring forced the United States to question its relationship with the environment, as well as its rapidly industrializing methods of agriculture. Photo Credit: Screenshot

14 01, 2017

Erin Brockovich Speaks Out About Human-Induced Earthquakes

2017-07-17T21:43:42-04:00Tags: |

Environmental and consumer advocate Erin Brockovich addressed residents of Oklahoma about the alarming number of human-induced earthquakes affecting the area. Recent years have seen a steep increase of earthquakes, which are linked to the injection of large volumes of wastewater from oil and natural gas productions, or fracking. Photo credit: EcoWatch

12 01, 2017

Arise: Women Protecting The Environment

2018-01-12T14:37:58-05:00Tags: |

Arise, an award winning film made by Lori Joyce, Candace Orlando and producers Molly Ross, documents the insights of women leaders from around the world regarding how they are working to protect the Earth. Voices featured include Winona La Duke (founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project), Vandana Shiva ( Indian environmentalist and anti globalization author),  Majora Carter (environmental justice advocate from New York City and founder of Sustainable South Bronx), and Dr. Theo Coburn (founder and president of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange in Colorado). Photo Credit: KCET

5 01, 2017

Indigenous Water Ceremony – Video

2017-09-03T15:07:03-04:00Tags: |

An indigenous water ceremony marked the opening of the historic 2017 People’s Climate March in Washington, D.C. Indigenous women such as Gabrielle Tayac of Piscataway Indian Nation and allies from all over the country took part in the ceremony to protest President Trump’s steps to roll back environmental regulations and assert their right to safe and clean water. Watch as these women share their reasons for participation. Photo credit: Democracy Now

2 01, 2017

Six Women, Three Nations

2018-03-02T20:01:15-05:00Tags: |

As part of the “Circle of Voices” digital research project, exploring cultural revitalisation, Louise Watson conducted biographical interviews in Odanak and Riviére du Loup, Quebec, with 6 young Indigenous women from Atikamekw, Abenaki and Wolastoqiyik/Maliseet Nations. The women discuss the experience of being an Indigenous woman in the 21st century, affirming themselves as strong and resilient young women who are proud of their origins. Despite challenges, such as discrimination and isolation, these women are working to keep their cultures alive. From Ivanie Aubin Malo who holds workshops in First Nations traditional dance  - to Jessica Ann Watso, who is involved with Québec Native Women Inc., coordinating projects on the inclusion of LGBTQI+/ Bi spiritual people and exploring her connection to the land through fishing, hunting and establishing a traditional community garden for students. Photo credit: Circle Of Voices

1 01, 2017

GenderCC – Women For Climate Justice

2017-10-08T22:43:28-04:00Tags: |

GenderCC Women for Climate Justice is a worldwide network focused on the intersection between women’s rights, gender equality and climate justice. Composed of global activists, specialists and organizations, GenderCC is marking a strong presence at the annual international climate negotiations where women leaders are putting issues of gender onto the negotiating table. Showing how the causes of and attitudes to climate change vary according to gender and amplifying how women are disproportionately affected by global warming and climate policies, GenderCC is spreading the the message that climate justice means gender justice. Photo credit: GenderCC

1 01, 2017

Here Are The Women (2017): Vikatoria Tuivanualevu

2017-11-07T11:41:24-05:00Tags: |

Vikatoria Tuivanualevu, President of the Naweni Women’s Group, speaks out and claims women’s participation and representation in leadership positions from the community to the national level. She is also part of the Savusavu network on behalf of rural women in her community in Naweni Village and Soqosoqo Vakamarama Taukei for the Cakaudrove province. Tuivanualevu shares her experiences after Tropical Cyclone Winston with Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, Executive Producer-Director of femLINKpacific, an organization that tries to fill the gap in access to information in affected communities. She tells how her community is still struggling a year later to recover from the disaster; they appreciate the Women’s Weather Watch project, which helps inform them about weather and climate change, enabling better preparation when facing other disasters. Tuivanualevu believes women are essential for dealing with climate change disasters and building resilience; she argues how important it is to include their voices in decision-making processes. Photo credit: femLINKpacific

1 01, 2017

Here Are The Women (2017): Eta Tuvuki

2017-11-07T11:35:01-05:00Tags: |

Eta Tuvuki is a community leader and member of Soqosoqo Vakamarama, Buretu Women’s Club and femLINKpacific’s rural network of women leaders since 2012, in Rakiraki, Fiji. She speaks out about the lack of access to clean water since Tropical Cyclone Winston hit her country one year ago, and how this impacts the community's food security as well. Droughts, heavy rains and floodings are weather patterns that deeply affect the water and result in further issues for food sovereignty in her area. Access, ownership and tenure of land are another big problem, especially for women, the main providers of food for their families. Tuvuki shares the hardships she and others in her community face now; she calls for government action and women’s presence and input in much-needed solutions. Photo credit: femLINKpacific

1 01, 2017

Sarain Fox And Michelle Latimer On Their VICE Series, RISE, Telling Indigenous Stories

2017-11-01T03:57:41-04:00Tags: |

Host Sarain Fox (Anishinabe Canadian) and Director Michelle Latimer (Algonquin and Métis) are two Indigenous women leaders behind the Vice News series ‘RISE’, which follows Indigenous communities around the world in their quests for environmental justice and respect for their rights and lives. In this interview, both women discuss their experiences capturing these vital stories, and what it means to them to be an Indigenous woman storyteller at a moment of great conflict, change and hope. Photo credit: Sundance Institute

1 01, 2017

As Climate Change Threatens To Strain Resources, Women Are Increasingly Re-evaluating Reproductive Decisions

2017-11-01T01:30:15-04:00Tags: |

Sara Kelly writes about how women are rethinking having children because of the environment, and how this is a controversial topic. According to Mother Jones, a child in Ethiopia produces 221 pounds of CO2 yearly, significantly less than an American one, at 45,000 pounds yearly. Josephine Ferorelli and Meghan Kallman, co-founders of the organization Conceivable Future, a network for parents and non-parents, created the forum to discuss this complex dilemma.

21 12, 2016

María María Acha-Kutscher, Feminist Visual Artist

2017-09-04T12:42:09-04:00Tags: |

Histories of women, including global histories of women’s knowledge of and connection to the land, are often rendered invisible in Western patriarchal narratives. Peruvian feminist and visual artist María Acha-Kutscher is fighting the erasure of women in history by drawing women who are at the forefront of resisting rape culture, racism and gender-based violence into a visible media platform. Her vibrant digital drawings portray a diversity of global women activists that span international social and political movements. Acha-Kutscher is depicting land defenders such as Melania Chiponda in her #DefendHer campaign and is focusing on visually amplifying Indigenous women’s portraits, including Zapatista movement women Commanders Esther and Ramona, and Macedonia Blas Flores, coordinator of “Fot’zi Ňaňho AC” (Help the Ňaňho). Photo credit: María María Acha-Kutscher

21 12, 2016

Building Resilience To Climate Change Through Girls’ Education

2023-03-19T07:57:01-04:00Tags: |

Ellen Chigwanda, Project Manager for CARE International Zimbabwe and 2016 Echidna Global Scholar discusses her research on climate change impacts on girls’ education in Zimbabwe. She describes the ways in which educational outcomes for local girls are threatened by severe climate change such as drought which is increasingly causing ripple effects related to food insecurity, water scarcity, and family livelihood issues. Chigwanda stresses the importance of building climate resilience through school infrastructure including sustainable water solutions that allow mutual benefits experienced by the school, students, and local community. 

15 12, 2016

Bougainville Artist Taloi Havini Discusses The Blood Generation Of The Mining Crisis

2017-09-04T12:06:28-04:00Tags: |

In this video, artist Taloi Havini from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea speaks about growing up in Bougainville during the 1988-1998 conflict between Papua New Guinea and Bougainville. She explains how the war was triggered by outside interest in copper mining, and tells stories about how the women of Bougainville engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience to protect their traditional, matrilineal lands from mining. Her artwork explores the ongoing repercussions, human and environmental, of the conflict. Photo credit: Taloi Havini

6 12, 2016

Every Climate Protection Is In Trump’s Crosshairs. We Must Fight Now

2017-12-06T14:52:26-05:00Tags: |

Annie Leonard, Bay Area, California mom and author of the film and book The Story of Stuff, shares a call to action following the United States election of Donald Trump. Citing threats to environment and democracy, and dangerous increases in racist and abusive rhetoric and policy, Annie speaks up for fellow activists and concerned people to organize and take action on a national and electoray level, and in their home communities and daily lives.  Photo credit: Mike Nelson/EPA

1 12, 2016

Janine Benyus: Biomimicry As A Cooperative Inquiry

2017-10-27T21:19:05-04:00Tags: |

Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry, speaks at the 2016 National Bioneers Conference, with an introduction by Paul Hawken. Benyus presents biomimicry and how nature-inspired breakthroughs in agriculture are becoming part of a system-savvy healing. She also introduces a few of the entries of the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge. Photo credit: Bioneers

1 12, 2016

Naomi Klein: We Are Hitting The Wall Of Maximum Grabbing

2017-11-01T01:09:02-04:00Tags: |

Naomi Klein gave a powerful speech at the Sydney Peace Prize event after Donald Trump’s presidential victory. In her talk, she addresses the power of hate and of blaming “the others,” especially in times of economic crisis, how economic pain is very real, and how failed leaders are seen as the responsible for that. Klein urges all of us to fight racism and misogyny and explores themes such as climate justice, coal mines, Australian history and world politics. Photo credit: Reuters/Ivan Alvarado

28 11, 2016

5 Alarming Ways That Climate Change is Racist

2017-11-01T23:23:43-04:00Tags: |

Devi Lockwood, a woman activist, explains why environmental racism is considered as a form of violence against communities of color. In this article, she explores several different concepts of environmental and social justice and she calls us to recognize the interconnectivity between oppressions of race, gender, and environmental injustice. Photo credit: Everyday Feminism

25 11, 2016

Meet Canada’s Accidental Activist

2017-07-16T13:37:15-04:00Tags: |

Helen Knott is Dane Zaa and Nehiyawak from the Prophet River First Nation in British Colombia, and a budding poet. Her piece Your Eyes They Curve Around Me draws attention to her people’s traditional relationship with the land and water, as well as experiences of colonization and violence against women. She now travels across Canada to speak in major cities about the climate justice and elimination of resource extraction, as well as Indigenous land rights. Photo credit: Nobelwomen

9 11, 2016

What Do Corals And Crochet Have In Common? More Than You Think

2017-10-28T13:35:07-04:00Tags: |

The Institute for Figuring is an organization that makes use of art to tackle science education, and it was founded by twin sisters Margaret and Christine Wertheim from Queensland, Australia. The Wertheim sister started a project called Crochet Coral Reef, in which they stitched their own woolen reef ecosystem, having been exhibited all over Europe and in the United States. Photo credit: Jenna Bascom/Courtesy of the Museum of Arts and Design

8 11, 2016

I Survived The Strongest Typhoon To Ever Hit The Philippines. But My Family Didn’t.

2023-03-19T08:03:52-04:00Tags: |

Joanna Sustento is a climate justice advocate who courageously shares her tragic personal experience in the aftermath of Haiyan, the strongest typhoon recorded in history which devastated her home in Tacloban City, Philippines in 2013. Three years after the onslaught of typhoon Haiyan, she reflects on the grief and trauma at the loss of her immediate family members during this unprecedented catastrophe. Sustento challenges the world to emphasize the real human costs of climate change and stresses the need for climate issues to be deeply humanized in order to be taken seriously. She refuses to be a victim of climate change and is striving to create a future where tragedies like the one her family suffered are not repeated. Photo credit: Joanna Sustento/Greenpeace 

5 11, 2016

Selina Leem Doesn’t Want To Lose Her Country To Climate Change

2017-10-19T23:21:33-04:00Tags: |

Selina Leem comes from the Marshall Islands, a small island nation of approximately 50,000 inhabitants that is one the most vulnerable to climate change. As a young woman now studying in Freiburg, Germany, Selina has taken it upon herself to use her voice to speak out about the devastating impacts of the rising seas that her people are facing and the urgency for concrete climate action. Photo credit: HuffPost

1 11, 2016

Climbing PoeTree: Creativity Is The Antidote To Destruction

2017-10-27T20:02:43-04:00Tags: |

Alixa Garcia and Naima Penniman, spoken word artists and activists of the group Climbing PoeTree, take the stage at the 2016 Bioneers Conference. In their performance, they discuss the intersection of oppressions of state violence, displacement and climate crisis—and how performance, music, and other forms of expression and art can serve as tools for collective liberation, as well as understanding and addressing social and ecological injustice. Photo credit: Bioneers

1 11, 2016

2016 Goldman Prize Recipient Destiny Watford Protects Communities From Pollution

2017-11-01T18:06:34-04:00Tags: |

When a plan to build the nation's largest trash incineration just a mile away from her high school was proposed, Destiny Watford sprung into action. Watford co-founded the student organization Free Your Voice, which helped organize young people from the community of Curtis Bay in Baltimore, Maryland to halt the construction of the site. Watford was honored by the Goldman Environmental Prize for her efforts. Photo credit: The Goldman Environmental Prize

1 11, 2016

Dr. Cara Augustenborg Lifts Up Women’s Voices

2017-09-04T12:56:28-04:00Tags: |

Dr. Cara Augustenborg is an environmental scientist, and climate lecturer who is contributing to breaking the sound wall that is blocking women’s voices on environmentalism and climate justice in the media. From the United Nations climate negotiations where women make up less than 30% of delegation members and less than 20% of delegation heads, to blockbuster documentaries like Leonardo’s DiCaprio’s documentary, Before the Flood, where only 3 of the 28 people interviewed were women, women are being put on mute in climate related media. In addition, it’s been shown that only 15% of climate media interviews are composed of women. However, as Augustenborg argues, women are also pivotal to providing solutions to the climate crisis and their voices are invaluable. Photo credit: Pete Saloutos via Getty Images

1 11, 2016

Women Make Their Mark In The Environmental Sciences

2017-11-01T01:43:15-04:00Tags: |

In this video we meet women of Western North Carolina, US standing for the Earth and their communities. Sheryl Bryan, is fisheries and wildlife biologist in North Carolina, has enormous love for ecology and is one of few women working in this male-dominated field. She explains that the conversion rate of women from ecology studies to full-time jobs is very poor. Katie Hicks, associate director at nonprofit Clean Water, encourages the local community to fight for their fundamental environmental rights. Judy Mattox, executive committee chair of WENOCA Sierra Club, speaks on her extensive work shutting down coal plants and trying to prevent a peaking gas power plant. We also hear from Melissa Williams, Senior Press Secretary for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, and Dayna Reggero, an environmental filmmaker working on project called “The Climate Listening Project.” Photo credit: Citizen Times

1 11, 2016

How Do You Decide To Have A Baby When Climate Change Is Remaking Life On Earth

2017-11-01T01:25:06-04:00Tags: |

Madeline Ostrander, an environmentalist journalist, ponders having children in a world with climate change. Elaborating on Paul and Anne Ehrlich’s theory about how the population boom and lack of resources would have terrible consequences for the world, she writes about the struggles that people such as herself, aware of the world’s reality, face when dealing with this personal, though with common, choice. She also writes about Meghan Kallman and Josephine Ferorelli, and their project Conceivable Future, through which they want to open a place for compassionate discussion regarding bearing kids in an era of climate change. Photo credit: Karl-Raphael Blanchard

1 11, 2016

Cynthia Malone Pushes For Inclusivity In STEM Fields

2017-11-01T00:54:21-04:00Tags: |

Cynthia Malone is a conservation scientist and a current PhD student at the University of Toronto. During the Black Lives Matter movement, Malone got involved and worked with the Black Youth Project 100, an organization, whose approach to racial justice employs direct action and educational tools. She also co-founded the Diversity Committee at the Society for Conservation Biology, and her objective is to have more diversity in the scientific field. In order to achieve that, she also leads a network of scientists and activist of color from her field. Photo credit: Grist!

1 11, 2016

Dr.Vandana Shiva On The Importance Of Women Eco-Warriors

2017-11-01T00:34:12-04:00Tags: |

Dr. Vandana Shiva is a world renowned eco-feminist, intellectual and champion of food sovereignty for millions of small-holder, peasant and Indigenous farmers, most of them women from across the world. While women have long been experts and custodians of knowledge about our ecosystems, colonization and patriarchy have worked to both commodify this knowledge and women’s life-sustaining work. Drawing from decades within movements such as the historic Chipko movement in the central Himalayan region, Vandana’s writes about how there is no ecological justice without gender justice.

30 10, 2016

We Want New Songs: Building A Movement To Dismantle Corporate Power

2018-03-01T12:23:42-05:00Tags: |

The very first Permanent People’s Tribunal was held in 2016 in South Africa, in Swaziland to be precise, and drew over 200 activists from the region to speak about corporate impunity. In a region that is home to some of the worst cases of ecocide and human rights violations from mining companies, the tribunal was a space for solidarity and truth-telling for WoMin alliance affiliated sisters from Somkhele and Fuleni communities in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa to talk about their challenges with coal mining and the resistance they were mounting against these abuses. Photo credit: Stop Corporate Impunity

28 10, 2016

Osprey Orielle Lake: Awakening Resolve For Sustainability Solutions

2017-10-27T20:11:30-04:00Tags: |

Speaking in advance of the United Nations COP21 climate change talks in Paris, France, Osprey Orielle Lake, Cofounder and Executive Director of the Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network (WECAN) International, speaks with the Restorative Leadership Institute about why women’s leadership is critical at this moment of global climate crisis. Photo credit: WECAN

26 10, 2016

Reimagining Native America: Matika Wilburs “Project 562”

2017-10-26T16:40:35-04:00Tags: |

Matika Wilburs of the Swinomish and Tulalip Tribe is taking action as an Indigenous woman photographer and educator to help tell the stories of  Indigenous peoples from every federally recognized tribal nation in the United States. She hopes to humanize Native peoples through her diverse portraits, and through this work combat discrimination and continued rights violations. Photo credit: Cultural Survival

25 10, 2016

Roots Of Change: Food Sovereignty, Women And Eco-Justice

2017-08-18T18:41:21-04:00Tags: |

Roots of Change is a powerful short film that explores the various challenges women farmers around the world face in their daily lives, from climate change to water privatization and land grabbing. The film highlights the positive impacts of simple solutions, like educating women and girls, while addressing the global inequalities in power and wealth that undergird our interlinked social and planetary crises. Photo credit: Temple of Understanding

3 10, 2016

Latai Taumoepeau Uses Theater To Put Climate Change In The Spotlight

2017-10-14T15:49:06-04:00Tags: |

The best way to make people understand climate change, says performer-activist Latai Taumoepeau, is not to use maps, charts and diagrams, but rather the human body. Taumoepeau is one of three performers exploring climate change in the Pacific region in Disaffected, a multi-disciplinary theatre work premiering at the Blacktown Arts Centre in Sydney. The work explores experiences of displacement, devastation and rebuilding at the hands of natural disasters that communities in the Pacific live as a daily reality. Photo credit: Katy Green Loughrey

28 09, 2016

Farmers In West Africa Adapt To Climate Change Through Singing And Dancing

2017-07-12T21:15:28-04:00Tags: |

The Kanyeleng women of Senegal and the Gambia are using song and dance to communicate urgent information about climate change adaptation. Their songs educate listeners about how to prepare for natural disasters and spread information about drought-resistant farming methods, composting and seed storage. Photo credit: Jane Hahn/ActionAid

22 09, 2016

Murrawah Johnson: A Vibrant And Dynamic Climate Activist

2018-03-01T12:24:06-05:00Tags: |

When Adani Group announced plans to dig Australia’s largest coal mine ever, the open-pit Carmichael Mine, the mining consortium underestimated the power of the Wangan and Jagalingou Family Council and People who are the traditional owners of the land for 60,000 years. Murrawah Johnson and her uncle Adrian Burragubba embarked on an 18-day world tour to meet with the international banks funding the mine to convince them to back out. As a result of their efforts, fifteen of the world’s top 20 fossil fuel investors pulled support for the mine. Murrawah Johnson has been characterised as one of the most dynamic climate activists as she is always on the front line of holding back the largest proposed coal mine in the world. Photo credit: grist 50!

9 09, 2016

The Fires We Light

2017-10-27T20:28:33-04:00Tags: |

Maureen Kademaunga, from Zimbabwe, writes a poetic article about collective female power, using the element of fire to illustrate the struggle of women from Southern Africa. The fire represents the cooking fires the women make to feed their children and the fire that keeps them warm while working, as pointed out by Kademaunga. These women do not represent hatred or protests against the government, as has been implied. Photo credit: JASS

1 09, 2016

Women Of Color Speak Out On Break Free Pacific Northwest And Allyship For Climate Justice

2017-11-01T22:59:05-04:00Tags: |

Four members of ‘Women Of Color Speak Out’ discuss lessons they are learning in their collective work in movements for fossil fuel divestment, environmental justice, and decolonization. They share some of the challenges they are facing as diverse women of color working within an environmental world that too often remains controlled by white leaders and voices; reflect on some of the ways they are taking action to make climate spaces just and useful for POC and most impacted communities; and provide thoughts on what real white allyship looks like. Photo credit: Women Of Color Speak Out

1 09, 2016

Women Of Faith Working For Climate Justice

2017-11-01T03:03:06-04:00Tags: |

Increasingly women of faith are not only accepting the science of climate change, but are also working for justice for the primary victims of its impacts. This narrative shift can be accredited to the work of activists like Keya Chatterjee (Executive Director, U.S. Climate Action Network), Shantha Ready Alonson (Executive Director, Climate Justice Ministries), and Alaura Carter (Climate Justice Associate, Sojourners). In this video, the women tell stories about how they’re utilizing their faith to bring more people to the movement and working for climate justice. Photo credit: Sojourners

29 08, 2016

I Am River

2017-10-29T00:01:50-04:00Tags: |

This blog by 2016 EarthRights School Mekong student, Lily, tells the story of Nu River from it's own perspective. The source of this vital river  is located in the Tibetan Tanggula Mountains and it extends to Myanmar, Burma and Thailand. Many people pass through it  or live in its coasts. For instance, the Karen are Indigenous peoples and have lived in Nu River for hundreds of years. However, humans use it to take green electricity which is harmful for its health. People do not realize that by harming the River, they will lose their land and their life. The River does not ask humans to protect it, but to think about their lives if Nature is destroyed. Photo credit: EarthRights International

24 08, 2016

Glass Marbles And Mutual Inspiration

2017-10-08T23:12:23-04:00Tags: |

In this post on poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner’s website, Kathy writes about the Jo-Jikum Climate Change Arts Camp, organized by the NGO Jo-Jikum and targeted for high school students. The camp focused on climate change issues as inspiration for the artwork to be done during the week. The post shows two murals that were in the Performance and Art Showcase at the end of the Climate Change Arts Camp. Talks about Westernization at the camp inspired Kathy to write a poem called "Glass Marbles." Photo credit: Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

28 07, 2016

Mumta Ito At TEDxFindhorn: Rights Of Nature

2017-10-28T23:48:14-04:00Tags: |

Mumta Ito, founder of the International Centre for Wholistic Law and Rights of Nature Europe, points out that modern environmental laws are designed around an economic paradigm which legitimizes the destruction of Nature. Our legal system operates within paradigms which are anthropocentric believing that Nature exists to serve human needs. In addition, modern legal frameworks are designed to support economic growth without challenging the cause of the problem which is the economic system itself. She suggests moving towards a holistic system of law that puts our existence in this planet within its ecological context. Even though humans have the right to life, Nature which provides all the materials for our lives has no such rights. By enshrining Rights of Nature in law, we protect the Earth that we all need for our very existence. Photo credit: TedxTalks

26 06, 2016

Hit Hard By Climate Change, Women In The Sundarbans Turn To Photography

2017-09-04T12:17:03-04:00Tags: , |

A group of 80 rural Bangladeshi women have taken up photography to illustrate the burdens of climate change on their communities in their remote coastal forested home of Sundarbans. Their photographs show vibrant colors, starkly contrasted with dangerous narratives of potable water shortages, malnutrition, and lack of healthcare, hygiene and sanitation resources. Through their photography, these women have exposed daily realities, and their work raising awareness of the catastrophic effects that climate change is having on their home. Their photographs are also being used to improve infrastructure and amenities in negotiation processes with authorities. Photo credit: Koan Collaboration

5 06, 2016

Grassroots Communities’ Conservation Practices In Kenya Receive Award On World Environment Day

2017-09-13T11:05:40-04:00Tags: |

For the 2016 World Environmental Day, the Global Forest Coalition and the Indigenous Environment Network recognized Indigenous women's groups and primary schools in Nairobi, Kenya, for their work on the conservation of biodiversity and climate change adaptation. Among the awardees was the Engongu Entim women's group and two primary schools from Kenya, Narosura and Ereteti. Both institutions worked on planting different species of trees in Narok County, Kenya, where the famous Maasai Mara National Park is located. The work of the primary schools and the Engongu Entim women's group goes beyond local conservation, tackling the issue of environmental education and awareness for young people, with future plans to engage more female organizations in their efforts.  Photo credit: Isis Alvarez

1 06, 2016

Ecologist Suzanne Simard On How Trees Talk to Each Other

2023-03-19T08:12:12-04:00Tags: |

In this video, ecologist Suzanne Simard discusses the complex yet resilient systems that make up Earth’s diverse forests. Simard grew up in the forests of British Columbia, Canada, where she became enthralled with the old-growth trees which led her to become a forestry scientist. She soon realized her work in forestry was benefitting the unsustainable forest harvesting industry in Canada and conflicted with her values. She returned to school and authored groundbreaking research that proved there is a below-ground communications network between different species of trees that strengthens resilience to climate change and other disturbances. This network is a cooperative language shared between the trees rather than a competitive force as some scientists previously stated. Simard aims to spread this knowledge far and wide in order to change the unsustainable forestry practices in Canada and across the globe by advocating for protection of old-growth forests, diversity of species, and local-led forest protection. 

28 05, 2016

Climate Change Is A Racist Crisis: That’s Why Black Lives Matter Closed An Airport

2017-10-28T22:39:03-04:00Tags: |

Alexandra Wanjiku Kelbert, a woman activist, analyses why the climate crisis is a racist crisis. Climate change may not only affect people of color but the communities in the global south are mostly affected of the impacts of climate change. Additionally, in order to fight the crisis, there is a need for white people to engage in a society that privileges them through racism and anti-black racism. Photo credit: The Guardian

27 05, 2016

Mary Louise Malig: In The Aftermath Of Paris Agreement, Nature And Humanity Lose

2017-10-27T12:17:58-04:00Tags: |

In this article, Mary Louise Malig, Campaigns Coordinator with the Global Forest Coalition, draws attention to how the Paris climate agreement fails to create an effective mechanism to ensure the drastically-needed reduction of carbon emissions. She highlights how Article 5 speaks about conserving forests specifically through result-based payments. Unfortunately, this article is not in sync with SDG 15. She argues that the real progress towards implementing the Paris agreement will be made in grassroots and Indigenous movements. Photo credit: Global Forest Coalition

26 05, 2016

Daughter Of Exxon Scientists Confronts CEO Over Oil Giant’s Decision To Fund Climate Lies

2017-07-17T21:59:22-04:00Tags: |

At the annual meeting of ExxonMobil, shareholders rejected a number of resolution calling for climate action. Anna Kalinsky, granddaughter of a former Exxon scientist who warned of the realities of climate change, questions the Exxon CEO over the company's track record. Photo credit: www.havanatimes.org  

18 05, 2016

First Nations Women Sing Watersong At Town Hall Event Against Energy East Project

2017-07-12T19:56:35-04:00Tags: |

Women from the Nipissing and North Bay First Nations are singing Water Songs to raise awareness about the TransCanada Corporation’s proposed Energy East pipeline project, which would dangerously convert old pipelines to transport new oil sands and threaten watersheds along its route from Alberta to New Brunswick. Photo credit: Anishinabek News

9 05, 2016

Making Art Out Of Environmental Injustice

2017-09-05T23:03:52-04:00Tags: |

Ebony Stewart is a trailblazing spoken word artist who addresses environmental justice in John Fiege’s new film In the Air. At the heart of the film lies the fossil fuel industry’s disproportionately negative effects on people of color and poor communities in the Gulf Coast of America. Her poetry illuminates the lived realities of growing up in an extraction region. Plot lines and stories are told exclusively through artist performances including dance, visual art, music and spoken word. Photo credit: John Fiege

1 05, 2016

Revolutionary Mothering: Mothers Are Not The Ones Destroying The Earth

2017-10-27T19:55:20-04:00Tags: |

Guests including China Martens, Mai’a Williams, Victoria Law, and Cynthia Dewi Oka explore “revolutionary mothering” on the Laura Flanders show. Mai'a Williams, poet and former journalist for teleSUR English, speaks regarding the important role of mothers in standing up on the frontlines to combat environmental violence and create community systems for the health of all. Photo credit: Laura Flanders Show

24 04, 2016

How One Woman Is Helping Climate Refugees Face The Realities Of Relocation

2017-10-31T20:33:15-04:00Tags: |

Dr. Robin Bronen is an international expert in the forced migrations of people. Her research explores the permanent disappearance of land due to climate change, and the impacts of warming on populations and migration.  Using her experience as an immigration attorney and her knowledge of the law, Bronen developed a legal “relocation” framework for people and countries facing climate-induced displacement to advocate for the rights of those impacted by “climigration,” now a term in the climate change lexicon.

21 04, 2016

Health and Climate Change: What Is At Stake, What Can Be Done? 2016 Training Recap

2017-07-17T21:59:57-04:00Tags: |

The Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network hosted a webinar training on the connections between health and climate change. Four outstanding women leaders - Dr. Sylvia Hood Washington, Cherri Foytlin, Pramila Malick, and Perry Sheffield - discussed their efforts fighting for environmental justice and the latest science on climate change and health impacts. Photo credit: Emily Arasim, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network

15 04, 2016

Q & A With Maatalii Okalik Of The National Inuit Youth Council

2018-02-15T13:07:32-05:00Tags: |

As the president of the National Inuit Youth Council, Maatalii Okalik is a voice for young Inuit people. She has advocated for Inuit perspectives at the United Nations COP21 climate conference in 2015, and in April 2016 she won the Outstanding Young Woman Award from Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council for her strong leadership. Here she shares her take on Inuit culture, highlights the importance of the strong female role models in her life, and some of the challenges facing Inuit women due to climate change. Photo Credit: Jessica Finn/Canadian Geographic

26 03, 2016

Out Front: Women Speak Up At The First Central American Indigenous Community Radio Conference

2017-10-26T22:32:07-04:00Tags: |

At the First Central American Indigenous Community Radio Conference, indigenous community broadcasters gathered to share how they have amplified their voices through community radio and how they aim to fight for women’s right to freedom of expression. As rural and Indigenous women, much of the material they cover as broadcasters has naturally come to include regional land and water protection. Photo credit: Glenda Lopez

25 03, 2016

On Birthing New Life, And Fresh Possibilities

2017-10-08T23:10:42-04:00Tags: |

This post on poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner’s website is a reflection on the International Women’s Day in the Marshall Islands, in which she looks for a connection between gender and the nuclear legacy, in light of the Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day on March 1st. The the detonation of 67 nuclear weapons from 1946 and 1968 in the Marshall Islands has had lasting impacts. Jetnil-Kijiner analyzes how women are impacted by climate change, citing two women that have had their lives change due to sea level rise in the Island, and the leadership role they played in adapting to these disasters. Finally, she shares a poem about her cousin who lost her house after it was destroyed by strong tides; a celebration of the resilience of the women at the Marshall Islands. Photo credit: WECAN International

25 03, 2016

Fishbone Hair

2017-10-08T23:03:12-04:00Tags: |

This is a poem by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner called "Fishbone Hair," written in honor of her niece Bianca Lanki, who died at only eight years old from leukemia. It is a reference to the many people from the Marshall Islands who get cancer as a result of nuclear testing programs by the United States in their islands. The video of the poem was produced in partnership with Dan Lin and Corrin Barros from Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, and the College of the Marshall Islands Media Club. Photo credit: Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

11 03, 2016

Women Act For Climate Justice: 10 Days Of Global Mobilization

2017-10-31T23:48:28-04:00Tags: |

The Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network (WECAN) International is supporting grassroots advocates to safeguard the rights of women and Indigenous communities in the face of climate change. In 2016, WECAN kicked off 10 days of global mobilization to highlight the environmental challenges affecting girls and women and called for communities to shift the equation. Women shared their photos and statements, and participated in educational events and projects, protests, and marches. Photo credit: WECAN

7 03, 2016

International Women’s Day: The Stories I Will Tell My Daughter

2017-11-09T19:34:15-05:00Tags: |

Jen Maman is the Senior Peace Advisor for Greenpeace International; she writes this sensitive article about stories she wants to tell her daughter. These stories include painful, awful and shocking stories about gender inequality and how women and girls face many hardships of all kinds throughout their lives. But besides those stories, meant to prepare her child for the future and the world we live in, there are also stories about amazing women and girls fighting and pushing to change these situations worldwide and to bring about change, environmental justice and hope. Maman is proud to have two women leaders at the front of Greenpeace, for the first time, and this is just the beginning. Photo credit: Greenpeace

1 03, 2016

Environmental Racism: A Letter From New Mexico To Flint

2017-10-08T22:59:59-04:00Tags: |

This is an op-ed by Beata Tsosie-Pena, the environmental justice organizer of Tewa Women United in New Mexico. It is a letter addressed to the families of Flint, United States, who have suffered due to the water crisis in their region. Beata tells them about the struggles of native communities in New Mexico with water after the Animas River and the San Juan River were contaminated with toxic waste. She explains how crucial water is for the emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental health of the native communities of New Mexico, only to highlight the issue of environmental racism against these communities, seen as "collateral damage" for companies. Photo credit: WECAN International

1 03, 2016

Young Girls Learn About Gender Justice And Environmental Stewardship

2017-11-01T01:03:37-04:00Tags: |

Mary McLeod Bethune had advocated for civil rights for African Americans her entire life and led multiple initiatives for education. For example, she spearheaded a partnership between the Sierra Club and the National Park Trust to host an event for the Washington School for Girls in Anacostia, composed of mainly African Americans, called Every Kid in a Park. The idea is for everyone to have access to their public and free park as a way to put youth more in contact with nature and help educate the next generation of environmental leaders. Kirin Kennedy and Margaret Mills spoke to the students and explained how anyone can be an environmental steward and how gender equality is essential. Photo credit: Sierra Club

26 02, 2016

Wikwemikong’s Josephine Mandamin Honoured For Conservation Excellence

2017-07-17T15:23:05-04:00Tags: |

Josephine Mandamin, a Canadian First Nation elder of the Wikwemikong people, has spent years taking action to protect her Native culture while building awareness about the detrimental impacts of pollution, fracking and water privatization. Since 2003, she has been a leader of the Sacred Water Walks, walking the shorelines of the Great Lakes to raise awareness about the impact of oil pollution on water. Photo credit: Edge of Change, Yes magazine

24 02, 2016

Artist Néle Azeved’s Temporary Ice Sculptures Portray Impermanence

2023-03-19T08:06:35-04:00Tags: |

In this article, journalist Carolyn Beeler features Brazilian artist Néle Azeved from São Paulo. Azeved is famous for her large sculptures that are typically displayed publicly in cities across the world, most of which are figures made from ice that slowly melts away. Although her original pieces weren’t intended to portray themes surrounding the climate crisis, they were meant to highlight the impermanence of life and the collective anonymity this brings to the human experience. She hopes that her art will inspire people to lead better lives as they reflect on the fragility and temporary nature of all things on this planet. Photo credit: Anne Bailey/The World.

22 02, 2016

Handle With Care

2017-10-28T13:49:11-04:00Tags: |

Artist Courtney Mattison handmakes porcelain coral reefs to raise awareness to the precarious situation of coral reefs in the ocean through art. She has displayed her installation, a show called Sea Change, at the Virginia Museum Of Contemporary Art and at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Photo credit: Artur Evans/Courtney Mattison

27 01, 2016

The Environmental Educator: Emily Graslie

2017-10-27T02:51:11-04:00Tags: |

Through her work as the Chief Curiosity Correspondent at the Field Museum, Emily Graslie is known as the science educator for millennials.  Her reputation as a science and nature expert has given her the opportunity to speak directly with the Chief of the Environmental Protection Agency. Emily’s work focuses on having communities understand the broader effects of climate change. Photo credit: Tom McNamara

23 01, 2016

The Butterfly Effect

2018-01-23T17:13:38-05:00Tags: |

Nancy Hill, a writer and photographer living in Portland, Oregon, writes about the importance of new initiatives to engage prisoners and inmates at correctional facilities in opportunity to re-gain a dignified and purposeful life through working as part of programs cultivating plant species needed for restoration efforts. Photo credit: Nancy Hill

1 01, 2016

Nicky Phear’s Innovative Climate Change Curriculum

2017-09-28T17:30:51-04:00Tags: |

Nicky Phear was central to the establishment of the Climate Change Studies program at the University of Montana, the first undergraduate program of its kind in the United States. Through the program, students are encouraged to develop clean energy solutions and advocate for sustainability. Phear designed unique classes that make the program stand out, such as the Cycle the Rockies course, in which students learn about clean energy and climate change while cycling through Montana. Nicolette also developed a similar initiative in Bhutan. Photo credit: Clean Energy Education & Empowerment Awards

1 01, 2016

Nine Women Receive Clean Energy Education And Empowerment Awards

2017-09-28T17:25:59-04:00Tags: |

The fifth Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Women in Clean Energy Symposium granted awards to nine women active in the field of renewable energy who have demonstrated exceptional leadership. The C3E began as a commitment made by the United States at the Clean Energy Ministerial, a forum of 24 major-economy governments, to close the gender gap and stimulate women leaders within clean energy. The award is divided by categories, such as entrepreneurship, advocacy, business and research. Meet nine women who are at the forefront of renewable energy solutions. Photo credit: Clean Energy Education & Empowerment Awards

31 12, 2015

COP21 Insights: Climate Wise Women

2017-10-08T22:17:07-04:00Tags: |

Ursula Rakova, Thil and Constance are three Climate Wise Women who are devoting their work to spreading the word about the inseparable relationship between gender and climate. Here, they offer a personal and political account of their time at the COP21 climate talks in Paris. They remind us of how Indigenous women leaders and women-led communities are working on adaptation, gender and finance, defining a promising path forward. The article emphasizes the challenges of moving a gender agenda forward within the COP process and the feminist commitments made to overcoming those challenges. Photo credit: Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA)

17 12, 2015

Empowering Ugandan Girls As Environmental Change Agents

2017-10-08T22:36:43-04:00Tags: |

In Uganda and throughout the Global South, the toxic fumes that firewood stoves emit are resulting in respiratory diseases that take the lives of up to 4 million people a year. Since women are primarily responsible for cooking, they are most impacted. In addition, rainforests are being chopped down for firewood without any reforestations efforts. In response, the Girl Up Initiative Uganda is guiding a project that tackles this problem by providing clay cookstoves that are less harmful for women’s health and the environment. The project is also also providing women the possibility to earn an income through producing charcoal briquettes. Photo credit: GUIU

12 12, 2015

Vancouver Teen Ta’Kaiya Blaney’s Voice Captures The World’s Attention

2017-07-17T16:15:26-04:00Tags: |

14-year-old singer Ta’Kaiya Blaney has spoken at a United Nations panel in New York and sang at the Paris Climate Talks in 2015. Blaney, who is a Youth Ambassador for non-profit organization Native Children’s Survival and grew up in the Silammon First Nation, Vancouver, Canada, speaks out against the political silencing of her people and the impacts of fossil fuel extraction on Indigenous life. Photo credit: Daryl Dyke/The Globe and Mail

12 12, 2015

Women, Work and Climate Justice In The Philippines

2017-09-24T18:19:18-04:00Tags: |

This documentary, produced by the Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development (APWLD) and the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTHUR) as part of the Climate Justice Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR), focuses on poor women impacted by climate change in the urban area of Metro Manila, Philippines. These women tell their struggles due to results of climate change such as the Typhoon Ondoy in 2009 and constant heat waves. Another result is the increased vulnerability of Filipino women working in extremely low-paying jobs with no security regarding their future, while having to take care of their home and children. These women have been acting on the issues at hand by mobilizing their communities through a climate justice movement. Photo credit: APWLD

10 12, 2015

Samoan Poet Terisa Siagatonu Poem ‘Atlas’ For Fast For The Climate

2017-09-04T12:01:50-04:00Tags: |

Samoan-American poet Terisa Tinei Siagatonu presented this brilliant poem about the intersectionality between climate justice, identity and colonialism from at the COP21 climate talks. She is part of Spoken Word for the World, an arts-based collective aimed at centering Indigenous female voices in the fight against climate change. Photo credit: Fast for Climate

8 12, 2015

Terisa Siagatonu Brings Poetry To Paris

2017-09-04T11:57:16-04:00Tags: |

Samoan-American Terisa Siagatonu has brought her stunning poem “Layers” to Paris COP21 to communicate the connections between environmental racism, social justice and climate change. She is part of the Spoken Word for the World crew, an arts-based collective aimed at centering Indigenous female voices in the fight against climate change. Photo credit: New Internationalist

7 12, 2015

Nina Gualinga: We Were Born of the Land Lent to Us By Our Future Generations

2017-12-07T18:25:46-05:00Tags: |

Nina Gualinga, a young woman leader of the Kichwa Pueblo of Sarayaku, writes on her experience growing up deep within the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest, and the consciousness and responsibility she has developed to take action to ensure that her ancestors are honored, and that future generation's have the opportunities to enjoy the rich, diverse Earth that has shaped her own worldview and life. She speaks directly to Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa, calling him to see and act to respect the wishes of the country's Indigenous movement, which is ceaseless in its efforts to protect the land, waters, creatures, and their communities, customs and livelihoods. Photo credit: Amazon Watch

2 12, 2015

Shyla Raghav On The Hidden Impacts Of Climate Change On Island Nations

2017-10-31T23:46:51-04:00Tags: |

Policy Director at Conservation International and delegate from the Maldives Shyla Raghav explains how island states are particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels before the United Nations Climate Conference in Paris in 2015. Raghav, also a U.N. delegate for the Maldives at COP21, articulates how the Maldives is threatened by extreme catastrophic weather disasters due to climate change. Photo credit: Vice News (Video)

2 12, 2015

Run For Your Life: Collective Poem for COP21 by Isabella Borgeson, Enice Andrada, Terisa Siagatonu, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

2017-09-13T10:41:12-04:00Tags: |

The Spoken Word for the World competition winners teamed up with the Run for your Life project - climate performance and a relay from the Arctic to Paris. The four selected poets were Isabella Borgeson, Enice Andrada, Terisa Siagatonu and Kathy Jetnil Kijiner. They moved through the streets of Paris and recite a poem, empasizing Indigenous solidarity between women. Photo credit: Global Call for Climate Action

2 12, 2015

Women And Climate Change: The View From Bangladesh

2017-09-13T10:25:49-04:00Tags: , |

In this interview with Dr. Sharmind Neelormi, steering group member and the Asian coordinator of GenderCC, the Bangladeshi expert on climate justice expresses concern for the lack of attention given to poor women who are disproportionately vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In particular, she calls for more action by national governments who continue to neglect this vital issue.  Photo credit: Proggna Paromita Majumder

27 11, 2015

Shell Advert: “Renewables Are Unreliable, Like Women”

2020-12-02T19:58:00-05:00Tags: |

This humorous analysis illustrates not just the greenwashing inherent in Shell’s 2015 advert on natural gas, but also underlines the ways in which it heavily relies on antiquated gender stereotypes. It portrays renewable energies as unreliable and in dire need of a strong partner (enter natural gas). Not only is the portrayal of renewable energies as unreliable not up to date, the suggestion of natural gas as a “clean” alternative to other fossil fuels openly ignores its negative climate impacts. Photo Credit: Shell

18 11, 2015

Women Of Color Speak Out: Systems Of Oppression

2023-04-16T16:31:01-04:00Tags: |

Climate activist group ‘Women of Color Speak Out’ is changing the face of the white-dominated climate space by uplifting the voices of women of color through educating and informing their communities on the climate crisis. At the Ethiopian Community Center in Seattle, climate activists Sarra Tekola, Afrin Sopariwala, Zarna Joshi, and Yin Yu of the Women of Color Speak Out group speak on how racist systems of oppression have created and maintained our climate crisis. Women of Color Speak Out highlights the historical and current uneven impacts of capitalism, colonialism, and the prison industrial complex on the environment and people, as well as solutions for just system transitions. Emphasizing that marginalized communities have been/are bearing the brunt of violence from these oppressive systems both directly and indirectly through climate change, this educational presentation is rooted in truth telling and a call to action for local and global solidarity. 

14 11, 2015

The Growling Grannies Against Gas

2017-10-31T12:17:38-04:00Tags: |

The Northern Territory's Growling Grannies, a coalition of aboriginal elders and activists, are taking a stand against the Northern Territory government and fracking companies. They are taking a stand against the selling off their lands for risky shale gas fracking. In this video they call for a meeting with the NT government and the Northern Land Council to tell them that fracking harms the country, their water, and the health of future generations. Photo credit: Frack-Free NT

31 10, 2015

Women On The Land: Creating Conscious Community

2017-10-31T22:59:01-04:00Tags: |

The film "Women On The Land" via the Green Horns highlights the work of women in a North Californian coastal village over the past decades on their collective farming, feminist ecological practices and stewardship of natural resources. The film argues that the local food movement is crucial to addressing the challenges posed by economic and climate injustice. The women speak about how they published a magazine called "Country Women" to share their work as part of the back-to-the-land movement. Photo credit: MendocinoCoastFilms2

31 10, 2015

Expert Q&A With Katharine Hayhoe, Climate Scientist

2017-10-31T19:24:33-04:00Tags: |

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is a world-renown climate scientist who played a key part in writing the Third National Climate Assessment, a report which surveys the impacts of climate change in the United States. She spoke with Rachel's Network about the political challenge posed by climate change, the joys of motherhood, and how her faith informs her work. Photo credit: Rachel's Network

31 10, 2015

Climate And Environmental Justice

2017-11-01T00:52:34-04:00Tags: |

This video explores the leadership of women from the Pacific Island feminists to the Black Mesa Water Coalition in responding to the gendered and economic effects of climate justice. The video was produced as a collaboration between the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), the Association for Women in Development (AWID), the World March of Women, the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJA), DIVA for Equality, the Asia-Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) and the International Forum of Indigenous Women (FIMI). Photo credit: Women's Environment and Development Organization

30 10, 2015

Young Conservationist Amelia Telford Calls For Energy Revolution

2017-10-31T12:16:26-04:00Tags: |

Amelia Telford, a Bundjalung woman, began her personal journey with activism at a young age, when she began protesting the loss of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland. She founded the Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Action Network and has been named the Australian Geographic Society's Young Conservationist of the Year. With her confidence in the voices of Indigenous people and her drive to start an energy revolution, Amelia has been working to bring a message to the Australian government: use the sun and wind, not fossil fuels. Photo credit: James Brickwood

30 10, 2015

Confronting Women, Violence And Climate Change In Bolivia

2017-10-30T03:03:40-04:00Tags: |

The women of María Auxiliadora, outside of Cochabamba, Bolivia are demonstrating to the world what resilience looks like, from their efforts in climate change adaptation and ecological farming to their work to confront abuse, violence against women and patriarchy. In this piece we hear from Bolivian women’s activist Leny Olivera and photographer Carey Averbook, who spent several months documenting the women-led collective community. Photo credit: Carey Averbook

28 10, 2015

Rinku Sen Speaks: ‘Both/And/All: Environmentalism And Racial Justice’

2017-10-28T22:36:38-04:00Tags: |

Rinku Sen, a dynamic and influential social, racial and gender justice activists shares an inspiring speech at Bioneers Conference, calling all people to face and address our completely intertwined ecological and social justice crises. At the same time, we must learn how to do it without losing our minds, our friends or our fights. Photo credit: Bioneers

14 10, 2015

Seed Sovereignty, Food Security And Climate Resilience: Women In The Vanguard Of The Fight Against GMOs And Corporate Agriculture

2018-08-10T15:56:40-04:00Tags: |

In this talk, the world renowned scientist, philosopher, and eco-feminist, Vandana Shiva speaks about the danger biotechnology imposes on biodiversity. Alarmed by this threat, Shiva founded Navdanya, a movement to protect the diversity of living resources, most notably native seeds. She also argues about the need for a paradigm shift from industrial agriculture, greed, and domination over nature to non-violence and a women-centered worldview. She argues that the solution to climate change lies in respecting women and nature simultaneously. Photo Credit:  Seed Freedom

13 10, 2015

How A 14-year-old girl Is Making Quechua Cool In Peru — With Lyrics From Michael Jackson

2017-09-06T21:55:56-04:00Tags: |

14-year-old Peruvian Renata Flores Rivera is revitalizing the Inca language of Quechua, one of the oldest of 47 remaining Indigenous dialects in Peru, by remixing modern pop songs with Quechua lyrics. Although Quechua is the second most spoken language in the country, younger generations have overwhelming deserted the language calling it uncool and associating it with poverty. However, Rivera’s remixes have become an international Youtube sensation inspiring the young and old in Peru to proudly reflect on and embrace their Indigenous roots. Rivera has drastically transformed locals’ relation to the language creating a new wave of Indigenous awareness and dignity. Photo credit: PRI

5 10, 2015

Overcoming Fear: Women And Climate Change

2017-10-28T13:56:56-04:00Tags: |

Ronnie Citron-Fink, Editorial Director of Mom's Clean Air Force, writes about gender and climate change, an issue that has been in evidence through events such as Omega Institute's Women and Power conference. Citron-Fink analyses climate justice, gender vulnerability to climate disasters, and how it led to the creation of Mom's Clean Air Force, a way to get active about the topic through empathy and education. Photo credit: Ronnie Citron-Fink

5 10, 2015

Survival Becomes A Spiritual Practice

2017-09-04T12:49:28-04:00Tags: |

Author, activist and Dartmouth College professor Terry Tempest Williams writes about how our profound connections to land and nature come from the poetic crossing between physical motion and spiritual action. For Williams, this crossing exists when standing in “the vitality of the struggle,” a phrase she borrowed from Gertrude Stein. Williams is a woman who is standing tall within the thriving vitality of the climate struggle, by writing about and speaking out against the Book Cliffs Utah tar sands mining project, the oil shale development in the Colorado Plateau, and supporting the encampments of activists who are on the ground there. Williams’ work also pays important attention to the racism and historical displacement of Indigenous peoples that occurred to create national parks to protect wilderness. Photo credit: Terry Tempest Williams

2 10, 2015

African Women Uniting For Energy, Food And Climate Justice

2017-10-14T16:01:58-04:00Tags: |

In October 2015, the WomIn African Gender and Extractions Alliance brought together 60 women’s rights activists from across the African continent to discuss the meaning of energy, climate, food and ecological justice for African women. This report, published following the meeting in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, discusses the negative social and environmental impacts of fossil fuel extraction and the resulting effects of climate change on women, their livelihoods and their communities. Photo credit: za.beoll.org

1 10, 2015

Women Environmental Tacticians

2017-11-01T23:21:20-04:00Tags: |

Rabble podcasts hears from global women leaders Sandra Steingraber, biologist, leader of the We Are Seneca Lake movement, and anti-fracking advocate; Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director of Women's Earth & Climate Action Network; Sonia Guajajara, National Coordinator of Brazil's Association of Indigenous Peoples, Maranhão, Brazil; Casey Camp-Horinek, Ponca Nation elder and Indigenous Environmental Network representative; and Nina Gualinga, Kichwa youth leader from Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon - regarding the diverse manners they are standing for climate justice, from storytelling and science education, to petitions, blockading, marching, speaking out, and even putting their lives on the line. Photo credit: Rabble.ca

29 09, 2015

These Women Are Leading The Cause For Climate Action

2017-10-28T14:03:01-04:00Tags: |

1 Million Women highlights female leaders fighting against climate change, including Mary Robinson, United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Change and first women president of Ireland, Farhana Yamin, climate lawyer and activist for a net zero carbon world economy, Christiana Figueres, leader of the negotiations leading up to the Paris Agreement, Osprey Orielle Lake, founder of WECAN, among many other incredible women leaders. Photo credit: 1 Million Women

24 09, 2015

Indigenous Peoples Climate March With Ulali

2017-09-05T23:00:24-04:00Tags: |

Internationally-acclaimed female Indigenous acappella group Ulali is using song to educate about Native American issues and struggles while fighting for climate justice. At the 2014 People’s Climate March in New York, Soni (Mayan, Apache, Yaquil), Jennifer Kreisber (Tuscarora) and Pura Fe (Tuscarora/Taino) were among many women leaders educating through art as they marched, singing songs of action for Indigenous peoples and the Earth. Ulali’s songs include “Mother,” “Mother- Tribute to First Nations Women,” and “Forgive Our Father Suite.” The group has also contributed to the recording project “Honor the Earth.” Photo credit: Angelo Baca

24 09, 2015

Why Women Are Central To Climate Justice And Solutions

2017-10-27T20:05:41-04:00Tags: |

Executive Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, Osprey Orielle Lake, discusses why and how women are disproportionately impacted by climate change, as well as examples of how their agency, skill and knowledge is central to just and effective sustainability solutions, including in farming, water management and protection, and law and policy making.

24 09, 2015

DAWN Forum In Montevideo

2017-09-24T18:39:44-04:00Tags: |

The women-led organization DAWN (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era) hosted a conference to discuss the 2030 Agenda at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Montevideo, Uruguay, co-sponsored by the International Council of Adult Education (ICAE) and the Gender Commission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay. Feminists from all over the Global South attended the forum, including women from Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, India, China, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Fiji. Nicole Bidegain, from the DAWN Executive Committee, moderated the debate, which had among its speakers Claire Slatter, the Chair of DAWN's board, Gita Sen, General Coordinator for DAWN, and Senator Constanza Moreira. Photo credit: DAWN

11 09, 2015

Hebrew Priestess Sarah Shamirah Chandler on Judaism and the Environment

2017-10-08T22:31:19-04:00Tags: |

Female Jewish leader Sarah Shamirah Chandler pairs her faith-based practices with environmental education and activism. Chandler is part of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess movement, which taps into the sacred feminine in Judaism. Chandler brings nature and women together through Earth-based Jewish rituals for fertility, funerals, and marriages. She is also educating on Jewish traditions such as the Jewish calendar, which concentrates on caring for the earth through the agricultural cycle. Chandler is also Director of Earth-Based Spiritual Practice for Hazon’s Adamah Farm. Photo credit: Eco-Chick

8 09, 2015

Women On The Frontlines: An Untold Climate Story

2017-10-27T20:22:57-04:00Tags: |

This article on the Common Dreams website was written by Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International and Co-Chair of International Advocacy for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. Lake talks about the negative effects of climate change on women around the world, especially Indigenous women and women from developing countries, relating this issue to the problem of patriarchy and gender disparity worldwide. WECAN's founder also writes about the power women have in climate action and the influence women can have in decision-making, mentioning international environmental treaties and government participation. Photo credit: via Twitter @WECAN_INTL

3 09, 2015

If Climate Change Is A Human Story, Men Are Telling It

2017-09-04T12:12:28-04:00Tags: |

Even though women make up 70% of the world’s impoverished population and are disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, their voices are often left out of environmental reporting. This report found that in covering climate change, the media tends to neglect women and are more likely to quote men. Photo credit: The World Bank

1 09, 2015

From Ecuador To Nigeria – Women Speak For Climate Justice, Build Solutions

2017-11-01T02:23:07-04:00Tags: |

The Global Women's Climate Justice Day of Action happened on September 25th, 2015, including women from more than 50 countries. The main idea of this initiative was to draw attention to how women are disproportionately affected by climate change and the importance of having women at the forefront of decision-making processes to of tackle climate issues. Throughout the world, different expressions and demonstrations happened. In Nigeria, African women gathered for a March for Energy, Food and Climate Justice, protesting the extraction of fossil fuels and its impacts on the environment, explained WoMin (African Women United Against Destruction Resource Extraction). Belen of Ecuador also discussed protests against non-renewable energy and the demand for a transition to green energy sources. In India, Reetu Sogani of Chintan International Trust spoke about how women exchange seeds to protect their rights to connect with nature. Caritas Pakistan organized discussions about climate change and the planting of fruit trees. Many other organizations around the world organized different speeches and events for this day, such as Winona LaDuke, Founder of Honor the Earth and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and President of the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice; and Women's Earth and Climate Action Network Executive Director, Osprey Orielle Lake, who was the main organizer of this initiative. Photo credit: WoMin

20 08, 2015

Interfaith Activist Amanda Quraishi On Islam And Environmentalism

2017-10-08T22:27:55-04:00Tags: |

Interfaith activist and Muslim woman Amanda Quraishi is showing how the Muslim faith includes respect and care for the Earth. Quraishi explains how the Qur’an is a source which advocates for people to connect to the living environment and universe around them, proclaiming humans as “vicegerents,” or caretakers of creation. Quraishi recounts how her Muslim mentors and leaders taught her the importance of nature in faith-based practices. Quraishi is carrying on this message by pushing forward creation centered practices through events like the Interfaith Environmental ‘Preach Off’ she held last year. Photo credit: Eco-Chick

17 08, 2015

Women In The California Conservation Corps

2023-03-19T07:51:27-04:00Tags: |

In this video, young women from different walks of life describe their positive experiences as members of the California Conservation Corps. The video features testimonials from members including Sierra, Jocelyn, Gloria, Laprisha, Milissa, Kaily, Samantha, Monique, and Jessica representing members from across the state. These women leaders share their most meaningful lessons from the CCC, relaying experiences that have led to increased confidence, perseverance, and independence through the hard work and collaborative environment created by the group members and the close connection cultivated with nature. Photo credit: California Conservation Corps

6 08, 2015

Helena Norberg-Hodge: A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity

2017-12-06T14:42:37-05:00Tags: |

Helena Norberg-Hodge, Director of Local Futures and producer of the film, Economic of Happiness, discusses her life of work to support the local-living movement, which she also frames as a movement towards happiness and interdependence, and the ‘decentralization’ of economics, politics, and lifestyle. Photo credit: Happen Films

1 08, 2015

May Boeve: The New Face Of The Climate Change Movement

2017-11-01T03:34:25-04:00Tags: |

3o-something year old May Boeve is the Executive Director of 350.org and one of few young women leaders to occupy such a leadership position in an environmental organization. In this piece, Boeve discusses the the fossil fuel divestment campaign that 350.org helped to support and her growth as an activist after the failure of the Copenhagen climate talks. She also reflects on the future of the movement to "follow the money." Photo credit: Graham Turner/The Guardian

28 07, 2015

Naelyn Pike: Young Apache Warrior Speaks Against Rio Tinto Mine

2017-07-17T17:24:10-04:00Tags: |

In 2014, prior to their multi-week cross-country caravan to Washington D.C., the advocacy group Apache Stronghold and their supporters gathered in Tucson, Arizona. In this video recording, 14-year-old Naelyn Pike speaks out to raise awareness of the Arizona land exchange, which would see Oak Flat, an Apache holy land, destroyed by international mining conglomerate Rio Tinto. Photo credit: grancanyontrust.org

30 06, 2015

Poem: 2 Degrees

2017-10-08T23:05:38-04:00Tags: |

The touching poem 2 Degrees was written by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, from the Marshall Islands. She wrote it for a CNN series on why the 2 Degrees Celsius mark is a crucial limit for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Kathy wrote about the danger climate change poses to her home, her island, mentioning the importance of keeping the global temperature increase to 1.5 Degrees. Photo credit: WECAN International

25 05, 2015

A Climate Change Poem For Today: X By Imtiaz Dharker

2017-09-06T21:40:54-04:00Tags: |

Imtiaz Dharker is a British-Pakistani poet using her writing as a weapon against climate change. In her poem “X” she recounts the experience of a woman which is up to the reader to uncover. The connections between climate change and women speak volumes and are understood through engagement with the text embedded in creative thought. Photo credit: emilyspoetryblog.com

17 05, 2015

Latin America: Women In Resistance And Resilience

2017-10-08T22:20:23-04:00Tags: |

Indigenous women in Latin America are at the forefront of efforts to protect human rights and Mother Earth. The women of the Network of Women in Defence of Mother Earth in Bolivia, such as Margarita Aquino, and Doña Máxima of Peru, are leading the charge to oppose extractive industries. Women like María Eugenia are part of intentional community of Mária Auxiliadora in Bolivia,  educating on how violence against women is connected to violence against the Earth. Photo credit: Photo credit: Maxima Acuña

15 05, 2015

Jackie Kay On Extinction

2017-09-06T21:44:37-04:00Tags: |

Scottish Poet Jackie Kay’s verses convey how anti-immigrant, homophobic and nationalist mentalities are interlocked with environmental destruction and damage. “We close the borders, folks, we nailed it, No trees, no plants, no immigrants” are the first two lines of her poem Extinction. Published in 2015, it’s hard not to connect Kay’s lines to the narrative of exclusivity that led to a 2014 Scottish referendum to stay within or leave Britain. The country voted “no” and stayed within Britain, just two years before the shocking Brexit leave vote. Photo credit: The Guardian

1 05, 2015

Climate Change And Feminist Environmentalisms: Closing Remarks

2017-10-27T20:17:08-04:00Tags: |

This article on the Feminist Wire was written by Cristina Awadalla, Piper Coutinho-Sledge, Alison Criscitiello, Julie Gorecki, and Sonalini Sapra. It is the closing speech of the Climate Change and Feminist Environmentalisms Forum, which focused on the impacts of climate change on women from the Global South and other minorities, as well as the barriers that capitalism builds in the road towards a sustainable planet.

1 05, 2015

Climate Change And Children’s Health: Armed With Facts

2017-11-01T03:07:09-04:00Tags: |

Mom’s Clean Air Force published this report, which looks at how children are particularly vulnerable to some of the initial effects of a changing global climate. Presently, children are suffering the impacts of climate change from infections caused by disease-carrying pests like mosquitoes and ticks to heat-related illnesses and allergies. The report suggests ways for mothers to contend with climate change and argues, more broadly, that now is the time to shift from air-polluting fossil fuels and extractive economies toward a green and sustainable future. Photo credit: Mom’s Clean Air Force

30 04, 2015

Climate Equality: Women On The Front Lines

2017-09-13T11:09:09-04:00Tags: |

Women affected by climate change in areas such as the Carteret Islanders (in Papua New Guinea), Central Vietnam, Nepal, and Bangladesh are being recognized on this article for their protagonism and resilience in the fight against climate disasters. These women's work ranges from giving first-aid classes to advocating for the creation of drinking water facilities, and governments in these locations are working with local women groups to create policies for climate change adaptation. The Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law, and Development used the Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) to increase women leadership in developing policies on climate. One of the protagonist groups in these efforts is the Mugal Indigenous Women's Upliftment Institute, which focuses on the adaptation of farming practices for extreme weather conditions due to climate change. The Mugal women have also been leading efforts to create climate policies in Nepal, working with the government to include traditional knowledge in initiatives against climate change. In Bangladesh, women's groups are also working with government officials to draft new environmental policies, especially on alternative crop productions. A female leader of one of these movements was elected as a member of the Village Committee in the southwest of Bangladesh, near the Sundarban mangrove forests. Photo credit: The Huffington Post

23 04, 2015

Loving Earth Is Complicated, Says This African-American Pastor

2018-01-23T19:49:26-05:00Tags: |

In this interview, Dianne D. Glave, an African-American pastor known for her work and literature on environmentalism, aims to break the stereotype that African-Americans are not active environmentalists. She explains how the legacy of slavery has impacted the relationship between African Americans and the land. Focusing on African American women and the challenges they face, Glave makes many connections, including how black women’s hair is still deeply connected to racism, often resulting in black women investing time and energy in hair treatment to follow colonial-era beauty stereotypes, thus keeping them out away from the water and wild places. Photo credit: Grist

28 01, 2015

Suzanne York On Exceeding Earth’s Limits

2017-10-28T23:39:38-04:00Tags: |

In this Movement Rights blog, Suzanne York, expresses her concern for the future of the world which is heading towards a “danger zone” as it is crossing several planetary boundaries that could destabilize the earth. She highlights the Rights of Nature movement that is trying to shift the paradigm and move from exploitation to the coexistence with Mother Earth.  The International Rights of Nature Tribunal enforces Nature’s rights by putting the current global system on trial. According to Suzanne, there is no time to wait as the later it gets, the more difficult it will be to stem the tide. She calls us to act immediately as that’s the only way for all future generations to inherit a livable world. Photo credit: Jeffrey Bury

28 01, 2015

Helena Norberg-Hodge – The Economics Of Happiness

2020-10-05T20:28:47-04:00Tags: |

Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder of the organisation Local Futures and the producer and co-director of the award-winning documentary, ‘The Economics of Happiness’, as well as the author of several books. In this video, she speaks at UPLIFT 2014 about bringing together inner and outer transformation, which she sees as inextricably interconnected, to create a world that works for everyone. In this process, she argues for the importance of moving away from fear into a love-based existence. She also believes, in order for the transformation to happen, in the need for global communication and interaction. 

22 01, 2015

This Urban Farmer Is Growing Jobs In Her Richmond Community

2020-11-07T17:31:45-05:00Tags: |

In her hometown of Richmond, California, Doria Robinson invests in the health of her community through her role as executive director of Urban Tilth. Through her environmental activism and work with Urban Tilth, Till has overseen the launch of a Richmond-based CSA, the creation of an urban garden spanning 42 blocks, the passing of Richmond’s first urban agriculture ordinance, and the initiation of various education-based community volunteer and work programs within the urban garden. Robinson’s work in Richmond emphasizes the importance of local food systems and the various ways communities benefit from food justice initiatives. Photo Credit: Twilight Greenaway

22 12, 2014

Diane Wilson: An Unreasonable Woman—Unreasonableness And Where It Gets You

2017-10-27T21:21:00-04:00Tags: |

Activist Diane Wilson speaks at the 2005 Bioneers Annual Conference about civil disobedience, using her action against Union Carbide, a solidarity act to address the deaths resulting from the toxic gas incident in the company, as an example. Wilson presents the release of her autobiographical book An Unreasonable Woman. Photo credit: Bioneers

18 12, 2014

Nina Simons: Women, Purpose And Power

2017-10-28T13:22:27-04:00Tags: |

Nina Simons is the cofounder of Bioneers and has been working with the organization for more than 20 years. She has also led many Cultivating Women's Leadership workshops, and shares her experience in noticing effective women's leadership. Simon's speech was given at the 2009 Bioneers Annual Conference, also part of the Everywoman's Leadership Collection, Vol. 1. Photo credit: Bioneers

25 11, 2014

Alice Eather: My Story Is Your Story

2017-10-09T20:32:52-04:00Tags: |

In this poem, Alice Eather, one of the leaders of the Protect Arnhem Land Campaign, poetically recounts the need to fight against the offshore exploration, mining and drilling that is threatening the entire coastline of Australia’s Northern Territory region, her home. Arnhem Land is a sacred area in the most northern region of the Australian Northern Territory. It is home to the oldest living culture of Indigenous peoples existing on the planet today. The last remaining existence of this ancient, traditional culture and its practices is under threat. Photo credit: Luka Lesson

23 11, 2014

Marshallese Poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner Speaks At United Nations Climate Leaders Summit

2017-09-04T11:51:32-04:00Tags: |

In 2014, Marshallese poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner spoke on behalf of civil society during the opening ceremony of the United Nations Climate Leaders Summit in New York City using footage of climate action from around the world. Kathy performed a new poem entitled "Dear Matafele Peinem," written to her daughter. The poem received a standing ovation. Kathy is also a teacher, journalist and founder of the environmental NGO, Jo-jikum. Photo credit: the United Nations

2 11, 2014

Why Women Hold The Key To Fighting Pollution

2017-11-02T00:02:56-04:00Tags: |

Budi Susilorini, Pure Earth’s country director for Indonesia, explains how women are adversely impacted by pollution and environmental toxins. She is spreading the word about the multigenerational impact of pollution on families on the international stage and fighting for a cleaner environment at home. Photo credit: Pure Earth

31 10, 2014

What’s A Mother To Do In The Face Of Climate Change?

2017-10-31T19:21:01-04:00Tags: |

Rebecca Wodder, former president and CEO of American Rivers, writes about the importance of hopeful narratives in the face of climate change. As a Fellows with the Center for Humans and Nature, she is working on a book project entitled "Rivers of Revival:  Stories of Freshwater Stewardship & Resilient Communities." The book will gather hopeful stories of both new and old ways humans can healthfully relate to the natural world. Photo credit: Rachel's Network

29 10, 2014

Shannon Biggs: Rights Of Nature And Economics Of The Biosphere

2017-11-01T23:22:49-04:00

Shannon Biggs of Global Exchange explains that nowadays there are factory towns where the entire job market is related to corporations. Even though those factories are responsible for local contamination, communities struggle to prevent their activities as they boost the economy. She suggests that the green economy can help us find a balance as it follows the example set by the Indigenous peoples who have maintained a balanced relationship with the Land. Accordingly, we should shift the narrative and the main question should not be how we can fit Nature in Economics but how we listen to the Earth and what she has to offer us. Photo credit: Rights4Nature

28 10, 2014

Robin Wall Kimmerer: Returning The Gift

2017-10-28T22:27:31-04:00Tags: |

Doctor Robin Wall Kimmerer is an Indigenous Potawatomi Professor of Environmental Biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York, as well as a scientists and writer. Kimmerer writes about the many gifts that we receive daily from planet Earth and the need to give back and develop a sense of  gratitude for the Earth as part of our cultural evolution. She provides ways that we can practice reciprocity with our planet, including ensuring that the economy is aligned with ecology principles and respecting the ecosystems by not taking too much from it and understanding that growth is limited. Photo credit: Center for Humans and Nature

16 10, 2014

Climate Change Is About Women: Sowing Resilience In Peri-Urban Bolivia

2017-10-16T23:01:40-04:00Tags: |

This profile of the women-lead Maria Auxiliadora community in Cocabamba, Bolivia, highlights the innovative leadership of local women to fight both patriarchy and climate change. For example, Doña Irene Cardozo farms her own land and keeps her own home, finding support in this community after escaping a violent household. Doña Rosa Angulo speaks about learning community and solidarity via collectively dehydrating vegetables for consumption and sale.  Photo credit: Carey Averbook

24 09, 2014

Extreme Energy, Climate Change And Violence Against Women

2017-09-26T13:25:11-04:00Tags: |

Sherrie Anne of the FANG Collective spoke at the#FloodWallStreet action after the 2014 People’s Climate March in New York City. In her speech, she emphasizes the interconnected nature of gender-based violence, racial oppression, climate change, and fossil fuel extraction, drawing on examples from Hurricane Katrina to the Bakken Shale fields of North Dakota. Photo credit: The FANG Collective

22 09, 2014

Naomi Klein: The Climate Crisis Is a Crisis Of Capitalism

2017-07-17T17:51:11-04:00Tags: |

Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. Climate Change, describes global warming as both a crisis and an opportunity. She believes it is wrong to think of our economy without considering the future of our planet. Photo credit: Christopher Wahl

19 09, 2014

Kelsey Juliana On Climate Change: The Next Generation

2021-03-03T19:55:34-05:00Tags: |

In this video, 18 year-old Oregonian Kelsey Juliana is interviewed about her life-long journey of activism on climate change issues. Following in her parents’ environmental activist footsteps, she was invited by Our Children’s Trust to take part as co-plaintiff in a major lawsuit that could force the state of Oregon to take stronger action against carbon emissions, the cause of global warming and natural disasters. This legal strategy aims to protect the atmosphere based on the public trust doctrine developed by Mary Christina Wood in her book Nature’s Trust. Wood advocates that government should be accountable for any failure to protect the environment and resources that are held in public trust and needed for citizens to survive. Besides the legal route, Kelsey took part in the Great March for Climate Action across America, reaching Washington on 1st November for the UN global summit on climate. Video Capture: Bill Moyer

16 09, 2014

Sisters To March In Support Of Climate Change Solutions

2023-03-19T08:25:29-04:00Tags: |

Writer Beth Griffin captures the growing number of supporters from various Catholic religious and women-led groups including the Sisters of Mercy who are leading their supporters as advocates for climate action. The Sisters of Mercy are one of the 850 sponsors of the People’s Climate March of 2015 in New York City prior to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change scheduled for December 2015 in Paris. Featured leaders include Dominican Sr. Arlene Flaherty, director of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Office for the School Sisters of Notre Dame, Sr. Mary Pendergast, ecology director for the Northeast Community of Sisters of Mercy, and Patrick Carolan, executive director of Franciscan Action Network. The march is viewed as both action and prayer for the Sisters who advocate for climate solutions under their faith and belief in protecting God’s creation. 

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. 

10 06, 2014

Mothers Light Up Homes In Rural Tanzania

2017-09-22T16:01:24-04:00Tags: |

Arafa Mwamba, along with other women in her community, works as a solar engineer in Chekeleni, Tanzania. The women have been trained by Barefoot College in the field and can now perform all sorts of operations to install and maintain solar equipment. They have expanded their business to offer their services in nearby villages, including providing nighttime lighting which has improved public safety for women and girls.

7 04, 2014

Call Climate Change What It Is: Violence

2017-09-06T21:51:39-04:00Tags: |

Renowned feminist, writer and activist Rebecca Solnit addresses the violence of climate change, emphasizing how the disappearance of island states, unpredictable weather patterns, and increased famine caused by rising food prices and crop failures are just some of the ways that systemic climate crises result in societal violence. A concrete example of climate violence can be found in the origins of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, when food shortages caused wheat prices to soar and citizens to revolt when hunger set in. Through her writing on these issues Solnit has joined the vast contingent of women writing on climate in the media. Photo credit: Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

10 02, 2014

Mallika Dutt: Changing The Frame

2017-10-28T13:19:14-04:00Tags: |

Mallika Dutt speaks at the 2010 Bioneers Annual Conference, and her speech is part of the Everywoman's Leadership Collection, Vol. 1. Dutt shares her experience in the organization Breakthrough and the power of cultural tools (including art and the media) to create a dialogue and shift the direction for the planet. Photo credit: Bioneers

6 02, 2014

Shifting Gears: Lessons Learned Visiting Women Farmers by Bicycle

2017-09-05T22:50:04-04:00Tags: |

Shifting Gears is at the intersection of women farmers, today’s food activists and bicycles. Run by Lake Buckley and Caitrin Hall, the project is a bike tour that travels from coast to coast to meet and learn from the special knowledge and contributions that American rural and urban women-led farming offer to sustainable agriculture. Buckley and Hall are telling stories of how a widespread pattern of female farming is harboring agricultural resilience by cutting destructive consumption through modes of production that put the environment first. Yet, despite their success, women farmers face old patriarchal challenges. For example, In Fairfield Idaho compost delivery is refused to women. Yes, you read that correctly. Yet, Buckley and Hall have no doubt that the courage, compassion and holistic female energy of women’s farming will prevail over these patriarchal norms, while also building towards a more sustainable farming system. Photo credit: Civil Eats

7 12, 2013

Roxanne Swentzell And The Pueblo Food Experience

2017-12-07T18:21:23-05:00Tags: |

Roxanne Swentzell of Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, is the Director of the Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute, through which she works for Indigenous rights and cultural protection and revitalization, including work in education, art, farming, and seed stewardship. The project, the Pueblo Food Experience was also brought to life with her care. A group of Pueblo peoples committed to eating only Indigenous, local foods, and experienced profound and important change in their health, happiness, sustainability and connection to culture and the land. This short documentary features the work of Roxanne, and the experiences and thoughts of those who participated in this important, and ongoing project for Indigenous sovereignty, health and lifeways. Photo credit: Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute

4 12, 2013

Vandana Shiva And Jane Goodall On Serving The Earth And How Women Can Address Climate Crisis

2017-10-27T21:06:41-04:00Tags: |

Vandana Shiva and Jane Goodall, two powerful climate activists and experts, were interviewed during the International Women's Earth and Climate Initiative Summit in New York on their thoughts on the climate crisis. Vandana Shiva, who was born in the Himalayas and is a renowned environmental leader and author, she talks about the preciousness of Earth elements, while Jane Goodall, born in England, talks about how she found her love for nature and eventually went to Africa to work with chimpanzees. Both women discuss the barriers they faced by being women working on environmental issues. Photo credit: Democracy Now

26 10, 2013

Women Connect To Boost Resilience Of The Planet

2017-10-26T23:17:55-04:00Tags: |

Jensine Larson, Founder and CEO of World Pulse, joined dozens of other women leaders from around the world at the International Women’s Earth and Climate Summit, co-founded by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of WECAN International, and Sally Ranney, an environmental leader and conservationist. Larson digests her experience in this essay; moreover, she suggests that women are empowering one another, strengthening the “immune system” of the planet, and inspiring transitions to a sustainable future.

25 10, 2013

Climate Change: What’s Gender Got To Do With It?

2017-10-25T23:06:26-04:00Tags: |

This short video by Pachamama Alliance on their Speaker Series featuring representatives of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network gives us a glimpse into the various ways women feel the impacts of climate change, in addition to providing world useful links to follow in order to learn more. A plentiful of resources to grow our knowledge and change on impact on the Earth. Photo credit: Pachamama Alliance

8 10, 2013

Interlinking Gender, Economic And Ecological Justice In Latin America: Towards A Development Based On The Sustainability Of Life

2017-10-08T22:13:52-04:00Tags: |

Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) is showing how gender is wedged in the middle of economic and environmental justice in Latin America. In this educational document DAWN emphasizes how the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) fall short, especially in addressing the essential intersections between the economy, gender, and ecological justice. In turn, DAWN educates and advocates for a systemic transformation rooted in gender, economic and ecological justice in Latin America. Photo credit: DAWN

30 09, 2013

Time For Sanity On Climate Change, Goodall And Shiva Tell Amanpour

2017-10-27T21:02:14-04:00Tags: |

This is an interview by Christiane Amanpour of CNN with Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a primatologist, and Dr. Vandana Shiva, an environmental activist, during the Women's Earth and Climate Change Summit in New York City. Goodall and Shiva talk about the main issues of climate change and its impacts, as well as the role of women and young people in solving the environmental crisis. Photo credit: CNN

27 09, 2013

Women Of The World Call For Urgent Action On Climate Change And Sustainability Solutions

2017-10-27T11:36:02-04:00Tags: |

From September 20th-23rd, 2013, women leaders from over 35 countries gathered in New York to craft a Women’s Climate Action Agenda at the first International Women’s Earth and Climate Summit.On this episode of Voice of America Go Green Radio, Founder and Co-Director of the International Women’s Earth and Climate Initiative, Osprey Orielle Lake, discusses the insights gleaned from this meeting of grassroots women. For example, approximately 60-80 percent of food production in developing countries can be attributed to women. Since agriculture is a very essential key point in climate change, integrating women in the whole process is important to recognize the motivations and challenges faced by women every day. The concrete solutions to tackle the climate change from feminist perspectives are radical ones, with women coming together to heal the disconnect between the head and heart.

6 09, 2013

Female Leaders Gather At Summit To Push For Action On Climate Change

2017-12-06T14:36:48-05:00Tags: |

NBC News reports on the International Women's Earth and Climate Initiative summit, which united women from 35 countries for a multi-day summit to build strength, strategize and share stories and plans for women-led action on climate change. Osprey Orielle Lake, representing the event organizer, the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, shares analysis on women and climate as an ‘untold story’, which holds vital solutions to address both environmental and social degradation. The work of summit participants, including renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams, marine biologist Sylvia Earle, former Brazilian Minister of Environment Marina Silva, and leaders from the Global Gender Climate Alliance and the Women's Environment and Development Organization, are highlighted.

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

1 07, 2013

Vanessa Rule Tells The Story Of Mothers Out Front

2017-11-01T03:05:16-04:00Tags: |

Hundred of mothers came together in 2013 to co-write the “Declaration of Protection For Our Children Against Climate Change.” This act ultimately solidified the mission for Mothers Out Front and continues to empower mothers, grandmothers and caregivers from around the U.S. to join the climate movement and protect their children from the impacts of climate change. Vanessa Rule, who tells her story in this recording, is the Co-Founder and Director of Learning and Expansion at Mothers Out Front. Photo credit: mgielissoc

30 01, 2013

Feminist Movement Builders’ Dictionary

2017-10-31T15:52:58-04:00Tags: |

Words have political power, which is why Just Associates decided to create a dictionary especially for feminist movement builders. This publication provides a diverse lexicon for activists, organizers and women leaders to use in their work. The document was compiled using the expertise of diverse women from Mesoamerica, Southeast Asia, and Southern Africa.

9 01, 2013

Women’s Voices In Nepal – Stories Of Climate Change

2017-10-08T23:08:30-04:00Tags: |

This video by IWMI Media was filmed in November 2012 at the Thadhi Jhijha VDC, Dhanusha District, in Nepal. It shows women discussing their activities during the calendar year based on climate change. Nepalese women Sabitri Sah speaks about the effects of climate change in crops and food production in the lives of her community, while Dhanmanti Prahdan comments on the droughts in the region, the difficulty to get water, and the impacts on the agriculture. Photo credit: IWMI Media

1 01, 2013

Overview Of Linkages Between Gender And Climate Change

2023-03-19T07:45:43-04:00Tags: |

This UN policy brief reinforces the message that women are positive agents of change, and their role and involvement in climate politics, solutions and nongovernmental organisations contribute to environmental and economic gains, particularly in Asia and the Pacific region. The brief exhorts recommendations to tackle the widespread gender-based vulnerability of climate change, advocating the mainstreaming of gender perspectives through in-depth evidence-based analysis of inequalities and strategies for coping with climate change; through greater female participation in sectors impacted by climate change; and through the integration of gender perspectives in climate change policy, programming and finance mechanisms and strategies. Photo credit: UN Photo/Martine Perret

1 11, 2012

Harriet Shugarman On Climate Change And Making Your Vote Count For Our Kids – Post Sandy

2017-11-01T23:18:13-04:00Tags: |

Climate leader Harriet Shugarman of Climate Mama writes on her blog about her personal experiences in her home community following Hurricane Sandy on the US East Coast. She calls on her follow parents and concerned people across the United States to ensure that they get out to vote with these impacts, and the futures of their children, in mind. Photo credit: Harriet Shugarman

26 10, 2012

Photographer Aliza Eliazarov Combats Food Waste Through Art

2017-10-26T23:11:39-04:00Tags: |

Inspired by 17th-century still life paintings, New York photographer Aliza Eliazarov staged food she rescued from garbage dumpsters for beautiful photographs that feature wasted food. Eliazarov hopes her work will increase public awareness and even curb food waste. She called the series “Waste Not” and gathered the produce with help from a freegan directory and organizations in NYC that are working to combat food insecurity with food waste such as City Harvest and Dan Barber’s wastED popup. Photo credit: Aliza Eliazarov

23 08, 2012

Gender And Climate Change – Iconic Stories From South Asia

2018-01-23T20:17:38-05:00Tags: |

This blog shares the reflections of Mairi Dupar, Global Public Affairs of Coordinator of the Climate And Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), who spoke with a group of young South Asian journalist and editors about the importance of covering the story of women and climate change, including their hardships and leadership. Mairi shares examples of exciting projects being led by women across the region to protect water, forests, diversity and more. Photo credit: Climate And Development Knowledge Network

12 05, 2012

Rachel Carson And The Legacy Of Silent Spring

2018-01-12T14:01:28-05:00Tags: |

Rachel Carson was pioneer of ecofeminism and the modern sustainability movement in United States.her first book, “The Sea Around Us”, published in 1952, focused on her expertise in marine biology. In 1962, her book “Silent Spring” was released to worldwide acclaim. It warns Americans that if they did not start taking care of their environment, they will face massive contamination with dangerous and lethal impacts on the land, biodiversity, and people. Her book has become only more relevant in 21st century in the face of the climate crisis. Photo Credit: Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

1 04, 2012

Noelene Nabulivou Analyzes The Concept of Additionality In Climate Change Responses

2017-09-24T18:14:18-04:00Tags: |

Noelene Nabulivou, Executive Committee Member of DAWN (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era), questions the climate response systems in the Pacific in terms of their ignorance of human rights as a key factor of climate justice. Noelene presents DAWN's project, called GEEJ (Gender Economic and Ecological Justice), which consists of trainings and consultations on gender and development in the Pacific, Africa, Latin America, Caribbean and Asia. The author of the article points to the paradox of women acting as leaders of advocacy campaigns on climate change, yet being subjected to violence and the lack of access to basic rights such as sanitation. Gender equality needs to be mainstreamed in every aspect of climate policy. Photo Credit: WECAN International

26 01, 2012

Luisah Teish: Indigenous Voices

2017-09-06T22:03:29-04:00Tags: |

Luish Teish is advocating for the unlearning of the myths that disconnect us from Mother Earth. Relearning our love for the land is central to cultivating a respectful relationship with the environment and between ourselves. Balancing relationships between man and woman, partner and partner, parent and child, and stranger and stranger is what will ease the disequilibrium that is leading to the environmental destruction of our Earth. Reconnecting with dynamic oratory practices instead of hegemonizing stagnant written methodologies is also crucial. Photo credit: Earth & Spirit Council

24 01, 2012

The Mother Who Stood Up To Monsanto In Argentina

2018-01-24T18:15:59-05:00Tags: |

Sofia Gatica, co-founder of the Mothers of Ituzaingó in Argentina, and recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize, spent her life in a city surrounded by GMO soybean fields, where farmers used toxic pesticides which directly impact the lives of nearby residents. After experiencing the deadly impacts of the practice, the Mothers of Ituzaingó launched an epidemiological study and found high rates of neurological and respiratory disease, birth defects and infant mortality, and cancer in their area. In 2010, Argentina’s Apex Court ruled that agrochemicals cannot be sprayed near populated areas. Sofia and the group now continue forward in other campaigns to reduce pesticide use and prevent expansion of Monsanto operations in the country. Photo Credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

29 10, 2011

Natalia Greene: The Rights of Nature At Bioneers

2017-10-29T00:13:37-04:00Tags: |

Natalia Greene is the President of Ecuador's National Coordinating Entity for environmental NGOs, and has been a key figure in the recognition of Rights of Nature. She surveys the transformational global movement for Earth jurisprudence. During her presentation, she explained that currently, we live in a world where using sustainable development to justify environmental destruction is acceptable. This shows that human beings are disconnected with Nature (“Pachamama”) and treat the earth as a commodity. Ecuador, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, is a leading example is this trend, where there is an active civil society which advocates for biodiversity, food security and Indigenous rights. In 2008, the most biocentric Constitution the world has known, was passed in Ecuador. However, there is still a lot of work to be done for the implementation of these fundamental rights. This is possible through the “reading” and understanding of Nature. Photo credit: Bioneers

10 05, 2011

“Sauti – African Voices on Climate Change” Tells The Story Of Egyptian Climate Activist

2017-09-06T22:07:26-04:00Tags: |

Sarah Rifaat from Cairo, Egypt, was a graphic designer with very little knowledge of the climate movement before receiving an email from 350.org in which she was invited to a workshop in Turkey about climate action. The experience inspired Sarah to take action for climate justice. As part of the 350 global climate day of action, Sarah partnered with the Cairo Cycler’s Club for a gathering of activists biking to the Great Pyramids to share their messages with the world.  Photo credit: 350africa.org

27 10, 2010

Women Have A Better Understanding Of Science, Reveals Study

2017-10-27T11:37:36-04:00Tags: |

Feminists all over world had been breaking the traditional gender stereotype by their words and actions. An interesting study by sociologist Aaron McCright reveals that even though men claim that they understand their surrounding and environment much better than a women, women are in sync with scientific consensus when it comes to environment. The study suggests that,policymakers should not generalize the public as men in the social realm; rather, they should communicate about climate change keeping while the gender aspects in mind.

16 09, 2010

Women More Likely Than Men To Believe The Science On Global Warming

2017-11-07T12:11:11-05:00Tags: |

The first of its kind, a study from Michigan State University shows a gender divide in climate change belief. Eight years of data from Gallup’s annual environmental poll showed that more women than men tend to believe the scientific data on climate change and its possible effects on the planet—and that it is caused by humans. The study found that regardless of the occupations of the respondents, this trend was seen among women in general. How does this affect women’s decision-making, choices for sustainable options, daily activities, support and advocacy for environmental policies? This is material for further research that needs to be done, sparked by these findings.

6 12, 2009

Nobel Economics Prize Won By First Woman

2017-12-06T14:40:38-05:00Tags: |

Elinor Ostrom, a female political scientist from Indiana University, has become the first woman ever to win the Nobel prize for economics. The award was received for her work investigating ways that people come together to protect collective resources, and what this implies for strategies to combat climate change. Photo credit: Getty Images

30 10, 2009

Constance Okollet Of Uganda: Climate Change Is Killing Our People

2017-10-30T20:55:05-04:00Tags: |

Constance Okollet, Chairperson of the Osukuru United Women's Network in Eastern Uganda, writes about how increasing temperatures are eroding the consistent pattern of seasons in Uganda. Natural disasters like floods are destroying villages at unprecedented rate, making Ugandans vulnerable to diseases like malaria and diarrhea. She notes that with the help of Oxfam, she is now part of women’s group where she can advocate for swift action on climate change to global leaders.

24 09, 2009

Women, Gender Equality And Climate Change

2017-09-24T18:36:59-04:00Tags: |

UN WomenWatch is getting the facts right with this gender and climate change information sheet. Acting as a digital gateway for issues of women’s empowerment and gender equality, UN WomenWatch educates about how gender justice is dependent on climate justice. They advocate for the necessity of gender focused solutions to the impacts of climate change, especially in the domains of agriculture, food security, biodiversity, human settlements, and migration patterns — all arenas where global warming hits women the hardest. Women as drivers and leaders of energy and new technology and adaptation are fundamental in closing the gap between these climate and gender-related inequalities. Photo credit: UN WomenWatch

6 05, 2005

Tsunami Prompts Women’s Swimming Lessons

2020-09-23T21:13:06-04:00Tags: |

Opportunities for women to learn to swim were almost non-existent in Sri Lanka. Culture in Sri Lanka prevents mixed gender bathing in public pools that do exist and requires women to swim in the sea in full clothing. The 2005 Indian Ocean Tsunami took many lives of women and children that could have been saved had they known how to swim. After the tsunami, Christine Fonfe felt that it was time to shift cultural narratives around swimming. Girlie Ganage is among a group of women learning to swim and notes that, before the tsunami, women swimming would have been almost unthinkable. Now, there are groups aiming to make swimming lessons a part of the national school curriculum.  Photo credit: Tom Parker

27 10, 2004

Feminist Perspectives Towards Transforming Economic Power: A Women’s Rights Perspective From Bolivia

2017-10-27T01:51:06-04:00Tags: |

"Buen Vivir: An Introduction From a Women's Rights Perspective in Bolivia", written by Martha Eugenia Lanza Meneses, a gender research fellow at Fundación Colectivo Cabildeo Bolivia, and edited by the Association for Women in Development, is part of a series leading up to the 12th AWID International Forum on Women's Rights and Development promoting different actions on development being implemented by feminist groups all over the world. This specific report is about Bolivia and its concept of buen vivir (living well, in English) which is the idea of protecting nature and its original form, shifting production and consumption to a different kind of development. The article presents the use of buen vivir in Bolivia's public policies, and introduces the concept of gender by highlighting the patriarchal structure of decision-making in various communities. Photo credit: AWID

23 12, 2003

The Interconnectivity Of Water

2017-10-31T15:02:52-04:00Tags: |

The contamination of our Earth’s fresh water, such as the Great Lakes Basin, means pollutants and harmful chemicals like PCBs are moving up the food chain and being passed on to our children through pregnancy and breastfeeding. Katsi Cook, a traditional Mohawk midwife, explains the connection between the pollution of the Earth and degrading human health. Photo credit: Feminist Midwife 

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