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Women Human Rights And Earth Defenders

/Women Human Rights And Earth Defenders

 

18 03, 2024

From Conflict Zones to Climate Frontlines: Zainab Salbi’s Journey of Resilience and Environmental Advocacy

2024-09-16T10:17:57-04:00Tags: |

Transcending the shadow of her family's proximity to Saddam Hussein's regime, Zainab Salbi's trajectory evolves from aiding women in conflict to spearheading climate activism. After overcoming a life-threatening illness, Salbi redirected her energy towards protecting the environment, seeing it as a debt of gratitude to the Earth for her survival. Growing up amidst Iraq's tumult, she witnessed the overlooked role of women in conflict. Founding Women for Women International at just 23, Salbi uplifted countless survivors globally. Now, through Daughters for Earth, she champions women's pivotal role in tackling climate crises, redirecting funds to women-led initiatives worldwide. Rejecting the term "empowerment," Salbi emphasizes the necessity of amplifying women's inherent strength in safeguarding our planet—a testament to her unwavering dedication to transformative action and inclusion.

24 10, 2023

Why Native Women’s Voices Are Crucial to Saving Brazil’s Forests

2024-09-13T15:39:35-04:00Tags: |

Cristiane Julião, an unwavering force from the Pankararu Indigenous group and co-founder of the National Articulation of Ancestral Warriors Women (ANMIGA), boldly confronts the entrenched sexism impeding environmental preservation in Brazil. Recognizing women’s critical role in defending both Indigenous rights and the land itself, Julião galvanized Indigenous women nationwide to form ANMIGA in 2015. At the groundbreaking Indigenous Women’s March in 2019, Julião stood alongside over 2,500 women from 130 Indigenous groups, denouncing rights violations and demanding recognition of their pivotal role in safeguarding cultural heritage and natural resources. As a beacon of advocacy, Julião amplifies Indigenous women's voices on the global stage, confronting institutionalized sexism within agencies like FUNAI, striving to dismantle the antiquated hierarchy that marginalizes women's contributions to land stewardship and sustainable practices. With a profound grasp of the environmental perils faced by Indigenous communities, Julião and her counterparts lead the charge for climate justice, rallying at prestigious forums like COP26. Despite shouldering the primary responsibility for land care and bearing the brunt of the adverse effects of activities like mining and logging on the environment and on the health of the community, women's endeavors are frequently thwarted by insufficient public policy. Julião's advocacy demands the inclusion of Indigenous women in policy-making to ensure practical solutions that safeguard the environment and Indigenous livelihoods. She fervently contends, the liberation of Indigenous women isn't merely crucial for environmental preservation, it's an imperative for the very survival of Indigenous cultures and territories in the face of relentless threats.

27 08, 2023

‘I’m Not The Guilty One’: The Water Protector Facing Jail Time for Trying to Stop a Pipeline

2024-09-16T11:17:16-04:00Tags: |

Mylene Vialard, a 54-year-old climate activist, faces up to five years in prison as she goes on trial for protesting against the expansion of Line 3, a tar sands oil pipeline cutting through Indigenous lands in northern Minnesota. Despite the pipeline's alarming environmental risks and its track record of spills, Vialard's peaceful demonstration led to felony charges of trespassing on critical infrastructure and obstruction of justice. Her refusal to accept a plea deal reflects her determination to challenge the injustice she sees. However, her arrest is not isolated, with over 1,000 arrests made in similar protests, supported by payments of at least $8.6 million from the pipeline company, Enbridge to Minnesota Law Enforcement and other security agencies. This mass criminalization, part of a wider trend of suppressing legitimate environmental protests, signifies a concerning erosion of civil liberties and underscores the urgent need for climate activism. Against this backdrop, Vialard's trial emerges as a pivotal moment in the broader struggle for environmental justice, shedding light on the complex interplay between state power, corporate influence, and grassroots resistance.

16 06, 2023

Vietnam Imprisons Leading Climate Activist on False Charges

2024-09-16T11:04:28-04:00Tags: |

Land defenders worldwide, often women, face unjust persecution by governments preferring to exploit the land they safeguard. In Vietnam, Hoang Thi Minh, a prominent climate activist, faces imprisonment on fabricated tax evasion charges, emblematic of a broader crackdown on environmental advocacy. Despite international outcry, Hoang remains in custody, held incommunicado after her colleagues' arrests. This arrest underscores Vietnam's disregard for human rights and civil society involvement in its energy transition, despite being one of the most climate-vulnerable nations. The UN expressed deep concern over arbitrary arrests of activists like Hoang, recognized internationally for her work in climate justice. Hoang's dedication to environmental preservation led to her selection as a 2018 Obama Foundation Scholar and acknowledgment as one of the 50 most influential Vietnamese women. Her story highlights the ongoing struggle for environmental protection and human rights.

15 06, 2023

How Environmental Conflicts Hurt — and Motivate — Women Activists

2024-09-16T10:50:06-04:00Tags: |

Sandra Liliana Pena, a Colombian human rights defender from the Nasa and Paez Indigenous groups, rose to prominence as the governor of a reserve in the Cauca community. She vehemently protested against illegal crops encroaching on Nasa land. In April 2021, Pena was brutally assassinated, adding to the alarming tally of violence against women environmental defenders (WEDs). Research unveils a grim reality: in a study among 523 documented cases, 81 WEDs were assassinated, often by state actors, criminal groups, or vested interests. These women defy societal norms, challenging patriarchal expectations, and face violence due to their activism. Yet, their plight extends beyond murder to displacement, repression, and criminalization. Despite underreporting, these cases demand urgent attention. Families struggle for justice, underscoring the need for better protection, contingent upon meaningful participation from vulnerable groups. While Indigenous and low-income women, disproportionately affected by environmental conflicts, confront paramilitaries, traffickers, and corporations, they are sidelined in negotiations despite bearing the brunt of ecocide. Colombia's high femicide rate exacerbates this crisis, with Indigenous and Black women particularly vulnerable. Engaging human rights defenders, especially Indigenous women and children, is paramount. World leaders must commit to implementing safeguards to ensure their safety and uphold environmental justice.

24 04, 2023

The Senior Women Fighting For a Livable Planet

2024-02-20T10:23:42-05:00Tags: |

A group in Switzerland called, Klimaseniorinnen, which translates to the 'Senior Women for Climate Protection' association has taken the battle against climate change to the European Court of Human Rights. Led by retired women, they demand a judicial review of climate policies, asserting that inadequate action violates fundamental human rights. Their legal challenge underscores the Swiss Government's failure to safeguard the population from dire consequences, revealing the disproportionate impact of climate crises on vulnerable groups, especially women and the elderly. This marks the first time such a complaint about the violation of human rights due to climate negligence is being heard at the highest court level. Notably, a ruling in their favor could set a precedent across all 46 Council of Europe member states, empowering citizens to hold their governments accountable for climate inaction. Championed by over 2,000 members with an average age of 73, Klimaseniorinnen's fight has garnered support from environmental organizations like Greenpeace Switzerland and Client Earth. For these women, having their case heard at this level is a remarkable milestone, considering their upbringing occurred at a time when women in Switzerland lacked voting rights. They are determined to make the most of the available legal avenues in their pursuit of climate justice. Photo Credits: Kathrin Grissemann

4 03, 2023

Northern Express Fascinating People Of 2023

2023-07-30T12:46:21-04:00Tags: |

This article highlights twenty of the most fascinating individuals from Northern Michigan, two of which are Indigenous women. The first of these women, Jannan Cornstalk -- who is the founder of the Water is Life Festival of Mackinaw City, a member of the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance, and a citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians -- devotes herself to water rights activism. In 2018, she brought back the aforementioned festival, which engages local communities and centers the celebration of and connections with water. Cornstalk seeks to inspire the community to protect the Great Lakes and other waters through daily choices and lifestyle decisions. The second highlighted Indigenous woman is Joanne Cook, a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB). Cook is presently the GTB’s chief appellate and has also served on Tribal Council and as a tribal court judge. Today, much of her work involves working with victims of crime and on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) project. She has also served on various local nonprofit boards. 

3 08, 2022

Around The World, Women Are Putting Their Lives On The Line To Defend The Climate

2023-04-16T14:53:49-04:00Tags: |

Rachel Cox discusses the dangers that women earth defenders face when they speak up against extractive industries. Since 2015, at least 108 women have been murdered for standing up against environmental destruction in their communities, and countless others have been subject to smear campaigns, harassment, threats, and sexual assault. This gendered violence is an ongoing issue, especially in communities that are near sites of large-scale extractive activity. Cox argues that governments must hold corporations accountable for their actions, and human rights must be prioritized above capital. Photo credit: Global Witness / Thom Pierce

31 05, 2022

A look at violence and conflict over Indigenous lands in nine Latin American countries

2023-11-30T14:33:37-05:00Tags: |

This article interviews twelve Indigenous leaders from nine Latin American countries to discuss the violence and conflict experienced in the region due to land disputes. One leader interviewed, Ruth Alipaz (leader of the San José de Uchupiamonas community of Bolivia), has been pushing against the Chepete-El Bala hydro project. The proposed project would create two reservoirs which would flood around 66,000 hectares of territory, and displace 5,000 or more people, the majority being Indigenous. Ruth shares how she has received threats for her vocal opposition to the project, emphasizing this common shared experience between female Indigenous leaders. About 363 Indigenous activists in Latin America were murdered between 2012 and 2020. Marina Comandulli, who is a campaign officer for Global Witness, shares how Indigenous People make up one third of the global number of murdered environmental activists despite comprising only 4% of the global population. In the face of violence and discrimination from male peers, Indigenous women continue to lead the forefront of land protection, creating organizations like Amazonian Women, a group made up of over one hundred Ecuadorian women who work on land protection and cultural preservation.  Photo Credit: Flor Ruíz

6 05, 2022

“Indigenous People Are Fighting To Protect A Natural Equilibrium”: Q&A With Patricia Gualinga

2023-04-16T16:49:32-04:00Tags: |

Patricia Gualinga, a Kichwa leader in Ecuador and member of Amazonian Women (Mujeres Amazónicas), shares her experiences of fighting back against extractive forces that threaten the Amazon rainforest and its surrounding Indigenous communities. Alongside oil drilling, logging, and hydroelectric projects, both formal and illegal mining have become an increasing threat over recent years. Under the guise of “for the good of the country,” the Ecuadorian government continues to prioritize the economy in lieu of the rights of Indigenous peoples. Gualinga clarifies that there is no such thing as a “middle ground” or opportunity for compromise with the extractive industries that Ecuador has become so dependent upon. She points to the history of social neglect and continued marginalization of Indigenous groups that have severed the relationship between peoples and the state. Although there has been an international acknowledgment of the fact that Indigenous people are the best protectors and defenders of the natural world, racist rhetoric persists in framing them as “helpless” or without resolve for solutions that are not inherently economically based. Gualinga challenges these colonial bureaucratic frameworks and the emergence of the carbon credit system by illuminating the global scale of the catastrophe that awaits all people. To be an Indigenous leader, especially an Indigenous woman leader, bears many threats in the name of speaking the truth. However, Gualinga and so many alongside her persist as this work is vital and central to protecting territory as all-encompassing of the ancestry and future of Indigenous peoples. Photo Credit: Jonathan Rosas  

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.

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

14 01, 2022

Kinkri Devi: An Inimitable Voice In Environmental Activism

2023-04-16T14:47:12-04:00Tags: |

Shawrina Salam highlights the courageous resistance of late Dalit Indian activist and environmentalist Kinkri Devi, who dedicated her life to fighting the extractive industries that devastated the land, water, and forests in her hometown. After witnessing the immense destruction that limestone quarrying inflicted on the local landscape, Devi began a campaign to raise awareness to the issue. In 1987, she filed a public interest lawsuit against 48 mining owners and won, successfully restricting the mining operations that had caused so much harm to the environment. By 1995, she was well-renowned across the globe, and she was invited to attend the International Women’s Conference in Beijing. She received the Jhansi Ki Rani Lakshmi Bai Stree Shakti Puraskar in 1999 and continued raising awareness as an environmental activist until her death in 2007. Photo credit: Flickr  

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

1 12, 2021

Lax Kw’alaams Woman Crashes Trudeau LNG Press Conference

2021-12-13T21:13:22-05:00Tags: |

Prime Minister Trudeau’s administration held a press conference in which Premier Christy Clark announced the approval of the Pacific Northwest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Project. Premier Clark was praising the project for promoting clean energy and being of low cost when Christine Smith-Martin, of the Lax Kw’alaams, interrupted the conference to ask a very pressing question: “what about our salmon?” Smith-Martin then elaborated, saying that the environmental impact of the project was not being addressed by conference speakers, nor had indigenous communities been consulted in a meaningful way prior to the decision. Minister Catherine Mckenna, in turn, said that the impact on salmon has been assessed and there should not be significant effects. Smith-Martin was not convinced, and she insisted this project must be opposed. Salmon is vital to indigenous communities, and it must be treated as such. Video credit: Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition

5 11, 2021

Female Equality Is Key to A Sustainable Future

2022-05-14T16:44:54-04:00Tags: |

Since women across Asia and Africa are often responsible for supplying their households with water, food and fuel, the path towards a sustainable world requires, in part, full gender equality. But the effects of climate change, in conjunction with natural disasters, make women’s lives that much harder. For instance, when Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines, a result was the increased sexual exploitation of women and girls. After Hurricane Katrina struck the United States, violence against women increased by a factor of four in Mississippi and remained high years later. Women are however continuing to pursue the ideal of a sustainable world. In Kenya, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai initiated a massive tree-planting effort that became known as the Greenbelt Movement. More than 5,000 village women in Andra Pradesh, working with the Deccan Development Society, transitioned to organic farming, greatly reducing the carbon impact of agriculture. It is clear that empowering women is key to tackling climate change. Photo credit: Adam Jones

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

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Will Be The Leading Democrat On Climate Change

2021-07-06T18:27:01-04:00Tags: |

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, recently defeating 10-year incumbent, Joe Crowley, in the Democratic Party’s primary elections, has put forth an ambitious proposal to address climate change. The objective of her plan is to transition the United States economy into one that runs on 100% renewable energy by 2035. As a means to that end, Ocasio-Cortez is advocating for a “Green New Deal,” echoing President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1930s New Deal program. As part of this program, the U.S. government would be required to invest heavily in the development, deployment and distribution of green energy. Particularly, since Puerto Rico is still struggling to regain reliable electricity after a deadly hurricane in 2017, the new policy could be tested there, says Ocasio-Cortez. Photo credit: Xavier Garcia/Bloomberg via Getty Images

6 07, 2021

When Women Lead: Women’s Environmental Voting Records

2021-07-06T17:48:06-04:00Tags: |

Since 1972 to present day, women in Congress have more often supported environmental protection legislation as compared to their male counterparts. This includes legislation to provide clean air and clean water as well as legislation promoting conservation for future generations. Conversely, women in Congress have also voted more often against legislation that would undo those protections. This trend holds for both political parties, Democratic and Republican, and it also holds for both chambers of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Thus, the track record of women in Congress is a promising one. Still, women are significantly underrepresented in the legislature and so rectifying this situation is necessary. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

13 04, 2021

CASA Y GAGGA – Agua, Derechos E Igualdad

2021-04-13T17:49:14-04:00Tags: |

Though South America has many water sources, many communities in the region go without sufficient clean drinking water. Lack of water puts a serious strain on women’s lives as well as their ability to farm. This is particularly true of Bolivian women living in the Chaco area, a region that is dry for many months of the year. During the dry period, communities rely on the muddy water that remains in the bed of the Rio Grande. Purifying the water with a local plant helps but it yields a product that is far from potable. The CASA Socioenvironmental Fund is an organization that runs many projects across South America with the objective of empowering local women so they can better serve their community and further environmental justice. The projects include water storage tanks for specific regions, developing farmers associations, and supporting indigenous female leaders. Video Credit: Fundo Casa Socioambiental. Caption: Video is in Spanish, but English subtitles are available.

13 04, 2021

No Woman No Water: Empowering Women To Be Water And Sanitation Decision-Makers

2021-04-13T17:45:00-04:00Tags: |

Women are responsible for carrying water home, storing it, and managing household supplies but are still ignored when it comes to important water management decisions. Incorporating women’s voices into water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) issues empowers the women themselves while simultaneously leading to better results. For instance, including women in the movement to curtail open defecation in rural Bangladesh led to success because the specific needs and desires of the women were then met. Specifically, because of this input, the toilets that were to be placed in rural communities were designed with gender specific needs in mind as well as placed in locations amenable to local women. Photo Credit: Dilip Banerjee

13 04, 2021

Women Environmental Defenders Condemn Systemic Abuses Before The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

2021-04-13T17:33:31-04:00Tags: |

This Earth Rights International (ERI) media release summarises the submission of a delegation of women environmental defenders from the Americas who testified before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The delegation condemned widespread and unjust criminalisation and repression against defenders of rights of land, territories, and environmental protection. The testimonies presented in this thematic hearing, which denounced instances of exceptional cases of attacks against environmental defenders, was led by Columbian human rights lawyer Julian Bravo Valencia, ERI’s Amazon Program Coordinator. Several women testified, including two women from Acción Ecológica, Esperanza Martinez Yanez and Ivonne Ramos, whose experiences highlight the sexism disproportionately affecting women defenders in the Americas. At a time when the interests of corporations and their impunity in committing rights violations is rife, the hearing aimed to produce a report which presents extreme examples of human rights abuses in Ecuador, Peru, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil and the United States. Photo Credit: Earth Rights International

13 04, 2021

Women Speak Out Against Criminalization Of Land Defenders, Water Protectors

2021-04-13T17:28:07-04:00Tags: |

This article highlights the issue of unjust criminalisation and disproportionate state violence against indigenous women water and land protectors. While indigenous people constitute about 4% of Canada’s population, they represent 27% of the incarcerated population in 2018. According to the Canada’s Correctional Investigator Indigenous, women constituted 37% of all women behind bars and 50% of all maximum security inmates in 2017. Mi’kmaw lawyer and academic Pam Palmater evokes the targeting and criminalisation of Indigenous women by Canadian state authorities as historically rooted in a colonising strategy, since they bear children who will carry on the culture and language of their nations. Pamela says that indigenous women’s perseverance and leadership should not be lost in the conversation and concludes that ‘even though Indigenous women have always been targeted, both in the law directly and indirectly, they continue to stand up for the land and for their children despite knowing what’s coming’. Photo Credit: Amber Bernard/APTN

10 03, 2021

Women Run The Climate World. Just Ask Elizabeth Yeampierre.

2023-04-16T14:36:23-04:00Tags: |

In this interview, Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of Uprose — an organization that promotes a just transition and community development in Brooklyn, New York— discusses women’s leadership in the climate justice movement. Yeampierre describes patriarchal models of leadership as outdated and unproductive in the climate justice space. She explains that within the movement, generations of women have come together to create a new model for collective leadership in which all voices matter and all participants are leaderful. Yeampierre considers climate justice a way of keeping with the traditions of her ancestors who stewarded the land and protected the earth before her. She is dedicated to creating more just and sustainable systems that will protect the earth and frontline communities through the power of a diverse, intergenerational climate justice movement. Photo credit: Photograph by Pete Voelker

20 11, 2020

Portraying Women Leadership in Water Cooperation

2020-11-20T17:59:52-05:00Tags: |

Women For Water has compiled the audio- visuals of eight women who are conserving the water all over the world. These women Nomvula Mokonyane, Svitlana Slesarenok, Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, Rose Makunzo Mwangi, Ethne Davey, Dr. Deepthi Wickramasinghe, Patricia Wouters and Salamatu Garba. They have been bringing the best practices of women empowerment in water and sanitation projects and effective water governance at all levels.

20 11, 2020

Jilian Hishaw Wants To Help Black Farmers Stay On Their Land

2020-11-20T17:54:00-05:00Tags: |

Jilian Hishaw’s organisation, Family Agriculture and Resource Management Services (FARMS) is advocating for black farmer rights not only for today, but also for future generations. With only 2% of the country’s farm population consisting of black farmers, the services this organisation provides aids vulnerable farmers who often face discrimination by the USDA and who lose land at a rate of 30,000 acres per year. These services are available for all farmers from historically disadvantaged group in South Eastern states in the United States and their legal and technical assistance, including grant application help, fundraisers, agricultural law and foreclosure help, aid in retaining ownership of their land. Furthermore, the FARMS to Food Bank program aims to support farmers in selling surplus produce and meat at a reduced price to the food banks in their communities, thus also contributing to food insecurity solutions in these areas. Photo credit: Jilian Hishaw

23 10, 2020

Bija Devi : Navdanya’s Seed Keeper of 16 Years At The Biodiversity Conservation Farm

2020-10-23T22:52:30-04:00Tags: |

In an effort to push back against large agriculture corporations and establish seed sovereignty among local communities, renowned scientist Dr. Vandana Shiva and farmer Bija Devi collect seeds and run education programs at the Navdanya Biodiversity Farm in Uttarakhand, India. Bija has collected over 1500 varieties of seeds and details her seed collecting methods and practices throughout the video. Dr. Shiva argues that as the keepers of life, women need to be collecting seeds and leading the fight for food sovereignty. In critiquing capitalist corporations she explains there are only two options for the future: a woman-led “living” future or a corporation-led “toxic” future. Photo Credit: Seed Freedom

24 08, 2020

Women Are More At Risk Due To The Pandemic And Climate Crisis. These Feminists Are Working To Change That.

2020-09-24T19:33:05-04:00Tags: |

Women activists around the world are standing up. To challenge the ways in which the global pandemic and climate change exacerbate inequalities, five young women share their stories about the intersections of environmental and social justice. Journey with Betty Barkha (Fiji), Meera Ghani (Pakistan), Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim (Chad), Maggie H. Mapondera (Zimbabwe), and Majandra Rodriguez Acha (Peru) to learn about their work and the ways that they are engaging in their local communities.

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

10 07, 2020

Water Protectors Celebrate As Dakota Access Pipeline Ordered To Shut Down

2020-10-10T19:55:28-04:00Tags: |

LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, an elder of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and founder of Sacred Stone Camp and Tara Houska, Ojibwe lawyer and founder of the Giniw Collective are interviewed by reporter Amy Goodman after the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is ordered to shut down by August 5, 2020. LaDonna Brave Bull Allard has opened her home in North Dakota to supporters from the beginning of the resistance in order to protect sacred sites, water sources, and the health of her community members. She has joined forces with Indigenous leaders and water protectors from around the world, many of whom have faced similar harms from extractive industry. Tara Houska asserts that the shutdown of this massive pipeline sends a critical message to the fossil fuel industry that these dangerous projects will not be tolerated and that a regenerative green economy is non-negotiable. Photo credit: Democracy Now! (video screenshot)

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

3 05, 2020

Fierce Life: Maria do Socorro Silva

2023-01-25T11:40:52-05:00Tags: |

Maria do Socorro Silva is a descendant of enslaved Africans, and an Indigenous woman of the Amazon forest, in the region of Barcarena. Like her ancestors, Maria has resisted and rebelled against colonial, capitalist forces, who see the land and women’s bodies as property for the taking. Norst Hyrdo is a Norwegian company that extracts raw materials from Barcarena. High levels of aluminum, iron, copper, arsenic, mercury and lead have been found in the Murucupi River in Barcarena, contaminating the river that Indigenous communities depend on, leading to illness and death. Maria, herself fighting cancer caused by the contamination, also fights by sharing her story to young climate activists, explaining to them the connection between the health of Indigenous Peoples to the health of the environment. Like her ancestors, Maria resists and fights for the next generation. Photo credit: Liliana Merizalde/Atmos

24 04, 2020

Meet Isabel Wisum

2020-04-24T15:51:56-04:00Tags: |

Isabel Wisum became the first woman to be elected Vice President of Achuar Nation of Ecuador (NAE) in 2016, and the first woman to have a leadership position in that community. She has supported the maternal and neonatal health of other women in the Amazon rainforest, empowering generations of women as rainforest guardians. A trained community health promoter, her leadership inspires other women of NAE to participate in the local decision-making process, helping to build resilience for her culture, land and people. Photo Credits: Pachamama

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

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 

15 11, 2019

A Force Of Nature: Protecting Mongolia’s Elusive Snow Leopards

2020-11-20T17:44:50-05:00Tags: |

Bayarjargal Agvaantseren is a Mongolian activist and conservationist who has created the first snow leopard sanctuary in the world. Raised by a family of teachers, she grew up in northern Mongolia with her own educational path shifting toward conservation as she engaged with rural herders who wanted to protect their livestock from the leopards. Her tireless efforts led to her starting the Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation with a focus on community-driven programs that protect both the herders’ livestock as well as the snow leopard population.  Agvaantseren has also held the Mongolian government accountable by successfully pressuring them to cancel 37 mining licenses of companies who have played a major role in threatening the habitat of the native snow leopard. The Tost Tosonbumba nature reserve in the south Gobi Desert encompasses 1.8 million acres that now protect the snow leopard population and is primarily managed by local communities. Photo credit: Positive.News

2 08, 2019

From The Archive: The Local’s First Interview With Greta Thunberg

2020-12-02T21:54:27-05:00Tags: |

In this article first published in the Local (Swedish) newspaper, Greta Thunberg describes herself as a climate radical. At 15 years old, she decided to make a stand for climate change by protesting outside Sweden’s Parliament every day so politicians would take climate issues seriously. The choice of location ensured the protest would attract attention from tourists and professionals passing by; such as being approached by Minister for Social Affairs Annika Strandhäll. Greta chose to raise awareness about climate change and counteract the lack of youth voting power by refusing to attend school, which is obligatory until the age of 16. Involved in environmental issues since she was 11, Greta started organising herself to do something about the worrying effects of climate change. By the 5th day of protest, she was joined by 35 people sitting outside parliament, including Fatemeh Khavari, spokesman for the young Afghans against Swedish deportations policy. Photo Credit: Catherine Edwards/The Local

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

8 05, 2019

Teen Girls Are The Best At Convincing Parents That Climate Change Is Real, Study Finds United States

2023-04-16T15:04:41-04:00Tags: |

In this article, Anne Gaviola details the findings of a 2019 study, which revealed teen girls most effectively express the urgency of the climate crisis to their parents, even when compared to adult experts and journalists parents see in the media. The North Carolina State University study focused on 238 American youths (ages 10-14) and their parents to measure parents’ level of concern about climate change to see who was most influenced by which informants. The study showed that the people who had initially been the least concerned about climate change — conservatives and fathers — were the most impacted by the conversations they had with their children about the issue. Young girls were shown to be the most effective and persuasive communicators in this age group. Gaviola notes that this is positive news for the young women and youth who are climate activists; their voices have the potential to make a large impact. Photo credit: Stephanie Zollshan (The Berkshire Eagle/Ap)

28 04, 2019

The Amazon is a Woman

2023-01-25T12:23:37-05:00Tags: |

In Brazil, Indigenous women are fighting against the exploitation of the Amazon rainforest in more ways than one. To protect the Amazon, women are on the frontlines of marches, publicly sharing their stories, leading public meetings, physically preventing access to the forest, relearning their language and culture, teaching children how to resist and act collectively, filing lawsuits against foreign companies exploiting the Amazon, and cultivating alliances with young European activists to jointly protect the Amazon. This does not go without risk. These women withstand threats to and attempts on their lives. These Amazonian women persist because the survival of the Earth and future generations depend upon it. Photo credit: Liliana Merizalde/Atmos

27 04, 2019

How The Tree-Hugging Movement Got Started In A Small Indian Village

2021-01-27T20:32:06-05:00Tags: |

  On March 26, 1973, a young girl spotted loggers heading towards Gopeshwar forest near the small village of Reni, in Uttarakhand. The village advisor, Gaura Devi, recruited 300 village women to hug trees in the forest and physically prevent their deforestation. As large corporations attempted to log near other rural villages, the local women hugged the trees, drawing inspiration from the events at Reni. The movement soon earned the title of the “Chipko andolan,” meaning the “stick-to movement.” Finding its roots in the 1730 Indian tree revolt, and using guiding principles from the Gandhian philosophy of self-sufficiency and self-sustenance, the woman-led Chipko Movement serves as a precursor for modern environmentalism. Photo Credit: Sanjeev Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty

13 04, 2019

A Queer, Female Entrepreneur Is Taking Back Turmeric For Indian Farmers

2020-10-23T23:02:04-04:00Tags: |

Sana Javeri Kadri, a queer immigrant woman of colour, is challenging colonial trade practices with her Oakland-based company, Diaspora Co. Her company aims to support sustainable agricultural practices within the turmeric industry, provide fair compensation to Indian farmers (above ten times the market price), and empower marginalized communities. Diaspora Co. sources their turmeric from Kasaraneni Prabhu, a fourth-generation turmeric farmer working in Southeast India who uses traditional pest control methods involving companion crops. Javeri Kadri also hires queer, especially those of colour, whenever possible aiming to be radically inclusive in order to counter the social injustices and inequities prevalent in the food industry. Photo credit: Elazar Sontag

4 04, 2019

How A Female Fast Food Worker Became An Activist

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

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

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

8 03, 2019

Women, Indigeneity And Earth Protection

2023-04-16T15:26:05-04:00Tags: |

Women are fighting to make their resistant efforts against extractive industries more visible to demonstrate an alternative way of living that is desperately needed. Lynda Sullivan highlights the stories of women who are leading resistant efforts in their local communities to protect Mother Earth against extractive industries. In sharing these women’s stories, Sullivan illustrates the connection between violence against women and Mother Earth, where there is a clear intersection between suppressing feminine power and objectifying the sacred and creative core of the feminine. Through her writing, Sullivan fights against these extractive industries through the power of storytelling.

3 03, 2019

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

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

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

28 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

5 02, 2019

Emily Satterwhite of Appalachians Against the Pipelines

2019-04-13T15:55:11-04:00Tags: |

Emily Satterwhite detained the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline for 14 hours by chaining herself to a backhoe. She is an active part of Appalachians Against Pipelines, defending the mountains and forests in West Virginia. In this interview, she discusses the role of lobbyists, the influence of corporate interest, and the struggle to keep fracking pipelines outside of the state. She refutes many myths regarding pipelines, emphasizing that Dominion Energy and it’s investors are profiting, but there is no benefit for West Virginians.Photo Credit: Thunderdomepolitics.com

20 11, 2018

The White Man Stole The Weather

2020-11-20T17:21:30-05:00Tags: |

In this Mothers of Invention podcast, former Irish president Mary Robinson and New-York-based Irish-born comedian Maeve Higgins focus on money and climate change. This episode specifically addresses climate change as a human rights, justice and climate issue; and highlights the importance of divesting from the carbon economy to invest into renewable energy, the green economy and jobs of the future. Divestment, from fossil fuel, pipelines, oppressive systems etc. is powerful and effective as ‘it speaks to people’s pockets’. The podcast features female activists’ experiences and campaigns from South Africa and the US. Yvette Abrahams is a former apartheid activist and Commission for Gender Equality. May Boeve is an an American environmental activist, organiser and Executive Director of 350.org, a global grassroots climate movement. Tara Houska is a Couchiching First Nation citizen; a tribal rights US attorney, environmental and indigenous rights advocate, and the National Campaigns Director of Honor the Earth. Photo Credit: Unknown

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

The Power of Rural Women To Reduce Global Food Insecurity And Cut Emissions

2020-11-20T17:58:24-05:00Tags: |

Santona Rani, President of the Rajpur Women’s Federation, is working to increase climate and community resilience in her flood-prone area of Tajpur, Lalmonirhat in northern Bangladesh. Climate change is increasing the detrimental effects on crops and productivity. Her organisation is made up of twenty groups that work to assist 500 vulnerable and marginalized women. It works alongside ActionAid’s Promoting Opportunities for Women Empowerment and Rights (POWER) to boost independence through sustainable agriculture that fosters climate resilience. They also work to address the unjust gender roles that exist within the society; aiming to increase income and recognise the amount of work women do, provide training around leadership, women’s rights, financial aspects, sustainable farming and communication skills, as well as endeavour to prevent violence against women. Their work is community based, and involves interactive theatre shows, informative leaflets, and a seed bank and grain store that protects against the damages of flooding or natural disasters. Photo credit: ActionAid.

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

12 10, 2018

Colombian Women Are Putting Their Lives On The Line For The Earth

2020-09-02T23:29:09-04:00Tags: |

The murder of Earth Defenders is on the rise, especially throughout Latin America, according to Global Watch. Nevertheless, Colombian women like Jackeline Romero Epiayu, Briceida Lemos Rivera, Isabel Zuleta, and Nini Johana Cárdenas Rueda continuously fight for the land and their livelihoods. Through community organization and outreach, these women are bravely resisting the expansion of mining industries and  infrastructure projects that have devastating impacts on the environment and local communities. But with such force comes danger as these four women are facing harassment from Colombian authorities, anonymous threats to their lives and loved ones, and have even escaped attempted kidnappings and murders. Photo Credit: Ynske Boersman

12 10, 2018

Across Mozambique and Tanzania, Women Show Us How To Improve Communities And Protect Our Planet

2018-10-12T17:11:52-04:00Tags: |

Women across Mozambique and Tanzania are organizing their communities to improve  local livelihood through sustainability and the protection of natural resources. This inspirational blog by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) explores  the stories of various community leaders building long lasting projects. Like the story of Alima Chereira, who formed an agricultural association that teaches women climate-resilient farming practices. Or entrepreneur Fatima Apacur,  who helped her community form a savings association that uses the ancient practice of group savings and pooling wealth to help community members invest in the future. Photo Credit: WWF/ James Morgan

8 10, 2018

Yes, She Can! A Tale Of Two Women Transforming Their Local Energy Landscapes

2020-11-20T17:52:19-05:00Tags: |

Diana Mbogo and Margaretha Subekti are two female entrepreneurs expanding energy access and transforming daily life for their local communities in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and West Manggarai, Indonesia, respectively. In Dar es Salaam, where power outages are a persistent issue, Mbogo provides technical assistance and sells small-scale energy solutions to residents interested in renewable energy through her company Millennium Engineers. She is driven by the fact that energy is the backbone of development. In West Manggarai, Subekti empowers rural women and encourage sustainability through multiple people-centered businesses that she has founded. As a beneficiary and now leader of Kopernik’s Wonder Women program, she manages and supports over thirty women implementing recycling/upcycling projects and selling clean energy products in the community to foster economic independence. Additionally, Subekti’s Rumah Pintar offers community and guidance to neighborhood women and children and her local coffee shop maintains a strong business model of supporting local farmers.

3 10, 2018

Hamari Roti, Hamari Aazadi Our Bread, Our Freedom: Diverse Women Of The World Resolve To Defend Biological And Cultural Diversity, Through Non-violence, Love And Friendship

2020-11-07T17:26:57-05:00Tags: |

Women in India have re-initiated a movement called ‘Our Bread, Our Freedom’ (Hamari Roti, Hamari Azaadi), in efforts to counter the corporate food system driven by new East India Companies which has led to an epidemic of farmer suicides and varying health issues.  Diverse Women for Diversity aim to reveal the pseudo food safety regulations and fake knowledge surrounding nutritionally empty and toxic food. The movement builds alternatives to the monoculture of chemical farming and through bread, reclaim not only their freedom but also their historical and cultural knowledge in producing diverse foods. In Doon Valley on the 2nd of October 2018 women gathered from 25 regions in India to cook breads typical to their state, including roti from Uttarakhand, Sathuu from Bihar and rice flour chila from Chhatisgarh. They pledge to rejuvenate their local cultures, cleanse from within as well as keep clean their external environment, spread food and nutrition literacy, and build sustainable food economies grounded in social justice, non-violence, and love. Photo Credit: Unknown

23 09, 2018

Indigenous Women Rise Against Climate Half-Measures

2020-10-23T22:20:10-04:00Tags: |

Indigenous women organizers lead Solidarity to Solutions Week (Sol2Sol) during the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, CA. Kandi Mossett with the Indigenous Environmental Network grew up in the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota whose community experienced high cancer rates from close proximity to coal plants and uranium mining. Isabella Zizi with Idle No More SF Bay was raised in Richmond, California near the Chevron refinery with accidents disproportionately impacting Indigenous and communities of color. The week of action criticizes politicians who cling to false solutions to the climate crisis that support the fossil fuel industry and market-based solutions while leaving out frontline communities. Mossett and Zizi describe alternative community-based events during Sol2Sol including a People’s Climate March led by the Ohlone people native to the Bay Area, prayer ceremonies on sacred sites, visits to nearby sustainable farms, and educational workshops. Photo credit: Daniela Kantorova/Flickr

14 09, 2018

At The GCAS In San Francisco, The Youth Have A Voice—But Only One

2023-04-16T14:39:36-04:00Tags: |

In this interview, Jamie Margolin, founder of Zero Hour, discusses her activism and the invitation she received to speak at the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco. At only 16 years old, Margolin is the summit’s youngest speaker and the only voice invited to represent the concerns and activism of Gen Z. She intends to use her platform to call attention to the pressing, yet often ignored and overlooked, concerns of youth and frontline communities of color about the connections between climate crisis and capitalism. Photo Credit: Zero Hour

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

‘A Hitman Could Come And Kill Me’: The Fight For Indigenous Land Rights In Mexico

2020-10-10T20:29:50-04:00Tags: |

Isela Gonzalez, director of Alianza Sierra Madre, uses civic activism to fight for political change as a way to confront the vested economic interests of not only big corporations, but also narco-gangs and corrupt politicians, that violate indigenous land rights. In a country that is painted in violence, with assassinations as an answer to those who have a different vision than governmental or corporate agendas, standing up for environmental and social causes come with serious risks. Often facing threats to her life, which has resulted in armed guards, panic buttons and crisis training, Gonzalez is staunch in her battle to defend the Tarahumara’s rights. The three tribes who live among the pine-oak forests of the Sierra Madre have a worldview that sees themselves as part of the land and it was this, as well as their way of life, that inspired her to refocus the direction of Alianza Sierra Madre on indigenous rights as the frontline for environmental protection. Photo credit: Thom Pierce for The Guardian.

10 07, 2018

This Indigenous Tribe In Colombia Is Run Solely By Women

2018-11-25T12:20:04-05:00Tags: |

Neris Uriana, the first female chieftain of Wayuu tribe in La Guajira, was elected in 2015. She had tremendous support from her husband Jorge Uriana who thinks the future is female. Jorge was the previous community leader and decided women should participate in decision making and worked to dismantle machismo culture. After becoming chieftain, Neris has introduced sustainable agriculture methods to her tribe and collaborated with other communities to improve irrigation, crop cycles, and land use. Neris has successfully created many women leaders in her tribe, such as Pushaina, who is growing the crops with minimum water supply. Photo Credit: Lucy Sherriff/PRI

8 06, 2018

Pipeline Protester Removed From Perch On Excavator

2019-01-21T19:26:30-05:00Tags: |

Emily Satterwhite, an Appalachian Studies Professor at Virginia Tech, blocked the Mountain Valley Pipeline crossing through Brush Mountains for 14 hours. She used a sleeping dragon to lock herself 20 feet off the ground to the excavator but was later lowered down by law enforcement. With this technique, her arms were inserted at each end of an elbow-shaped piece of pipe, and her hands chained together inside the pipe, making it difficult for her to be removed from the equipment. She chose to protest the pipeline because it threatens the nearby environment. Photo Credit: Heather Rousseu/The Roanake Times

7 06, 2018

The Resilience Of Thai Women Land And Environment Defenders

2019-03-04T01:17:35-05:00Tags: |

Members of the Southern Peasants Federation of Thailand (SPFT) -- a grassroots community of landless farmers -- are being confronted with harassment from military officials in the form of unlawful arrests, human rights abuses, and even murder in an attempt to displace the residing populations from the land for commercial use. Despite authoritarian rule, gender-based discrimination, and impending issues of safety, Thai women land and environment defenders are risking their lives in order to ensure the protection of human rights for not only themselves but for their small-scale farming communities as well. In May of 2018, women from the SPFT gathered in Bangkok demanding support from the United Nations offices and government agencies. By challenging unjust land rights and management policies and commanding reparations for human rights abuses, these women have pushed authorities to agree upon land titles for the community and to cease the wrongful prosecutions against villagers. Photo credit: Use Default

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

5 06, 2018

Women, Land And Peace: Celebrating Women Land Defenders For World Environment Day!

2023-04-16T14:58:36-04:00Tags: |

The Nobel Women’s Initiative premiered Women, Land and Peace short films to bring awareness to World Environment Day by highlighting the work of women land defenders in Honduras and Guatemala. The first film documents Nobel peace laureates Tawakkol Karman and Shirin Ebadi’s time spent with human rights and environmental activists in Honduras. Indigenous women’s resistance is central to this film, as is the injustice and danger they face in their mission to protect their land and territories. In the second film, Karman, Ebadi, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, and Jody Williams speak with women land defenders in Guatemala. These women lead a peaceful and organized resistance to defend land and life from the destructive forces of extractivism in their communities. Despite the threat of violence, imprisonment, and assassination they face, these women continue their fight for Mother Earth.

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

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

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

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

Female Farmworkers Leading The #MeToo Fight For Workers Everywhere

2020-10-10T19:20:50-04:00Tags: |

Daughters of field workers are participating in a five day “Freedom Fast”, and joining the Time’s Up Wendy’s March in Manhattan. Their demonstration calls upon Wendy’s to sign onto the Fair Food Program which addresses many of the structural issues enabling sexual harassment in the workplace. The demonstration is taking place alongside the Time’s Up and #MeToo movement which has drawn global attention to the treatment of all women in the workforce. Women working in agriculture are strong voice in this movement as they report especially high rates of sexual assault in the workplace. So far the women’s efforts to suede Wendy’s have been unsuccessful. Photo Credit: Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW)

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 Erin Brockoviches Of Ecuador

2020-10-05T16:40:01-04:00Tags: |

In the Ecuadorian Amazon, women from different indigenous frontline-communities are leading the protests against further oil and mining concessions. As they see the wellbeing of the people and an intact environment as inextricably linked, they frame their struggle against resource exploitation as a human rights issue. In the areas affected by former oil drilling, the water and soil contamination from former oil wells pose a great health risk to the residents and deteriorate formerly fertile soil. Additionally, women living in towns where oil extraction occurs have been found to face a greater risk of gender-based violence. Photo credit: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images

18 05, 2018

Women Leaders Come Together To Fight Climate Change

2019-04-13T16:10:40-04:00Tags: |

Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna hosted the Climate Leaders’ Summit, gathering fearless women from all over the world, including representatives from the public, private, academic, and civil society sectors working to create  solutions to the climate crisis. The summit’s main focus was on women’s leadership, working to ensure female participation in climate policymaking, environmental science, and engineering, and technological innovation. Photo Credit: UN Environment

14 05, 2018

How Cuba’s Women Farmer’s Kept Everyone Fed

2020-10-06T23:13:36-04:00Tags: |

Before 1989, Cuba depended on the Soviet Union for agricultural supplies to help maintain Cuban agriculture industries such as coffee, bananas, and sugar. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, Cuba found itself cut off from these agricultural supplies and in an economic crisis. Over the course of the next six years, the Cuban government encouraged alternative agricultural practices and ran workshops to teach residents various forms of food production methods. Former biology teacher Edith participated in one of these workshops. Afterwards, she founded the urban farm Linda Flor ten minutes away from Sancti Spíritus’ main square. Thanks to Edith’s scientific knowledge, perseverance, and passion for agriculture, Linda Flor flourished despite the small urban space. Now, students from around the world flock to Sancti Spíritus to tour Edith’s farm.   Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images

3 05, 2018

She Stands Up To Power. Now, She’s Afraid To Go Home

2018-08-24T16:59:01-04:00Tags: |

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations special rapporteur for the rights of indigenous people has fled her home in the Philippines due being falsely accused as a terrorist by Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte. Going home is now unsafe for Ms. Tauli-Corpuz due to her powerful stance on land rights for indigenous communities. Recently, she was included on a list of suspected terrorists by the Filipino Government. While the Filipino Government has insisted this designation is due to ties to banned leftist groups, her criticism of the military forced displacement of indigenous people in Mindanao, Philippines is likely the cause. Along with her vocal criticism of displacement, Ms. Tauli-Corpuz has also focused much of her energy on climate change and the inclusion of indigenous people in climate justice - a stance that has jolted the international forefront.  Photo Credit: Annie Ling for The New York Times

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

23 04, 2018

Goldman Environmental Prize: Top Awards Dominated By Women For First Time

2018-10-12T15:25:48-04:00Tags: |

Francia Márquez is among the female  earth defenders recognized by the Goldman Environmental Prize for their longstanding role in standing up to social and environmental injustices despite constant threats to their lives from powerful vested interests. A lifetime Afro-Colombian activist, law student, and single mother of two, Márquez led 80 women on a long, 10-day march that pressured the Colombian government to remove illegal miners polluting local rivers. In addition to Márquez, the female recipients were Makoma Lekalakala and Liz McDaid from South Africa, Nguy Thi Khanh from Vietnam, LeeAnne Walters from the United States, and Claire Nouvian from France who have fought to protect vulnerable communities from polluting resources. Photo credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

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 

19 04, 2018

This Young Environmental Activist Lives 500 Feet From A Drilling Site

2018-10-29T16:36:15-04:00Tags: |

Ashley Hernandez grew up in Wilmington in South Los Angeles, a primarily latino community and home to one of the largest oil fields in the United States. Hernandez tackles environmental justice issues by educating her community about pollution. Her first campaign, “Clean Up Green Up,” led the Los Angeles City Council to support a pollution prevention and reduction strategy. Her new campaign is calling on Governor Jerry Brown to make California the first oil-producing state to phase out existing oil and gas production and to transition to sustainable fuels that can provide new jobs for workers while also protecting public health of vulnerable communities.  Photo Credit: Melissa Lyttle for HuffPost

13 04, 2018

Taking Our Power Back: Women and Girls Are Key To Food Security During Conflict

2020-12-02T21:58:31-05:00Tags: |

Saiyara Khan writes about the fundamental role that women and girls play in ensuring food security during times of conflict. Often, gender inequalities and societal norms restrict their participation in the management and decision-making processes over key resources such as land or livestock. However, given that they are involved in key processes such as food production and water collection for the household, women’s empowerment is a fundamental determinant in whether communities have access to food. Photo credit: UN Women

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

30 03, 2018

Meet The People Courageously Resisting New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure

2020-11-07T18:11:24-05:00Tags: |

Oliveria Montes is the spokeswoman for several Indigenous communities including the Totonacos, the Nahuas, and the Otomies in Mexico in active resistance to the Tula-Tuxpan gas pipeline in Puebla and Hidalgo. These communities are organizing against the final portion of the pipeline construction which if completed would run through key water sources and mountainous ancestral lands. Montes affirms that their struggle is not only to protect the land and Indigenous communities, but is also a fight against ongoing foreign corporate influence intertwined with political corruption in Mexico. In the face of intimidation and violence, Montes is spreading awareness of these corrupt actions to international activists for further support. Photo credit: [Video screenshot]