Global

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26 07, 2023

Society Leaves Disabled Communities Sweltering

2023-11-29T18:40:26-05:00Tags: , |

Disabled people make up the world’s largest minority and yet they have not had opportunities to participate fully in society. The climate crisis has exacerbated these inequities. Yessenia Funes highlights stories and statistics from around the world, emphasizing the societal barriers to civic participation that go beyond individual conditions. The rise of heat waves have put disabled people at increased risk of health complications. These disabilities can make extreme heat and light exposure inherently more difficult, causing individuals to lack the ability to perspire or make it painful to be in high light/heat areas. On top of that, there are structures in place that complicate life for disabled people, such as lack of accessible housing, lack of inclusion in emergency response protocols, economic challenges, and other social determinants of health that affect them every day. Amid the crisis, they are losing their lives at disproportionate rates. This is worsened further for historically underserved groups, such as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and rural communities. Disabled people have had to innovate and adapt to survive their regular lives, and now the changing climate. This kind of thinking is vital for climate adaptation. Climate resilience must include accessibility and inclusion so that everyone is able to live full, equitable, and enjoyable lives.  Photo credit: Yaorusheng/Getty Images

19 12, 2022

How Asian-Pacific Islanders Shaped Environmental Activism

2023-11-28T20:41:44-05:00Tags: , , |

Asian-Pacific Islanders have been on the frontlines of the climate crisis—both by being disproportionately and uniquely affected by disasters and geological shifts, but also driving innovation, hope, and change in their communities and around the world. Youth climate activist, Alexia Leclercq, presents an anthology of stories and milestones from Asian-Pacific Islander activists and community leaders as they move through generations of challenges. These communities have built up resilience and strength throughout centuries of colonization, capitalism, and now the climate crisis, and use their knowledge to further progress in all areas. Leclercq draws on her experiences and identity through her journey in the climate movement, and emphasizes the need for “radical listening” to make change. Representation in climate spaces is not sufficient; we must deeply listen and actively learn from the experiences and ideas of those who know this space most intimately. We must honor the unique identities that come into the movement, and come together to make restorative progress. Photo credit: Moonassi

28 10, 2022

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

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

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

10 10, 2022

Give legal rights to animals, trees and rivers, say experts | Environment | The Guardian

2024-02-14T12:01:36-05:00Tags: , |

This article discusses the perspectives of the authors, Dr. Wendy Schultz and Dr. Trish O’Flynn, who co-wrote the report, Law in the Emerging Bio Age. Their report emphasizes the importance that legal frameworks have in the interactions between humans, their environments, and biotechnology. Dr. O’Flynn elaborates on the common misperception that humans are outside of nature and the ideology that nature is something for humans to control or alter. Dr. O’Flynn also highlights the potential of implementing legal protection for non-human species, such as allowing other species to achieve their own potential cognitively, emotionally, and socially. With the continuing developments in biotechnology, questions concerning ethics also arise about the role that humans have in using it. Dr. Schultz suggests the creation of an accountability framework would ensure consequences for these actions, which is where Rights of Nature laws would play their most crucial role. The article closes by calling attention to the difficulty of spreading this approach in western countries as opposed to others who have already adopted legislation protecting the Rights of Nature.  Photo Credit: Dušan Veverkolog (Unsplash)

28 09, 2022

Gender, care and climate change — why they are connected

2023-11-29T18:02:25-05:00Tags: , |

Imraan Valodia, Siviwe Mhlana, and Julia Taylor deconstruct the interlocking crises of the care sector and explain why they are important to sustainable environmental and economic development. One crisis is the lack of representation of unpaid work in economic calculations. During the global lockdown, many realized that health care and domestic services, both paid and unpaid, are essential for sustaining our collective livelihoods. This work, disproportionately taken on by women around the world, creates resilient economies and caters towards environmental protection. This leads to the second crisis―care for the environment and the climate crisis. Historically underserved communities contribute the least to the perpetuation of the crisis but are at the forefront of local and global solutions. They are, in essence, the caretakers of the environment. However, they are the most impacted by climate disasters. Women already face barriers to accessing education, economic mobility, healthcare, and other services due to their roles as caretakers, and the compounding crises of care place additional burdens on them. Valuing care in all of its forms, and supporting caretakers in every field, is vital to addressing the crises. Photo credit: Daily Maverick

8 07, 2022

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

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

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

26 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

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