By Aidan Potter, TWR Youth Action Fellow ‘20
With contributions from Luke Yang and Katherine Leonard
When discussing climate change, its effects on women and what they can contribute are often forgotten.
Climate change is an issue that stands to have a detrimental impact on the world as we know it without proper intervention. The U.S. has now joined nearly 200 other countries in recognizing this dire threat to our planet, as one of President Biden’s first actions upon taking office was rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement. In doing so, Americans joined 196 other parties in a global consensus of monitoring, reporting, and enforcing climate change crisis intervention.
The Paris climate agreement expects all parties involved to make commitments in reducing the carbon emissions of their country and incorporating sustainable energy as soon as possible. The agreement is a pact for action among a diverse group of nations and territories, with signing members including India, Mexico, New Zealand, and The Philippines. Sweden, Denmark, and Morocco are the three most sustainable countries according, to the Climate Change Performance Index, which evaluates countries based on greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, energy use, and climate policy.
Sweden is a high-performing country in the index because of the Swedish government’s standards for emissions and pushes for continuous development of sustainable agriculture and biofuel. The Swedish government requires certain tax rates to be paid on fossil fuels and other non-sustainable energy products. Perhaps not quite so coincidentally, one of the most well-known climate activists to emerge in recent years, Greta Thunberg, hails from Sweden. With her strong message and emphatic delivery, she has pushed many world leaders to act more decisively to combat the climate crisis. Supporters and critics of Thunberg alike view her remarkably young age as a topic of heated discussion, but another aspect of her activism arguably deserves as much attention: she is a woman, which matters much more than one might think.
Emerging economies depend upon women for support in developing infrastructure and self-sufficiency. Women are essential to development and self-sufficiency, and in countries with emerging economies, women face immense challenges in their day-to-day lives. According to Balgis Osman-Elasha of the United Nations, women in countries with emerging economies are not only affected disproportionately by the natural conclusions of climate change, but women in countries with emerging economies also suffer politically, socially, and culturally because of climate change.
Women in countries with emerging economies face great adversity due to the lack of access to means of protection from climate change. Women and children are often forced to gather water and find food to sustain health that may be on land that is dangerous or uninhabitable. Land destruction due to storms enhanced by climate warming is inevitable. As a result, women are often displaced, alongside children and the elderly.
There is also the risk of contamination from poisonous and toxic waste in water for people living in countries with inadequate sanitation, particularly those that mine precious metals. Unsafe potable water increases the risk of death and long-lasting deadly diseases in women and children caught in an uninhabitable land.
While women do suffer greatly at the hands of climate change, it is integral to view women in countries with emerging economies as agents for positive, creative, and cooperative innovation. The strength and solidarity of women suffering from the effects of climate change is starkly underrepresented and should be heard, listened to, and brought into important discussions of anything from funding to resource allocation.
Lack of opportunity due to discrimination in emerging economies as well as climate-driven displacement and loss disproportionally affects women. The United States rejoining the accord means two things: The first, a definite step forward in the recognition of climate change science and the end of misinformation surrounding it on a domestic level in the United States. It also means that other nations and territories of the world are called to action to join the accords. Decisions that the U.S. makes carry great weight when it comes to the actions of other countries. A prime example of this influence is how China waited to confirm its new climate plans until after the U.S. election finished, indicating that a more climate-focused U.S. president would push China to take the crisis more seriously, while a more lenient president would cause it to do the opposite. Countless other countries view the U.S. as a role model in this way, and the fact that the U.S. has now rejoined the agreement means that other countries around the world will soon follow suit in implementing stricter climate regulations.
Specifically for the United States, rejoining the accords means new legal and ethical responsibility to respond and do what is necessary for a just response to climate change. The rejoining of the accords forces the United States policymakers to prioritize the Earth and its longevity and long-term goal setting.
The United States has the opportunity to set a precedent for the rest of the world. The climate crisis is an incredibly intersectional issue where the voice and stories of women must be listened to. Action must be taken to understand the complexity of the situation that women face in these territories. The urgency of climate change is not only an environmental issue but also a women’s issue. To advance women’s rights around the globe, direct action is needed to curb global warming and assist vulnerable populations in the fight to save our planet.
Aidan Potter is a TWR Youth Action Fellow and a sophomore at the University of Montana.
References:
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/paris-climate-agreement-everything-you-need-know
Banner Image Source: https://www.earth.com/news/polar-bears-climate-change-2/