Guest Post: Building an International Youth Movement for Sex, Rights and Climate Change Solutions in Cancún

Today's guest post comes from Cassie Gardner, a Public Health Student at UCLA, and a previous National Youth Organizer with the Sierra Club. Here she writes about her experience at the International Climate Change Conference in Cancun this past week.

Two weeks ago when I bought my flight to attend the International Climate Change Conference in Cancún Mexico (COP 16), my classmates at my UCLA Masters in Public Health Program thought I was crazy. They knew that I’d worked for nearly four years as a Sierra Club Global Population and Environment Program National Youth Organizer, to advance global women's rights, reproductive health and sustainable development solutions. But what did that have to do with reducing carbon dioxide emissions and increasing communities’ resilience to the economic, health and environmental impacts of climate change around the world?

For the past two years I’ve

worked with friends and colleagues to help design a collaborative policy statement for COP 15 in Copenhagen and COP 16 in Cancún, “Global Youth Support Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights as Just and Equitable Climate Change Solutions.” Co-sponsored by twelve youth leadership, population and reproductive health, and environmental organizations like Advocates for Youth, Population Action International and Sierra Club, this statement makes the case that investing in women's voices and choices-- especially young women in developing countries who are often most vulnera

ble to climate change impacts, having to cope with drought, flooding, disasters and disease-- will help to build more healthy, resilient communities to climate change impacts. Sexual and reproductive health solutions that are also climate change solutions include but are not limited to educating girls and boys, empowering women, ensuring access to comprehensive sexuality education, meeting the demand for voluntary family planning, and strengthening communities’ resilience to climate change impacts—thus empowering people to choose healthy families and a healthy planet.

Over the summer I volunteered for two months with a Youth Leadership in Sexual and Reproductive Health Program in Quintana Roo, Mexico, GoJoven, run by International Health Programs of the Public Health Institute. Working with youth leaders in the environmental, reproductive health, media, NGO and political fields, we strategized their involvement in the International Climate Change Conference (COP 16) from November 29th-December 10th in Cancún, Mexico. In the end we accredited six GoJoven youth leaders to officially attend the conference and more than ten to attend and speak at unofficial side-events like the Conference of Youth and Kilmaforum. While in Cancún, we also attended a PAI-run workshop on “Strengthening the Linkages between Population, Reproductive Health, Gender and Climate Change Resilience” along with youth and adult leaders from the Philippines, India, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Nepal. There, we shared ideas and created action plans involving public education, online networking, and social media to take this movement forward leading up to the COP 17 in South Africa next year.

Although I’m a busy graduate student, I’m honored and thrilled to work in collaboration with friends and fellow activist leaders from around the world on global justice, human rights and sustainability issues that I’m passionate about. Now it’s time to return to Los Angeles for my final exams, and to somehow find time for much-needed research, public education and continued coalition-building over the coming year to strengthen these linkages. Ideally by next year we will have built more awareness and identified new leaders for these issues, to have an even greater turn-out for COP 17 in South Africa!

The Connection Between Women, Water, Climate Change and You

Whether or not you believe the human population is affecting climate change, the recent and frequent changes in climate are definitely affecting the human population. This year alone, we have seen earthquakes destroy entire cities and take millions of human lives. And on a less serious but still pertinent note, the snowstorm that swept over the northeastern section of the United States this winter buried us in several feet of snow, the likes of which we had not seen before.

And while there is excessive rain in some areas (like Rhode Island saw in the recent week), the air is dangerously dry in states ranging from Alabama to Florida to Texas, where there are now warnings of potential wildfires.

Global warming might not be the title you prefer for it, but climate change is happening. So you might ask, how is this a feminist issue?

Well, you see, women and water, and therefore climate change, are closely connected, particularly in developing nations and in areas where physical labor is the primary source of income for families. It is like a vicious cycle, with many functioning parts contributing to an overwhelming problem.

We can begin with a report released in 2009 by the United Nations Population Fund, stating that climate change will put the heaviest burden on women in developing nations. After all, women take care of the family, which means doing the cooking, cleaning and caring for the health of their family members, all processes that require water.

As a western nation, we do not think twice about the availability of water because it flows from our faucets, and we can ask for a glass of it for free (even iced) at almost any establishment. But imagine having to walk an average of six to nine miles to get water, and even then, it may not be in drinkable condition. You would have to bring it back in a large container, possibly filter it if you had the tools or the time, and be sure to use what you have for all your household responsibilities. You would view water differently then.

I hope it is clearer for you now how women and water are related. As I mentioned above, while some places might be flooded from climate change, other places experience droughts. This means women must walk even further to find a source of water. It is a painstaking process that slows down the efficiency of households. Of course, it also deprives women of even the thought of education and furthering themselves; their focus is to care for their family and their home.

Perhaps you feel distanced from the problem, since many of these women live in places so far from you. But there is a lot you can do to help, on your very college campus.

Please follow this link and read the Feminist Majority Foundation's Women and Climate Change materials. It provides ideas for activities that will raise student activists' understanding of these women's daily lives. The material also provides ideas about how to conserve water, and every individual effort counts toward our bigger goal of lightening the burden on women who seem so far away.


Photo credits: Flickr and Feminist Campus Team Website

Skills Building: Coalition Building as a Critical Tool

As organizers on campus, students often face a unique set of circumstances that can make it challenging to take on large-scale campaigns and efforts. Between funding shortages, small membership numbers, and balancing of work/school/extracurricular/sleep (ha) schedules, organizers find themselves spread thin. Sound familiar? Probably. All of these factors make taking on a large-scale campaign difficult, but there's a solution: coalition building.

Toward the end of my college career, I dove into a major coalition-based effort on my campus, and the experience forever changed my attitude toward activism. The added value brought to our initiatives (in my case, HIV prevention, treatment, and policy) by our feminist group working with a coalition of other organizations was incredible - and since then, I've been a big believer!

For the purposes of this post, I am going to run through some basic tips regarding coalition building, and then talk about a specific example of a coalition-appropriate initiative - Earth Day and Climate Change.

Some Basics:

1. The coalition has to fit the campaign, not the other way around. When approaching other groups that you would like to work in coalition with, it's important to be open to their ideas and input, but not at the expense of the campaign losing cohesion or wasting anybody's time working on a huge project that won't actually benefit them in the long run.

2. Partner buy-in. This is different than any old event you plan on your own and then ask other groups if you can use their logos on your flyer or if they can forward it to their listserve. Coalitions require DEPENDABLE participation by each member organization, and this can be very tricky. The best tip I've ever been given is to make it clear, up front, what is expected: each organization joining the coalition needs to bring one of the following to the mix: time (person-hours for planning & execution), people (to come out to your events or meetings), or money (to support your campaign's material needs). This may seem awfully abrupt, but it's best to lay it out up front. Preferably, everyone would have a little of each, but in reality, that's rarely the case. This way, groups with a lot of people but no money can participate. Groups with a lot of money but a full calendar of events to plan on their own can still chip in, and so forth.

3. Strength in numbers. If you're going to go to all the trouble to build a coalition, don't sell yourself short reaping the benefits. Some of the key advantages you need to be sure to avail yourself of are:

• Money - coalitions as a whole can usually get far more monetary support than any individual actor could. Ask your student government for a special grant. It's easy for them to nickle and dime one organization, but a collective of 20 orgs will make it far more difficult - together, your organizations represent a LOT of students, and you shouldn't be afraid to remind them of it. Other sources of support to look into are community sponsors, inkind donations, or departmental grants.
• Press - Same with money, it's really hard for your campus and local press to ignore such a big contingent of students. Put together a press release about what you're doing, and ask each member organization to ask among their members to see if anyone has any good connections you could take advantage of.

4. Give yourself time. Because there are so many more actors, you need more time to plan these efforts than you would if you were doing it by yourself. You'll need to put in the ask for special grants or support (see above) sooner rather than later, you'll want to have your key events put on every participating group's calendar so that they can plan their other activities around it. You need time to approach coalition partners and give them time to run the idea past their e-boards and membership. It will take time to get quotes for event spaces and the requests completed. If you're going to have a rally or demonstration, you'll need time for a permit. You need time to advertise. In short? You need time.

5. Leadership. This can be tricky, but the key to a successful coalition is coming up with a form of leadership that works for you. In my experience, one organization generally takes more of a leading role, which has a lot of pros and one really big con: that organization has to work really hard to give every partner a chance to be involved, while still getting things done. If that doesn't seem doable, you need to choose up front how decisions will be made and how people will be held accountable. Consensus? Majority rules? Subcommittees for each event? Lay it out there.

6. Diversity of both types of activity and perspectives involved is important. Because you're working in coalition, you can (and should) be doing things bigger and better than you would on your own. Plan a series of events culminating in something truly huge. Try for a week or month of action. Depending on your subject matter, you may need to start small and start building momentum by pulling more and more people in.

Case Study: Earth Day and Climate Change

To wrap up, Earth Day, which is April 22, is a perfect opportunity to pull together a coalition to work on Climate Change issues. You have enough time, if you start soon, and you have the benefit of a well known national day of action to work toward. Finally (and most importantly!), this is a subject that has a very broad appeal. Many groups on campus will likely have an interest in participating, so why not join forces and work smarter, not harder?

Some possible partners to reach out to are: your feminist/women's group, conservation initiatives, sustainability groups, fair trade orgs, progressive student unions, agricultural clubs, multicultural groups, global or international student groups, public health groups, and much, much more.

There's a lot of different types of activity that you could incorporate, which makes this a great topic. Because climate change is a global issue with local implications and causes, your work can include local, domestic, and international activities. There are direct actions, campus wide 'green' or sustainability efforts to initiate or strengthen, and relevant political initiatives to support. The breadth of possibility here gives it a lot of potential for coalition-based work, and leaves you with a lot to gain. Your organization will bolster its name on campus, you'll gain new members, and be able to magnify your impact greatly.

Some possible actions you could consider include a climate-change carnival, host a campus wide reduce/reuse/recycle campaign, host a teach-in on climate change and its disproportionate effects on various populations, do a film screening of Flow or a similar movie, host a bike-powered concert to promote alternative energy. Check out FMF's Women and Water Toolkit for some great action ideas to get you started.

So, go forth and build a coalition! It'll be a great experience that will truly breathe new life into your activism. Get in touch with us if you need anything, and we're happy to help!

Sources: FMF's Women and Climate Change Campaign, Sierra Club's Global Population and Environment Program, WEDO's Online Action Kit, Earth Day Network

This article was featured in our January 2010 monthly Choices eZine. Sign up for our alerts to stay up-to-date with the latest feminist news and to receive the monthly eZine.

Gender, Farming, and Climate Change

A report by UN Population Fund suggested that gender relations, family planning, and reproductive health care could all have an impact on how the world adapts to climate change; “the close connection between gender, farming and climate change deserves far more analysis than it currently receives" UNFPA said in their report. Through much analysis, it is clear that the same factors that negatively affect the environment, affect women in a comparable way; this is especially true for poor women in developing countries (commondreams.org)

In the United States, much of the Climate Change debate is centered on how it will create jobs and provide for cleaner cities. However, in developing countries around the world, particularly those in South America and Africa that rely heavily on agriculture to sustain not only their families but their communities and economies,there is much more at stake. The working poor in these countries are not fighting for job creation and cleaner energy, they are fighting for their lives and their livelihood.

Women in developing countries are often sent to the farms and fields to earn wages, as agriculture is considered the only ‘suitable’ work for women outside of the home. With limited or no options to leave the home to find income-earning work, or migrate to find such opportunities, women are often locked into not only their trade but also their location. With the lack of mobility and options, it is almost impossible to escape natural disasters; women are exponentially more impacted by weather-related natural disasters than men. In a flash flood, they can lose all of their crops and thus, source of income and access to food, energy, and clean water. It is clear that climate change will have a pervasive and negative affect on the poor women in developing nations who rely on their crops for sustainability and survival; if we work to reverse climate change, we work to empower women. The opposite is true as well.

By increasing health care and access to contraceptives, women are more likely to have less children, slowing down population growth. According to UNFPA, slowing down population growth will have a dramatic affect on (cutting) greenhouse gas emissions and begin the process of slowing down climate change. Education also leads to the ability to learn about more sustainable farming practices. Outside of the obvious environmental effects, more sustainably agriculture has the opportunity to increase economic mobility, independence, and opportunity for women but also increasing their farming capabilities.

The same factors that lead to the degradation of the environment lead to the subordination and disempowerment of women. To help one, we must help the other; when we help both, the situation of the world’s population will improve dramatically.

For more information about women and climate change, check out FMF's Global Campaign website http://feminist.org/global/womenclimatechange.html

photo credit: IRRI Rice on Flickr

NBC's Green Screen

It's widely understood that the images and ideas that we see on TV have an effect on us, though there are disagreements on the extent of the effect. Watching ads about toothpaste encourage us to believe cavities are the modern equivalent of the black plague; the Twilight movies have turned every human being (as well as some pets that have unfortunately been exposed to the material) into Emo Goths that want to shag vampires (alas, we all doomed to perpetual sexual frustration!); and Gossip Girls' portrayal of a threesome is OBVIOUSLY meteor-cultist propaganda encouraging all preteens to go have one.

But if the fairies hiding in every TV box were to use their magical powers of persuasion to encourage environmental responsibility?

Next week, the TV station NBC is going to be incorporating "green themes" into many of their TV programs, according to the Associated Press. 30 Rock will have a cameo with Al Gore, and Alec Baldwin's character will tell his staff they need to cut their carbon footprint. The show "Heroes" will feature a recycling truck. Dwight from "The Office" will don the awe-inspiring title of "Recyclops". Even "The Biggest Loser" will get in on the green game, as they will tell the contestants to eat organic food and bring their own mugs to coffee shops.

So what do you think? Can NBC brand "green" as cool? Will next week's shows act as the harbinger to a happy hippie apocalypse? Or will viewers not be tricked by the blatant environmentalist propaganda? (Being a happy hippie feminist who knows that climate change has a disproportionately negative effect on women's well-being and rights, I'm rooting for the propaganda).

Photo Credit: stringberd on flickr.com

Is Climate Change a Feminist Issue?

OF COURSE! Women are more affected by Climate Change then men, because they make up the majority of the world's poor. However, linking population control to climate change is not the only thing that links climate change to feminist issues, as an article in yesterday’s Guardian pointed out.

It notes, “everyone stands to suffer if climate change is allowed to spiral out of control, of course, but a gender analysis of both the impacts and causes of climate change shows that globally women contribute less to the problem and yet are likely to be hit especially hard.” The world’s poor are the first impacted by climate change and women are 70% of the world’s poor. However, this issue is not limited to the developing world. A study by the Swedish government found that the levels of women's and men's energy consumption was significantly different confirming that men have better accessibility to resources then women.

Want to know more? Get involved with the Women & the Environment campaign with Feminist Majority Foundation! More information can be found at http://www.feminist.org/global/womenclimatechange.html.

Photo Credit: JohnLeGear on flickr.com

Climate Change in Bolivia

The Inter Press Service did a great piece last week discussing Climate Change in Bolivia and the resulting negative effects which primarily affect women more than men. What use to be the world’s highest ski run as melted away revealing the rock and soil underneath. The once snowy mountain, Chacaltaya, is now an example of a dead glacier.

Psychologist Daniela Leytón, head of gender issues with the campaign 350.org in Latin America (a group which is pushing the December climate change summit in Copenhagen to adopt a treat limiting the allowable CO2 concentration levels) noted the adverse affects this one example of climate change had on women due to their low socioeconomic status. Women are being pushed to the limit attempting to feed their families in a time when subsistence farming families are barely able to survive. Unfortunately, climate change will not be stopped with the current lack of treaties expected from the December climate change summit in Copenhagen as expected by the New York Times and previously blogged about.

Want to help? Get involved with the Women & the Environment campaign with Feminist Majority Foundation! More information can be found at http://www.feminist.org/global/womenclimatechange.html.

Photo Credit: RLuna on Flickr.com

The Gendered Impact of Climate Change

Check out my post on Feministing on the gendered impact of climate change!

As we work on expanding our own campaign on the issue, start getting your campus motivated today. For more information, check out FMF's global toolkit!

Lack of International Climate Treaty Affects Women

Time is running out for the international climate change negotiations in Copenhagen. As the New York Times points out, it is unlikely a global climate treaty will be reached by December.

The US and other major polluting countries have decided it is better to take smaller but important steps towards global climate change rather than creating a weak, hard to enforce treaty. Negotiators cite the divide between rich and poor nations as “just too wide” saying that final legislative action should not be expected until the better part of next year.

However, a global climate treaty is necessary to force the world’s countries to take more proactive steps towards halting climate change. Climate change adversely affects women more than men, as women make up nearly 70% of the worlds poor and it is the poor who are affected worst and foremost by this issue.

Want to help? Get involved with the Women & the Environment campaign with Feminist Majority Foundation! Information can be found at http://www.feminist.org/global/womenclimatechange.html.

Photo Credit: Find your Feet on Flickr.com

Be Kind To Your Mother: How FMF Got Involved With the Environment

When the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) first approached me to talk about the possibility of creating a toolkit on women and climate change with FMF's Global Program, I didn't know what to say. Is it actually possible for me to be speechless, I hear you ask? I'll have you know that the answer is yes. Well, every now and then, that is ;)

The truth is, I had nothing to say because I didn't know anything about the issue. Aside from a mandatory class during my Master's "coursework," as the Brits would say, I did not know much about what the connections between women and the environment were. A hundred years ago when I was at UNIFEM UK (United Nations Development Fund for Women), I had to write a piece connecting deforestation in Africa to women's health, mainly respiratory issues through the burning of wood for fuel and food (scroll to pg 26). During my research for this article, I was shocked to uncover that this issue also carried with it a huge sexual violence component, a connection I never would have made.

Nevertheless, women and climate change pretty much ended for me there.

I decided to take the hand offered by WEDO to do this project together, and we brought Sierra Club, the nation's oldest and largest environmental organization, into the fold. I felt with the environment being an issue of huge interest with our students, it was time for FMF to make the women and climate change case for our Campus Program. After combing through an endless list of environmental "hot button" issues, we decided on exposing the gendered impact water had on women's lives. With that, our toolkit "Women, Water and the Search for Equity" was born :)

Deciding what issue we would work on was an education in itself. When I first started work on this project, I was more confused than confident. "What were the links between women and the environment? How are women paying a disproportionate price? Are they?" Let's just say I had my reading cut out for me!

What I learned through our collaboration with WEDO and Sierra Club is that women are tied to the environment in such quiet and intimate ways you would not think of unearthing. But the ties are there, just beneath the surface. Because women are the primary collectors of water in their homes, girls are often pulled out of school to help their mothers with walking the unimaginable distances to fetch water for their families. Hundreds of thousands of girls around the world are denied education as a result. Women are the first to be exposed to water-borne illnesses, resulting in low-birth weights and higher infant mortality ratios in some of the poorest developing nations. Because women have to walk into the forests to gather firewood for fuel, an immeasurable number of women and girls are raped by bandits who lurk in the dark. These are major trends we have seen in both Kenya and Darfur, Sudan.

In honor of Earth Day this year, I could not be more proud to introduce to you to the Feminist Majority Foundation's first ever toolkit on women and water. We have added a whole new page to our global feminism campus site. All the information you need on FMF, WEDO, and Sierra Club's campaigns can be found there!

This Earth Day is the first in my adult life where not only am I educated and aware of all the ways the environment impacts women's lives, but the first time that I am motivated to take action. With the knowledge I gained putting this very new campaign of ours together, came a sense of empowerment that makes me want to act!

This Earth Day, if nothing, take action by acknoweldging that we all have a reponsibility to ourselves and our environment, as women to our bodies and to our sisters around the world, to educate ourselves and each other on how the human population is causing the environmental degradation of our planet, and what we can do to make the destruction stop.

After all, as feminists we have a special responsibility to be kind to our mothers don't we? ;)

Check out FMF's campaign on women and climate change today and spread the word to your friends!

Happy Earth Day!