Say NO to Pesticides!

The Feminist Majority Foundation unites with our union brothers and sisters to demand justice for farm workers!

Nearly three weeks after Cesar E. Chavez's birthday, the United Farm Workers continue to work for the rights of farm workers. Working conditions for farm workers have been historically unsafe, unsanitary, and unacceptable until community and environmental activists stepped in to make a change. For years, the Environmental Protection Agency has allowed the use of a dangerous pesticide called methyl iodide despite concern from activists, scientists, scholars, and farm workers. In order to stop it, we need to act NOW!

Methyl Iodide is a chemical found in pesticides that is known to cause cancer, neurological damage, and late-term miscarriages. This chemical is dangerous to those that work with it and to those that live in neighboring communities. The California Scientific Review Committee, CREDO Action, and the United Farm Workers are among a few of the different forces coming together to stop the use of this dangerous pesticide. In 2007, more than 50 scientists and scholars sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency warning of this hazardous chemical. For years, the $2 billion industry has ignored what scientists have called, "one of the most toxic chemicals on earth." Due to the hard work of activists and a public outcry for an alternative to methyl iodide, the EPA announced that they will reconsider their choice of using the pesticide.

These businesses are affecting our bodies, our health, our environment. Farm workers deserve to work in safe environments and their health should not be a cost of work. Help the United Farm Workers reach their goal of 200,000 signatures by signing their petition.

Picture courtesy of reallynatural.com

Taking Action for Women this Earth Day

Earth Day is right around the corner this month - are you ready? Here at FMF, we think the environment is a feminist issue. If you haven't already planned an event for campus, have no fear, there's still time. Get started by taking a minute to check out FMF's Women and Climate Change Campaign!

According to experts, water will be the first resource majorly impacted by climate change. Though we all feel the effects, the world's poorest populations have to face the stark reality of our environmental crisis on a daily basis.

Did you know that women are disproportionately affected by lack of water access? Because many water-related tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and laundry fall to women in the developing world, lack of access to water or poor water quality have negative impacts on women first. Environmental factors like water-borne illnesses and drought contribute to keeping the world's poorest populations trapped in a cycle of poverty and inequity.

So What Can You Do?

This Earth Day, take the opportunity to make sure your community is educated and taking action. A great way to focus your activism is to concentrate on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Call or write your lawmakers and ask them to support a renewed commitment to meeting the MDGs by 2015. While all the goals need to be a priority, here's some key talking points on a few of them in case you aren't familiar:

• Goal #3 promotes gender equality and empower women
• Goal #5 would improve maternal health - a critical need today. Check out our new global materials about maternal mortality for more information!
• Goal #7 ensures environmental sustainability, access to safe, potable drinking water and sanitation.

Our Women & Climate Change action ideas (available on the web and in PDF) pamphlet has some fun ways that you can call attention to climate change and put a feminist spin to it. Here's a few highlights:

• Use a poster campaign near water sources to remind people how much we take for granted our access to water! A simple sign like: "The average woman walks 6-9 miles to get to water. And then has to carry it back." by the drinking fountain will make people think twice.
• Walk for Water Access – Have people physically walk and carry water (or an equivalent weight) a representative distance on campus. To make it more fun and interactive, host a race and challenge people. See how long it takes them to make the trek and subtract points for water lost en route.
• On-Campus Conservation – Start a campaign on campus to conserve water and get your campus to “go green.” Meet with administrators and different offices on campus with specific goals and develop a plan for meeting them!

Again, for more suggestions on how to bring an Earth Day event to your campus, check out the whole list of action ideas. Contact your campus organizer if you need help planning your event, and let us know how it went! We'd love to get your feedback.

photo courtesy of wwworks on flickr.

This article was featured in our April 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!

Copenhagen Talks, Birth Control & the Environment

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) produced a report on the state of the world population as it stands in 2009. The report “urged world leaders to take into account improved access to family planning services in future discussions like next month's UN climate change summit in Copenhagen.” (earthtimes.com) It noted that there is still time to work on issues regarding reproductive health, gender equality and how thinking “creatively” about the two and its effect on population could aid in a more sustainable world in the future.

As our faithful readers know, I have been blogging about the Copenhagen talks and of the level of commitment various world leader have said they will or will not commit in reaching long term agreements in the December climate change summit. Currently as it stands, President Obama acknowledge the US would not enter in any binding agreements at Copenhagen, that it would be “impossible.” (Expect Delays—Not a Good Enough Answer) But, other world leaders have said long term commitments through agreements and legislation is possible by December. We will have to wait and see.

Despite various world leaders saying they will or will not enter into agreements…There are more equally pressing issues left that need discussing other than the depletion of natural resources and carbon omissions that affect climate change, such as the effects of an ever growing population on the environment.

UNFPA executive director, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, said that in order to help mobilize women against climate change they have to be empowered. CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECTS EVERYONE, although the news is currently filled with stories of climate change affecting poorer populations (especially women)... they are only the first of all of us to experience the detrimental impacts.

Although there is no empirical evident in the report that explains how population control would affect climate change, one only needs common sense to realize that the more people there are in the world, the more consumption of resources, the more waste, and the more greenhouse gasses there will be. A worthwhile discussion in Copenhagen would definitely be to consider the impact of birth control and overall health education on environmental preservation.

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

Photo Credit: Jealously on flickr.com

Expect Delays--Not a Good Enough Answer

During the past few weeks, rumors have been circulating about the delay of creating any formal agreements or legislation at the international climate change negotiations in Copenhagen. However, not all countries are eager for the delay. UN environment chief Achim Steiner warns that such delays would have a “human cost” as well as harm the planet as discussed in yesterday's Guardian.

This past weekend, President Obama acknowledged that the US would not enter in any binding agreements at Copenhagen, that it would be impossible. But there is still hope, despite a lack of formal agreements or legislation positive outcomes are still possible. Even negotiations can set time limits requiring further action.

Gridlock in Copenhagen would have big risks economically and socially. More and more people are being affected by climate change… and the lack of formal agreements only furthers these problems which adversely affects women more than men.

Check out the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Women & the Environment campaign. Information can be found at http://www.feminist.org/global/womenclimatechange.html.

Photo Credit: Estherase 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

Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai

Hey all! The forecast for this weekend predicts thunderstorms, so if you’re hanging out and looking for a good movie, check out Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai. I recently saw the film as part of the American University Human Rights Film Festival and thought it was incredibly well done.

Some background- Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her political and environmental activism in Kenya. The film depicts her journey as an advocate and the beginning of the revolutionary Green Belt Movement, as well as the stories of the women she empowers along the way.

Wangari is a woman whose husband divorced her because she was too “self-sufficient” and “strong-minded,” leaving her to raise their children alone AND inspire and create some of the most significant environmental and political change Kenya has ever seen. She was beaten, slandered, and detained by the Kenyan government, and not once did she give in. I could go on for days about how amazing she is and what her work has done to change the lives of so many, not just those in Kenya, but I’ll let you find out for yourselves.

Photocredit: flicker.com

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