Mother Earth Day
Women have always been central to the environmental justice movement. In many parts of the world, women live closest to the earth and must deal with the effects of environmental degredation due to industry and/or climate change.
There is a causal interrelationship between gender inequalities and environmental degradation; where the loss of biodiversity, ecosystems and climate change tend to exacerbate existing gender inequalities, which means that the negative impacts of these phenomena are greater on women, placing them, along with girls, in a position of vulnerability where their livelihoods, assets and health are affected.
Women are essential agents of change in their communities to increase the resilience of their environments, as well as to mitigate and confront environmental degradation and climate change. In relation to conservation and climate actions, women generally have different knowledge of the social and environmental setting and differentially support environmental initiatives associated with various sectors where they uniquely contribute to the protection and sustainable management of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, which promotes the sustainability and effectiveness of nature-based solutions to the biodiversity and climate crisis facing the world.
lac.unwomen.org/...
The environmental movement is therefore intimately tied to the movement for women’s rights and with work towards peace. Maybe so many women have been important to conservation for over a century because we tend to see things in terms of relationships, including the relationship between humans and the world around us.
In celebration of Earth Day, we're celebrating sixteen incredible women who are working to protect the environment and all of the creatures which share our planet. From groundbreaking primatologists to deep-sea explorers to determined activists, each of them has changed the way that we see the world — and our role in protecting it. Equally importantly, these women have shown all of us that we have an effect on the health of our plant: from the smallest decisions of our day-to-day lives to international policy — each of us can make a difference.
www.amightygirl.com/…
You can read more about two women (curiously both from Kenya): Wangari Maathai and Dame Daphne Sheldrick. Maathai planted millions of trees to revitalize Kenya’s forests, while earning a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.
In 1971, Wangari Maathai received a Ph.D., effectively becoming the first woman in either East or Central Africa to earn a doctorate. She was elected to Kenya's National Assembly in 2002 and has written several books and scholarly articles. She won the Nobel Peace Prize for her "holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights, and women's rights in particular."
www.biography.com/…
I’m partial to Sheldrick’s work, and for full disclosure, I’ve adopted two orphan elephants. The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust has brought a species back from near-extinction, returning 174 orphaned elephants to the wild, and also worked to lessen human-wildlife conflict in many ways.
When she first made attempts to keep the orphaned babies alive, often at one or two years old, with other milk sources, they remained malnourished and faded into death. It was only after trying every combination she could find that she hit on one baby milk formula from Europe, which contained coconut oil, that seemed to work. She and the elephants never looked back, and now more than 230 elephants in Kenya, and many others in Asia and other parts of Africa, are alive, and mostly in the wild, thanks to her hand-rearing.
www.theguardian.com/...
www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/…
www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/...
In the News
Melissa Lucio is still scheduled for execution on April 27. Call Gov. Greg Abbot:
(512) 463-1782 - Information and Referral and Opinion Hotline
(for Austin, Texas and out-of-state callers)
(512) 463-2000 - Office of the Governor Main Switchboard
(office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST)
If you need to brush up on the facts, here is a good article:
www.theguardian.com/…
This week’s viral video of a truth-teller:
Working to mitigate the effects of the Kentucky anti-abortion law.
"Women of means will always be able to access abortion," said Kate Cunningham, president of A Fund, a Louisville-based group that helps low-income women pay for abortions. "The question is, how do poor women manage to access basic health care?"
Another group, the Kentucky Health Justice Network, helps patients locate the nearest clinic, schedule appointments and assists with expenses ranging from travel to the procedure itself.
www.courier-journal.com/…
50th Anniversary of Women in the Boston Marathon (officially, that is)
Peres Jepchirchir celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Boston Marathon women’s division by winning a see-saw sprint down Boylston Street on Monday as the race returned to its traditional Patriots’ Day spot in the schedule for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Running shoulder to shoulder for most of the course, the reigning Olympic champion and Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh traded places eight times in the final mile, with Jepchirchir pulling ahead for good in the final 385 yards. The Kenyan finished in 2 hours, 21 minutes and 1 second, four seconds ahead of her rival.
www.theguardian.com/…
Mississippi women prisoners protest move
But some of the nearly 870 women living at CMCF are concerned the move will lead to MDOC taking away the programs they value. They say 720 is a “roach-infested, filthy, uninhabitable lockdown building with sewage problems” and that the impending move is reflective of a pattern of unequal treatment of women at CMCF.
Earlier this month, some of the women decided to protest the decision by writing letters they circulated in the prison and delivered, via their families, to state senators.
“Dear Women of CMCF,” reads one of the letters obtained by Mississippi Today. “This is the time. Women either stand together or we will certainly fall. This is about more than just housing. Women need to assess our situation carefully. This current administration certainly has. If we allow them to move us to 720, this will be the end for us.”
mississippitoday.org/...
Just Because I’m an Arizonan
Happy anniversary to officebss — she is celebrating today and taking the day off from WoW-2. The fourth WoW-2 for April will appear next week, April 30.