Photo courtesy of Allison Otto
Around the world, women play a crucial role in the fight against climate change and other forms of environmental harm. Disproportionately harmed by environmental problems, they hold many of the solutions. Women are piloting community clean-energy programs, food-justice projects, and efforts to adapt to our rapidly changing climate.
In 2019, the Sierra Club worked with women leaders to grow feminist solutions to our most pressing environmental issues. Here are some of the projects from the past year we’re proudest of. For more information and updates, please visit our Gender, Equity, and Environment page.
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Right now, just 0.2% of philanthropic funding goes to women-led environmental organizations, even though women play a central role in environmental and climate movements. With the Women’s Earth Alliance, we launched the US Climate Accelerator Collaboratory, designed to connect women activists with the resources they need to grow scalable solutions for all. In the program’s inaugural year, we supported 21 women leaders from 16 states and territories.
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Working with The Beautywell Project, we delivered a petition with 23,000 signatures to Amazon asking them to stop the sale of toxic and illegal skin-lightening creams. Many of these products contain high levels of mercury, and all of them have the potential to reinforce racist, antiquated beauty noms. And Amazon listened: They took down the mercury-filled products from their site, making the world a little less toxic for women.
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We pushed Congress to include in the military spending bill protections against PFAS, a group of synthetic chemicals that are especially harmful to children and those who can become pregnant. We also raised awareness of the dangers of the military’s unregulated incineration of PFAS. We worked with Sierra Club chapters and volunteers to advance local protections against toxic PFAS chemicals -- resulting in a ban on the use of PFAS in firefighting in Colorado.
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On Gender Day at the UN climate negotiations, we released a report on women, climate change, and migration. With our partners at UN Women, we examined women's disproportionate vulnerability to climate change and showcased how women are leading their communities in sustainable disaster response and climate adaptation.
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We joined with dozens of women’s and environmental organizations to bring the connection between gender and climate change to the forefront of the national conversation on a Green New Deal. This “Feminist Agenda for a Green New Deal” lays out 10 principles to help ensure that systemic and policy issues related to women’s health, youth leadership, global solidarity and, yes, dismantling patriarchy get a central role in a transformative climate agenda.
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We launched a social media campaign, #WomenCrushWednesday, to celebrate female scientists, activists, and politicians who are dedicated to advancing environmental and gender justice. Check us out on social media every Wednesday to learn more about our gender, equity, and justice work in 2020.
