Women and #Climate2014

The first thing that came to mind when I was assigned this blog post was the issue of climate change. I thought to myself: what environmental issue would be easiest to research? Climate change that is. So I took to the Internet, and I googled “#Climate2014.” To my surprise, one of the first search options linked to an article titled “Women and #Climate2014.”  I took a moment and thought to myself, how on earth can you combine the issues of women’s rights and climate change? However, after taking a closer look at the article, it made complete sense. The article is not classically formatted; instead it is a collection of social media tweets and videos. After reading the tweets and watching the videos, I now see that the women’s rights movement and climate change have a lot in common.

            First of all these two issues are extremely salient. If you are a human being living in the 21^st Century than you have been touched in some way by both issues. You have either heard of the polar caps melting or heard about the injustice that women are facing each day. Apart from their salience, both issues are also extremely controversial. As obviously true and relevant these two issues are to our modern and global society, people still choose to be ignorant and claim that neither issue actually exists.  Or, people do acknowledge that they exist, but just choose to be ignorant. 

            In my individual opinion, I believe that people are struggling to grapple with these two issues because they both lack strong regimes. However, especially for the women’s rights movement, groups and individuals behind both of these issues are working to create strong regimes that can develop and enact actually domestic and global policy changes.

In class we discussed that climate change is a global issue in the sense that it is a global common, trans-boundary externality, and a linked issue. Climate change is a global commons issue because it is an issue that relates to physical and biological systems that lie outside the jurisdiction of any individual state or region. It is also a linked issue because it is greatly impacted by consequences from other policies that are not directly related to the environment. Climate change is also an issue of trans-boundary externality because one state’s environment can be impacted by another state’s policies or actions.

I believe that women’s rights can also be categorized as a linked issue, trans-boundary externality, and global commons. It is a linked issue because particular policies or decisions such as the Supreme Court decision of Hobby Lobby undeniably had unintended consequences on women’s rights. The concept of women’s rights can also be regarded as a trans-boundary externality because if one woman suffers in a developing nation than women in developed nations are affected as well. As the women’s rights movement grows, more and more women are standing in solidarity. For example, I genuinely care about the lives of women in the developing world. There is no reason why they do not deserve the same rights as I do. I genuinely feel less of a person, when I hear about women in other countries loosing their rights. While the idea that women’s rights can be regarded as a global commons may be far fetched, bear with me as I try to make the comparison. While many organizations and institutions try to treat women as objects, they are not. Women belong to no one and yet states continually try to create laws that make them into objects.

If people want to make serious changes and developments in the areas of climate change and women’s rights then stronger regimes must be created. Just like the Sea Shepherds used ethos to spread the word about saving the whales, nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations must use ethos in relation to climate change and women’s rights. The women’s rights movement is currently making strides to impact state and private sector policy. For example, the United Nations is putting familiar faces to spread the necessity of feminism and women’s rights. Just last week popular actress Emma Watson gave a speech through the UN on women’s rights.  Climate change is also using celebrities to spread the word, just a couple of days ago Leonardo Dicaprio gave a speech on climate change.

Putting popular faces to these issues, allows these issues to become relatable. If a young Harry Potter fan sees his favorite actress advocating for women’s rights, then he will become more aware of what he does and what values he supports.  When NGOs and IGOs affect and change the values of people, then people will change they way the act.

They will stop buying products that hurt the environment when they are produced. They will stop shopping at stores that do not value women’s rights. The key is getting ordinary people all over the world—in developed and developing nations— involved to make a difference. Ordinary people will affect corporations and in turn the corruptions will affect international states that finally have the ability to change and develop policies. 

The article, “Women and #Climate2014,” focused on the social media conversation behind the United Nations Climate Summit. Tweets from many NGOs and IGOs are documented. For example one tweet from the United Nations states, “Women are the first and last line of defense when it comes to climate issues.” I completely agree with this, because if women are given more option and educations then they can take on important roles. By given more important roles then women have the change to become active members in their society. When women become active members of society, then states’ economies will grow. If economies grow then people will have the luxury to worry about climate change and develop concrete solutions.

Wedo Worldwide tweeted, “Just transition must build gender into design. Formalize jobs to ensure rights, benefits 4 women #Climate2014, health & jobs.” 

The Elders tweeted, “If we take away the barriers to women’s access to power we’d solve #climatechange much faster!”

These tweets are just some of the many that explain whey women’s rights and climate change are strongly related. They are two of the most relevant and defining issues of the 21^st Century.  As Hilary Clinton once said, “Women’s rights are human rights.” I have to agree with Ms. Clinton, and I would also like to take her point further to incorporate climate change.

If we take climate change seriously and make strides toward solutions and energy reductions then we will create a healthy and prosperous environment for our future children. If the earth is in good shape for our children, then they will be able to focus on nourishing human rights. People, especially women in this case, deserve to live in a world were they do not have to worry about their own individual rights and the environment.  States and corporations need to put away their differences and use their common sense to create a global society in which all people can live safely and happily. If people are content with their lives then more people will work to create innovative technologies that will further advance and progress our global society.

“Women and #Climate2014” — https://storify.com/un_women/climate2014