Have you heard of Eunice Newton Foote?
An Irish researcher named John Tyndall often gets credited with being the father of climate research by writing about heat trapping gases- but three years earlier, in 1856, Foote published her own paper: Circumstances Affecting the Heat of Sun’s Rays. Foote went on to participate in Seneca Falls, leaving an impact as both a scientist and a suffragette.
🗣
I learned about Foote from a recent read, All We Can Save and as it’s writers Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K Wilkinson put it, “suppressing the climate leadership and participation of girls-half the world’s brainpower and change-making might sets us up for failure.”
Today, women are the frontlines of climate change and climate action.
In many low-income countries, the tasks of feeding a family, securing water, and tending to a farm often fall on women. This is where the impacts of climate are most visible and severe.
On the flip side, research supports the notion that women outperform men in adopting climate friendly habits and supporting environmental legislation. The concept of a multiplier effect when investing in empowering women is apparent in environmental actions.
Two things worth doing on #InternationalWomensDay this year —
1️⃣ My intern Camryn wrote a FANTASTIC article on women and climate change. It’s worth checking out.
2️⃣ Look into some of the stats around gender equality and income and how moms in particular have been affected by the pandemic... and if that feels discouraging, dig into the ideas surrounding a #marshallplanformoms - The multiplier effect of investing in women isn’t just an African development thing!