Why Women Will Save the Planet

by Bloomsbury Publishing

Overview

Big cities don't have to mean a dystopian future. They can be turned around to be powerhouses of well-being and environmental sustainability – if we empower women.

This book is a unique collaboration between C40 and Friends of the Earth showcasing pioneering city mayors, key voices in the environmental and feminist movements, and academics. The essays collectively demonstrate both the need for women's empowerment for climate action and the powerful change it can bring. A rallying call – for the planet, for women, for everyone.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786993175
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	03/01/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	835 KB

About the Author

For more than forty years, Friends of the Earth has seen that the well-being of people and planet go hand in hand. Together with thousands of people they have secured safer food and water, defended wildlife and natural habitats, championed the move to clean energy and acted to keep our climate stable.

C40 Cities connects more than ninety of the world's greatest cities, representing over 650 million people. C40 is focused on tackling climate change and driving urban action that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks, while increasing the health, wellbeing and economic opportunities of urban citizens.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

CHRISTIANA FIGUERES

Architect of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, Conference of the Parties (CoP) 21

The power of stubborn optimism

This Q&A with Christiana Figueres, the architect of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, took place while Christiana was in her home city of San José, Costa Rica. She was talking with a London-based journalist, on the UK's hottest June day for forty years (34.5°C).

Can you explain how you developed your thinking about how to negotiate the un-negotiable – the Paris Agreement in 2015? Is your approach a business leadership technique or special to you?

I actually wish that the reality were that there was a methodology that was clear in my head, but that's actually not true. There were two big ingredients for me: my values and principles, and my intuition. The values and principles form the basis of the work and then how I moved and constructed the basics was very much intuitive.

People often hide strongly held values when they go to the office. Should they?

I've chosen to be very open and I wear my values, principles and convictions on my sleeve. I think it is more transparent and people know where I'm coming from, and then they can then make their own choices – do they want to join? They know how I'm setting the scene. I operate out of a very deep love and respect for every other human being, independently of where that person is born, irrespective of their gender or age.

When I got to the United Nations (UN) secretariat in Bonn in 2010, the first thing I did was not figure out what the admin requirements for the UN were, even though I'd never run a UN agency before. It was rather asking: how are the people doing? What is the morale of the staff? I knew their morale was pretty bad after Copenhagen 2009, so I dedicated the first year to understanding the 500 people who worked at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat.

The first thing was doing all sorts of projects for the people working there, to increase the quality of their life, not their performance. I said: 'Please tell me what stops you from coming to work with a smile on your face?' The Smile Project identified all sorts of things they would like to see changed, and then we developed a project around that. But that deep love and respect for human beings comes first within the secretariat, and then outside the secretariat it's the same values, the same principle and the same conviction of truly, deeply respecting the fantastic diversity that we have among human beings ... their cultural traditions, their beliefs, their needs, their interests and really truly respecting those differences. And it has to be without an expectation that the people would have to change the way they think or act, or the way they interact with each other.

That's one value. The other one, which was very helpful, was deep listening.

Deep listening I actually learned on the road – and I learned it because I had a very serious personal trauma, which happened halfway through my period in the secretariat, and I was personally deeply desperate. I turned to Buddhism for solace and for understanding. In my study of Buddhism I learned the art of deep listening from Thích Nhâ't Hanh – founder of Plum Village. The art of deep listening is very consistent with the first value (because it stems from respect for the other person), but it puts you actively into a non-judgemental position and in the mode of asking questions, and listening clearly and deeply to the people with whom you are interacting. It was very helpful for me personally, but it was also helpful professionally. That deep respect is more passive, but listening is the active part as you interact with people. You don't tell them what to do; you ask them how they feel and what they think.

Stubborn optimism is something else I developed on the road. It came when I realised that, while the global framework for dealing with climate change was not sufficient, it was definitely necessary. There was so much evidence, so many things happening against that, and I knew I had to be really very tied to my optimism. My optimism was necessary because there was no other way to do this, but I also needed to be stubborn in the sense of realising that there were so many barriers – not to minimise them, but to be clear on the end goal and know that somehow we would get over the barriers, and work with the barriers or work around the barriers, or through the barriers, whatever way it was, but we had to get to our end goal.

So my stubborn optimism is a provocative way of saying 'relentless optimism'.

What difference in dynamics have you seen – or would you want to see – when dealing with a meeting that has a more equal proportion of men and women?

It's very simplistic and irresponsible to make a broad statement like that – the generalisations don't really apply. Having made that disclaimer, I think there is a female energy (which many men also have) to have an open attitude, and higher capacity to deal with complexity and differences of opinion. But, of course, 'most women' and 'most men' are never one formula.

But I tend to observe that most women are more open to differences of opinion and are used to working through those differences to end up with a collaborative result, rather than an imposed result. Women tend to use collaboration and collective wisdom – what I call collective leadership – to deal with issues.

Can you explain more about collective leadership?

Collective leadership is one of my favourite concepts. I realised very quickly that I didn't have the answers to everything; I didn't have any answer to anything! But I knew, collectively, we could all develop the answers.

Instead of keeping people out, or institutions out, I was very deliberate in opening up the tent to as many stakeholders, voices and opinions as possible. It is very clear to me that wisdom is always wiser when it is collectively produced. Two minds always think better than one; ten minds always are better than two; and 1,000 are better than ten. It does make things much more complex and the process slower, but in the end I think the result is stronger.

You've lived and travelled widely. Is there a city that allows opportunities for work and well-being irrespective of gender or pay grade?

I don't think that's a yes or no question. It's about a range of possibilities women have – a little bit more, and a little bit less – a relative positioning. Let me put it another way: one could place different cities around the world along a very broad gamut of the opportunities, or equal opportunities, that women have. I'd say my home city of San José, Costa Rica offers many opportunities for women, certainly now, though perhaps not so thirty to forty years ago. When I am home I observe the fantastic crop of brilliant young professional women who are shoulder to shoulder with each other, and with fantastic men, and are moving quite smoothly, and comfortably, into positions of leadership. While there are, of course, many cities and countries where we are much further behind in this, it is very exciting to see that it is beginning to take place in some developing countries.

I now live in London. London is a good city for most women (and it's never completely true, by the way, for all people). In most developed countries, cities recognise the value of working with 100 per cent (male and female) of social potential. Using only 50 per cent of the social potential will not get us much further than where we are now. Engaging 100 per cent of our potential is clearly a stronger driving force for good.

What is difficult about making a sweeping statement is that it is never the reality of every single woman. I would not want the impression that every single woman in Costa Rica feels she has equal opportunities. The fact is that if you take a range, or average, I would say women have a pretty good average in San José. Within that you'll always find women who have no problem getting to where they want, and with equal pay, but you will also find women who are actually very oppressed.

As a society we are moving in the right direction, but we all spread ourselves along a very broad gamut. And there is more complexity. It could be that a woman who is personally very oppressed happens to have professional success; and it could be the other way round. Personal and professional success do not always go hand in hand, although they do very often.

You've called for radical shifts in flows of finance from fossil fuel industries to ensure that the world can meet its obligations to reduce emissions and meet climate change targets. Since 2015, how positive do you feel about this happening?

It's definitely happening. Fortunately we are increasing pace and scale, though not as quickly as I would wish. It's definitely increased in the green bond market, where we have gone from US$10 or US$11 billion just a few years ago, to US$40 billion, then to US$80 billion, and this year (2017) it is estimated at US$123 billion. And that is just one financial instrument – not the only one. We see some movements in the whole divest/invest movement also shifting over from carbon-intensive to less carbon-intensive technologies. We're seeing it. Though, as I say, not as quickly as we would want.

Most of us feel we are powerless to help big world problems. When you had the power to make changes in the run-up to the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement you made use of stubborn optimism. How can women practise this stubborn optimism to help create the big changes that are needed?

We're all motivated by something in life. We are all passionate about something. In my case I'm consistently, and constantly, motivated by my daughters – two fantastic young women (now aged twenty-seven and twenty-nine years old). I'm very proud of my daughters, but to me they also represent future generations who are going to be living the effects of climate change. The two of them keep me moving forward and working as ardently as I do. That's my personal choice.

In general, I've always thought we should work at issues for which we have a passion. Somebody who gets up and goes to work just because 'that's their job', I just don't think that person can bring 150 per cent of potential to their job. When my daughters are choosing between jobs, or areas of work, I always ask: which are you more aligned with? If you work with your passion then you mobilise so many more components of who you are as a human being. You don't just mobilise your intellect in a profession, you mobilise the fullness of yourself as a human being. Somebody who is only working with their head is minimising the impact that they could have. Working with your head, your heart and your soul all aligned together has a much deeper impact on whatever you do. My choice was climate change, but anybody else should choose wherever they can have impact.

What made climate change your passion?

When I was a little girl I travelled with my parents – both of whom have always been in politics – to every single corner of Costa Rica, and one amazing thing I saw was a little golden toad that was endemic to a national park in Costa Rica. I just thought it was fantastic. By the time my daughters were more or less the same age I discovered the toad had disappeared, gone extinct. [The golden toad was last spotted in 1989 in the Costa Rican cloud forest of Monteverde. Its disappearance was the first extinction to be blamed on global warming caused by human activity.]

I was really taken by the fact there was extinction of a species in my lifetime. I thought: 'This is not what parents are supposed to do, to turn over a diminished planet to their children. They're supposed to turn over an improved planet.' And that's when I started to consider what on earth is going on here.

In your opinion, why will women save the planet?

I don't think women are going to save the planet on their own. Women and men need to join forces and maximise their collective and joint potential in order to improve the world. I think the complementarity of the approaches that we'd bring between the two genders is exactly what we need. We can't move forward in a meaningful way with one approach. You need a balance. We need both masculine and feminine characteristics.

And for men you need the same things – they need to balance out their masculine characteristics with feminine characteristics to have greater impact. This need for a balance is as true for one person as it's true for a family; both characteristics are needed for an organisation, a country, and certainly for the planet to be able to balance. The problem is we've had a predominance of male characteristics for thousands of years. If women are given equal opportunities to contribute to the global condition we will be able to create a safer, more just and more prosperous world. Universal well-being created by universal participation.

CHAPTER 2

PATRICIA ESPINOSA

Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Empowering women to power up the Paris Climate Change Agreement

We live in challenging but also exciting times. Our era is a moment of both grave threat and great opportunity. The threat comes from many sources, and climate change more often than not makes these challenges worse.

The loss of lives and livelihoods from the impacts of climate change and other threats is unacceptable. The human and economic costs of failing to act are too high.

Acting on climate change also presents a great opportunity. It is a path to lasting peace and widespread prosperity. Climate action can lift people out of poverty and ensure their needs are met, even as the population grows to close to 10 billion by 2050.

In this moment, the multilateral system is being tested. National governments alone cannot deliver lasting prosperity without a transformation of social and economic development that seeks to minimise risk and seize the opportunity we have.

Transforming our societies and our economies is an agenda that requires the participation of all.

It is clear that responding to climate change requires a rapid transition from 'business as usual' to a low-emission, resilient world economy.

It is also clear that this transition must happen in a way that is inclusive, fair and just. Countries have articulated this vision through the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

A common thread running through these agendas is recognition that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are key to successful implementation.

Including and empowering women and girls to develop and implement climate solutions is the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing to do.

Smart collaboration

There is compelling evidence that links the inclusion of women in climate policy and solutions with better results, enhanced economic growth and more sustainable outcomes. However, we cannot take for granted that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the context of addressing climate change and sustainable development will happen automatically.

Across the world, barriers that are too often cultural, structural and institutional must be overcome to ensure that women have the voice, agency and authority to fully and effectively contribute to – and benefit from – climate solutions.

Leadership from governments, companies, intergovernmental organisations and civil society is required to raise awareness, drive action and ensure that climate policy is truly gender-responsive.

It will also require an unprecedented level of collaboration and cooperation between these actors.

The Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda provide a framework for tracking progress both by national governments and by those who must be engaged for successful transformation, such as cities, regions, businesses and investors, among others.

Comprehensively capturing this collective effort will be critical to take stock of progress and make necessary, timely adjustments to each nation's contribution to the Paris Agreement or climate action plan.

(Continues…)

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Table of Contents

Foreword by Anne Hidalgo

Introduction by Nicola Baird
1. The Power of Stubborn Optimism - Christiana Figueres
2. Empowering Women to Power up the Paris Agreement on Climate Change - Patricia Espinosa
3. The Hissing of Summer Lawns: Cities, Gender, and Climate Change - Susan Buckingham
4. What's Happening in Durban: From 'Tree-Preneurs' to Trendsetters - Zandile Gumede
5. Women's Empowerment and Environmental Sustainability in the Context of International UN agreements - Diane Elson
6. Walking the Talk: Empowering Tomorrow's Women Leaders - Alexandra Palt
7. How Holistic Thinking Benefits People and Planet - Lola Young
8. How Gender-Sensitive are National Adaptation Programmes of Action? Selected Findings from a Desk Review of Thirty-One Sub-Saharan African Countries - Nathalie Holvoet and Liesbeth Inberg
9. Why Educating Girls is Essential for a Sustainable Future - Atti Worku
10. Women, Conflict and the Environment in Somali Society - Shukri Haji Ismail Bandare and Fatima Jibrell
11. The Close Ties between Social and Environmental Justice - Karin Nansen
12. Engendering Urban Climate Policy - Gotelind Alber
13. Why do Gender Equality and Sustainability Go Hand in Hand? - Lyla Mehta and Melissa Leach
14. The Benefits of using a Gender Lens - Naoko Ishii
15. Is there a Specific Role for Women in Helping to Achieve Environmental Sustainability through Politics? - Caroline Lucas
16. Empowering a Balanced and Useful Economics of Sustainability: The Role of Gender - Julie A. Nelson
17. Hand in Hand: Women's Empowerment and Sustainability - Vandana Shiva
18. How the Defence of the Commons and Territories has become a Core Part of Feminist, Anti-Capitalist Struggles - Celia Alldridge
19. Mother Earth - Maria Mies
20. From Icebergs to Climate Refugees - Jude Kelly
21. From Individual to Communal Rights: Empowering Women for Sustainable Use of Natural Resources - Nidhi Tandon
22. The Role of Fashion in Bringing About Social and Ecological Change - Anna Fitzpatrick
23. Family Planning: A Win-Win for Women and Sustainability - Carina Hirsch
24. The Power of Grassroots Action for Women's Empowerment and the Environment - Kate Metcalf and colleagues
25. One Hundred Years of Collective Action for Environmental Change - Marylyn Haines Evans
26. The Impact of Gender Balance in the Renewable Energy Sector - Juliet Davenport
27. More Women in Business for a Sustainable Economy - Emma Howard Boyd

Editorial Reviews

“Provides a depth and breadth of diverse perspectives to answer yes to the question: ‘Could women’s empowerment transform the chances of achieving environmental sustainability?.’

Local Environment

“You can’t save the planet without equality. . . . We need a new economics informed by the larger picture, an economy that puts women and the Earth at the center.

Vandana Shiva