by Lucy Diavolo
“Young people of color have been doing the work to fight climate change for hundreds of years. It’s something that we are born into,” she says. “We’ve lived in an extractive economy our entire lives; we come from a generation of families that have to live through this extraction and we know what it is, we know how it affects us, and we know what kind of change we want to see.”
More Than Local: Honoring Intersectionality
For Chelsea Turner, an artist and community youth organizer of Barbadian and African American descent who lives in New York, her hope is that frontline youth understand that their lower-income communities of color are in the places where climate disasters can be devastating long-term, even causing mass migration.
“That means that they will be hit first and worst, and are least likely to get government assistance in the event of extreme weather events,” she says. “And they’re also, really, now, being affected by active environmental racism for generations. In our communities we have a lack of green space, lack of access to healthy foods, or affordable healthy foods, which are known as food deserts. We have a lot of highways, which increases asthma rates, as well as nuclear power plants, and a lot of power plants in general in these areas, and we are fighting back against them.”
The young activists were joined by other youth representatives from Guam, Mexico, Thailand, and Honduras, there on behalf of an organization or independently. Several had stories to share, and though their details differed, they all described similar fights against the same cultural forces. Areerat “Aree” Worawongwasu, a young activist from Thailand, who attended the strike with her mother, honored her ancestors and shared a moving account of her fight alongside other frontline community members.
“A lot of waste from the Global North is dumped here,” she says of her home city, Bangkok. “Our livelihoods are tied with climate. This isn’t just a hot issue for us, this isn’t just about statistics; this is about our livelihoods, and we’re fighting at the front lines.”
The impact of climate change has also managed to sound an ominous alert for the U.S. Indigenous community, and prompted Simon Montelongo, a Cherokee person from the Qualla boundary in North Carolina, to join the Frontline Climate Strike in Brooklyn. For Simon (who uses they/them pronouns), uniting forces is about more than solidarity; it’s also a form of self-preservation.
“With all of these recent fires, oil refineries, and all of these recent fracking ideas, our communities back home are being pressured, because we are one of the last open, free natural resources in the area,” they tell Teen Vogue. “If they continue to use and degrade and disregard all of their resources, then they’re going to be looking at our communities next.”
Star Wars actor Oscar Isaac, who has played rebel leader Poe Dameron in the latest trilogy of the film series, made a notable cameo representing Guatemala and thanking the youth for taking a stand for climate justice. “I want to honor you guys and say I’m so proud—as a brother of color, as well—to see all of these young people out here fighting for climate justice,” he said.
Puerto Rico, Presente
A major part of this cross-cultural and intergenerational stand against the climate crisis was honoring the second anniversary of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Protestors observed a moment of silence to honor the victims and gave their platform to those who hailed from Puerto Rico.
Luis Collazo Colón, a seventeen-year-old from San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, took the stage to thank the Climate Justice Youth Summit for the hard work and to entrust other teens present with helping him build a better world. Aside from the repercussions of limited aid during and after Hurricane Maria, Colón took the opportunity to highlight his town’s most urgent struggle: a defunct waste-disposal system. San Lorenzo, a land that’s split between three municipalities, is one of the towns that’s struggling with abandoned sick and dead animals and random trash disposed of in front of residential homes.
“I hope that the government we elect can bring change to my community,” Colón tells Teen Vogue at the September 20 strike. He shares how he’s personally seeing people who are still trying to cope with the storm’s aftermath, saying, “As of now, my mother and I nurture animals such as sick horses, or whatever passersby dump. But maybe animal-rescue organizations can swoop in and help with relocating abandoned and stray pets.”
United We Stand
These youth of color are not alone in their fight. Whether outside the movement or inside, adults are playing their role in supporting as they deem fit. “It wasn’t until college that I was exposed to a lot of the realities of people outside of the whitetopia, that my family, as Italian immigrants, chose to move into,” Frank Marino, a Brooklyn-based humanities teacher at MS 839, tells Teen Vogue.
Therefore, he chose to contribute by exposing eighty middle school students to the frontline strike organized by a local grassroots organization. He hopes to educate his “privileged” white and wealthy students through this exposure, and to show youth of color that there are people who look like them fighting for climate change.
Meanwhile, long-term environmental activists of color have been mentoring the youth to ensure that the new generation doesn’t experience pitfalls. Kari Fulton is one of the adults who encouraged the youth to call upon their ancestors, insisted on the use of proper pronouns and respect for cultural diversity and kept the chants alive during the march. “Our job is to make the space for folk to walk in and have the notes and know where the land mines are, so they can navigate,” she tells Teen Vogue.
How Climate Change in Bangladesh Impacts Women and Girls
KAREEDA KABIR
July 16, 2018
When people think about the impact of climate change, many consider the physical damage: homes destroyed, communities forced to start over, maybe even a number of bodies discovered after an intense weather event. But sometimes forgotten are the social consequences the physical destruction leaves in its wake.
In Bangladesh, one of the main social challenges presented by climate change is the furthered entrenchment of preexisting systemic gender inequality. As climate change negatively impacts vital local industries such as rice farming and fishing, women and girls experience a compound set of issues.
Flooding, a result of higher aerial moisture levels combined with increased runoff from the Himalayas, can lead to disaster—especially in a country like Bangladesh, where nearly half the population lives, on average, just ten meters above sea level. In June, five Bangladeshis were killed by massive flooding and more than fifty thousand Bangladeshis have been affected. Flooding, often a product of climate change, can deepen gendered social problems, too.
Flooding often leads to salinization, or the increase of salt levels in freshwater sources. Once water has been salinized, it can’t be used for drinking or farming. Water-related health complications are already a major issue in Bangladesh, and the lack of usable, clean water exacerbates this. These issues are likely even worse for women. According to a 2016 study published in the Journal of Environmental Protection, “Higher rates of pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension in pregnant women in coastal Bangladesh, compared with non-coastal pregnant women, were hypothesized to be caused by saline contamination of drinking water.”
Flooding can also cause the areas around bodies of water to erode, which often leads to siltation, an environmental process in which excess minerals enter water. As the Daily Star reported in 2016, siltation has significantly contributed to the disappearance of thirty-two fish species from Hakaluki Haor, the largest body of water in Bangladesh. The multifaceted impact of environmental deterioration on women in the country can be seen here: as pointed out by Melody Braun of the nonprofit research organization WorldFish, dwindling fish populations not only drive vitamin and mineral deficiencies in women (who often prioritize the nourishment of their husbands and children), this problem also hampers the economically essential practice of fishing. For women who work in Bangladesh, as fish disappear, so do their job opportunitie
s. Relying on fish to sustain themselves dietarily and monetarily, Bangladeshi women and girls experience acute social costs as a result of decreases in local fish populations, caused by problems associated with climate change.
The negative and gendered implications of climate change in Bangladesh are not solely demonstrated through health-related consequences; women and girls endure a steep social cost as the climate deteriorates. Displaced by massive flooding, most villagers migrate toward cities (many to Dhaka, the nation’s capital) in search of work, where secondary school can be prohibitively expensive.
If Bangladeshis choose to stay in their villages and rebuild, families will often start looking to get their children married. With the average age of marriage for a Bangladeshi girl hovering around sixteen years old, according to Plan International Bangladesh, marriage exists as a major limiting factor where the education of girls and women is concerned. Nevertheless, the prospect of marriage is seen by many as a win-win situation for both families: the groom’s family gets a large sum of money or gifts (traditionally, the bride’s family pays a dowry to the groom’s), which can be used for home repair, preparing for more flooding, or other living expenses; and the bride’s family, to put it crudely, has one less mouth to feed.
Worse still, where flooding is rampant, schools are often the first public spaces to be transformed into makeshift shelters where displaced villagers can stay as they work to rebuild their homes. This pushes rural children, especially girls, for whom education is already barely within their grasp, away from schooling. Homes can be rebuilt, and temporary jobs can be found; however, being denied an education at crucial periods in these women’s lives can have lasting, irreversible impacts.
While it is essential to take every step possible to prevent natural disasters like the massive flooding we’ve come to associate with climate change, it is equally essential to deal with the social consequences environmental disasters create. Organizations like BRAC Centre have shown this work is not only critical, but also fully realizable, managing to enroll two million girls in school in 2017 alone. But BRAC cannot do this work alone. In the global fight for the recognition of women’s issues, climate change as both cause and catalyst of furthered subjugation cannot be overlooked.
Climate Change Is Creating a New Atmosphere of Gender Inequality for Women in Malawi
MÉLISSA GODIN
December 20, 2018
“I used to live here,” says Sofia as she stands on a raised mound of dirt still imprinted by the bricks that used to be there. “But my home was swept away during the floods in 2015. I lost everything.” Sofia is a Malawian woman in her thirties living in a remote village in the southern district of Chikwawa. Like many Malawians living in the Lower Shire Valley in southern Malawi, Sofia’s life has been severely affected by climate change.
Most Malawians, however, have done little to contribute to global warming: Malawi ranked 162nd for carbon dioxide emissions as of 2010, making it one of the least significant polluters in the world. According to the World Bank, only 11 percent of Malawians have access to electricity. Nevertheless, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) considers the country’s population as especially affected by and susceptible to climate change, due to its dependence on agriculture—80 percent of Malawians work as farmers with small operations. Business Insider reports that Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita, depending heavily on agriculture. Household income is thus severely affected by erratic environmental patterns that affect crops, leaving families with little money and little to eat.
“Because of changes in the environment, it is as if we are moving backwards in our development,” explains one woman.
The impacts of climate change, however, are not felt equally by all Malawians. Women, in particular, are facing drastic changes to their lives because of environmental changes. For instance, it has been reported by the Guardian that the effects of climate change increase the frequency of early marriages. While men are also affected by climate change unseen in many parts of the developed world, it is often easier for men to adapt to climate change due to their greater freedom of mobility and fewer household responsibilities.
In many parts of Malawi, women are often responsible for fetching water and firewood. Due to the current drought and massive deforestation throughout the country, women have to walk longer distances to access these basic necessities. This not only increases the amount of time women spend on unpaid labor but also puts them at risk of sexual violence.
Malawi, which used to be covered in forest, is facing massive deforestation throughout the country due to excessive logging as well as “slash and burn” agriculture, a method for growing food that involves wild vegetation being cut and burned.
“We walk longer distances for firewood and water. We now walk for four hours,” explains Sofia. “And sometimes, when we reach the forest to fetch for firewood, we get raped.” She says that pregnancy and HIV infection are possible long-term risks of these attacks.
Because Sofia now spends the majority of her day fetching firewood and water, she has less time for income-generating activities. While she used to spend her days selling firewood and food in the market, Sofia now struggles to ensure that she has enough food to feed her family.
“I do send my kids to school but sometimes when there is no food at home, I tell them to come with me to collect food or firewood,” Sofia remarks.
Teenage girls have been particularly affected by the drought. With 46.34 percent of the Malawian population under the age of fourteen, with a median age of 16.7 years for women, teenage girls constitute a large segment of the Malawian female population. Teenage girls, however, face unique risks compared to older women. During times of scarcity, young girls are expected to assist their mothers with household chores, often resulting in girls dropping out of school. Although education levels are low in rural parts of Malawi for both men and women, AGE Africa notes that girls are less likely to be in school than boys. Due to climate change–induced poverty, many young girls have decided or been forced to get married as a way of coping with increased financial vulnerability.
This was the case for Maria, a woman in her early twenties living in a village in the district of Chikwawa.
“At my home there were no basic necessities, so I got married at fifteen to provide for myself,” explains Maria. “My parents were farmers and their seeds kept drying up or getting washed away during floods.”
Although Maria is now happy in her marriage—and has access to food and better shelter than she did at home—she wishes she could have completed her education.
“I got married because of climate change,” she explains.
Maria, however, is not alone.
“Climate change has caused women and girls to enter into early marriages because parents are unable to support their families,” she says.
Teenage girls are also more likely to face challenges during times of environmental disasters compared to older women or their male counterparts.
PLAN International reports that during environmental disasters, adolescent girls are particularly at risk, often facing sexual violence, unwanted pregnancies, and school dropouts. With environmental disasters likely to become more frequent and severe in Malawi, young girls will face more challenges.
“When we don’t have floods we have drought,” explains Sofia. “And when we don’t have droughts, we have floods.”
Before the floods in 2015, Sofia lived by the Shire River, where she owned her home, had access to fertile land, and could feed her family. Though floods were a regular occurrence, they tended to be smaller and less frequent. Some of the women interviewed said that communities living along the water relied on Indigenous knowledge systems that helped them anticipate and prepare for floods. Many women remarked that these techniques are no longer appropriate in this new climate of violent environmental disasters.
After her home was swept away, Sofia had to move upland
, where she now rents a thatched-roof home. In this new community, Sofia has no access to fertile land to farm.
“Now, the breadwinner is my husband,” Sofia explains. “Women are now voiceless because men have access to money, they have access to everything. So they take advantage of that. When we are out collecting firewood, they stay at home and do nothing.”
Sofia’s husband recently married a third wife. When there is no food in Sofia’s home, her husband stays with one of his other families because they can feed him. Many men, however, believe they are equally or more affected by climate change than women.
“The environment affects me in a special way,” explains Maria’s husband. “As the head of the household, I am responsible for every-thing—I have to make money. My wife and family depend on me. Because we can no longer depend on farming, it is up to me to find money, to bring food to my wife and kids. So I find this very difficult.”
Though men are also severely affected by climate change, they tend to have greater opportunities to adapt to environmental changes than women. Many men are aware of these gendered dynamics, noting in interviews that women’s household responsibilities have become more burdensome due to environmental changes. While women have to stay near the home to provide for the family, men can migrate to other areas in search of work or greener pastures, sometimes leaving behind wives whose land is confiscated because, in some patrilineal districts in Malawi, it is perceived to have belonged to the men.
Male migration has subsequently become a source of vulnerability for women, with many men leaving and never coming back. This leaves women financially vulnerable and susceptible to stigma-tization as single women within their communities. Though some women speculated to Teen Vogue that their husbands have remarried and forgotten about them, others think that their husbands have been unsuccessful in their quest for work and have not come home due to lack of funds or embarrassment about their inability to provide for the family.