As I look out the window at the haze from Canada’s worst wildfire season in decades, despite our location in upstate NY being about 500 miles away from the nearest flames, I think “surely there are lots of women fighting this mess”. “This mess” meaning the climate crisis responsible for fires and other disasters.
And finding some of these female climate change leaders was easy:
Christiana Figueres has had multiple positions fighting climate change for decades. She currently is cofounder of Global Optimism, recently published the book The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis, is on several boards, and is chair of the Earthshot Prize Foundation. Whew! Just typing that wore me out. ;-) If you’re feeling pessimistic, read the above links.
Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim is the coordinator and founding member of the Association of Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad — AFPAT in French.
Hindou is a founding member of the Marrakech Platform for Climate Actions, she is a member of the technical and scientific committee of BIOPALT – UNESCO and also a member of the Executive Committee of the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordination Committee (IPACC), where she is the focal point of climate change.
That is just what she’s doing lately. She has given multiple talks, written multiple papers, led multiple projects, and won multiple awards.
Sunita Narain is the DIrector General of the Centre for Science and Environment. She has worked on water management, tiger conservation, air pollution, and now climate change. She writes and edits, has worked with the Indian government, and received multiple awards including the “Water Nobel Prize”. She co-wrote Global Warming in an Unequal World: A case of environmental colonialism, which can be downloaded here.
A detailed look at the data presented by WRI itself leads to the conclusion that India and China cannot be held responsible even for a single kg of carbon dioxide or methane that is accumulating in the earth’s atmosphere. Carbon dioxide and methane are two of the most important gases contributing to global warming. The accumulation in the earth’s atmosphere of these gases is mainly the result of the gargantuan consumption of the developed countries, particularly the United States.
NOTE: Much has been made of Greta Thunberg holding her final school strike as she graduated high school this year. However, she founded the Fridays for Future movement in 2018, and the global and US movements are going strong. She is not quitting and the kids are all right. She just won’t be striking from school, since she is no longer a high school student.
If these women can do this much, surely the least you can do is stop wasting food! Or find another partial solution that fits your lifestyle. But we throw out about 1/3 of the food supply in the US! That equates to an extra 170 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which does not even count methane from food rotting in landfills, clearing of land for agriculture, nor inputs of fertilizer and energy on the farm. So at least do a good thing and save yourself some money. Win-win!
In Other News
Stalking
Supreme Court overturns online stalking conviction, citing 1st Amendment
The majority raised the standard by which social media threats can be punished.
Weird ruling, weird division (7 to 2 — Barrett and Thomas!)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the conviction of an online stalker from Colorado, tightening the standard by which threats made on social media can be punished as crimes.
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In a statement on her website, Whalen wrote, in part, "I’m disappointed that the Supreme Court’s decision has minimized the harm that stalking and threatening messages cause to victims and their families. Nonetheless, I hope the standard the Supreme Court established can be used in ways that allow for the protection of victims across the country. If you are afraid, please trust yourself and reach out for help. The Court’s decision does not mean that victims must stand alone."
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[from the dissent:] "Counterman communicated true threats, which, everyone agrees, lie outside the bounces of the First Amendment protection," Barrett wrote. "He knew what the words meant. Those threats caused the victim to fear for her life, and they upended her daily existence. Nonetheless, the court concludes that Counterman can prevail on a First Amendment defense. Nothing in the Constitution compels that result."
As noted elsewhere, good luck getting stalkers to admit that they know they’re terrorising someone! Apparently that’s the new standard. SMH.
Sexual Harassment And abuse
UK
Tory hopeful accused of groping resists pressure to quit London mayor race
A former adviser to David Cameron is resisting pressure to drop out of the London mayoral race after the Conservative party said it would not investigate a claim by a TV producer that he had groped her at No 10 a decade ago.
The Tories are facing questions about their vetting and selection processes after the allegations by Daisy Goodwin that Daniel Korski put his hand on her breast when she met him 10 years ago in Downing Street.
As a ‘spy cops’ victim, I’m glad their sexual abuse has been condemned, but what about their bosses?
Since bringing a legal case in 2011 with seven other women who were deceived, like me, into an intimate sexual relationship with an undercover police officer, I’ve learned to expect nothing from the police, and not much more from the legal establishment. Nevertheless, when a judge-led public inquiry into undercover policing was established in 2015, many of us welcomed this official investigation into what has become known as the “spy cops” scandal.
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There is deep public concern about the institutional sexism and misogyny identified by Louise Casey in her recent report on the Met police. It would have been good if Mitting had offered some historical context to how and when this culture was established in one of its most secret and elite units. In the closing statement to the hearings in February, Charlotte Kilroy KC – representing women like me – submitted a report from 1983 establishing the Metropolitan police has known for more than 40 years about the culture of sexism, racism and homophobia at the heart of the force.
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It’s this very secrecy that allowed such a morally corrupt culture to become established. If the public is to have any faith in the Metropolitan police learning the lessons of the past, they need to come clean.
Abortion
Friday briefing: Life under an American abortion ban, told through one woman’s tragic story
In today’s newsletter: On the anniversary of Roe v Wade’s overturning, one woman tells her story of being forced to carry a baby to term:
For today’s newsletter, Guardian US’s Poppy Noor has spoken to one woman from Arizona who was forced to carry her pregnancy to term after the supreme court vote, despite having been told her baby had an unsurvivable medical condition. She watched her baby die in distress after two days.
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The doctor told me my daughter has Alobar holoprosencephaly, which basically means her brain didn’t split like it was supposed to, and it causes facial deformities. Her cleft palate was so bad they couldn’t even tell if she had a nose. They told me she wasn’t going to live, and I needed a termination – which, at that point, they told me I could get.
And then Roe was overturned, and a 15-week ban sprung into action in Arizona, because it was no longer unconstitutional.
Woman sues anti-abortion fake "clinic" for failing to detect her ectopic pregnancy, which endangered her life.
#Metoo
#MeToo has got men quaking in the corridors of power. That’s something to celebrate:
Men in apparently unassailable positions of power have been toppled in a quite extraordinary sequence of scandals. Masters of the universe everywhere must be trembling at what might emerge about all they have done, taking it for granted that women at work were there to be touched, or subject to “banter”, all with an unspoken shadow of threats to careers.
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#MeToo has been a bold surge forward. As with any campaign, it’s vital that we trumpet the successes, even while acknowledging the Himalayas still left to climb. It kicked off with Harvey Weinstein, emperor of Miramax, receiving a 23-year sentence for rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse he committed, unchecked, over a period of 30 years (he received an additional 16-year sentence this February). After all those years of silence, 80 women, many of whom had been gagged by non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), came forward with accusations after the remarkable bravery of his PA, Zelda Perkins.
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There is an Everest to climb still, but what happens at the top ricochets all the way down to the school classroom. Toppling the mightiest abusers matters. The feminist revolution is barely half made. But we should celebrate each ratchet upwards by every new wave of women.
Agreed, but I think “quaking” may be overstating it.
UK/#MeToo/Politics
Daniel Korski accuser may go to police as Cabinet Office fails to investigate groping claims.
Daisy Goodwin expresses disappointment with government response to formal complaint against Tory ex-mayoral hopeful
https://www.theguardian.com/...
Other Medical
PrismReports.org Contraception Access on Campus:
The American College Health Association, a health and wellness advocacy and research group representing over 700 institutions of higher education, issued guidelines in June for navigating reproductive healthcare at universities amidst a changing landscape for reproductive rights. The guidelines recommended low-cost and convenient emergency contraception placement across campuses and counseling from clinicians on emergency contraception options during all preventative screenings. Despite recommendations, emergency contraception access at campuses is not universal.
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One year later, many students are taking emergency contraception matters into their own hands. Emergency Contraception For Every Campus (EC4EC), a project of ASEC, is a student-led initiative to make emergency contraception accessible and affordable. So far, the group has introduced vending machines with emergency contraception on at least 39 college campuses.
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At some public universities, there’s also opposition to emergency contraception. Acting out of an abundance of caution in light of the state’s new anti-abortion law, last year public universities in Idaho warned staff not to refer students to abortion providers or tell them how to get emergency contraception. Colleges in the state also barred student health centers from dispensing emergency contraception.
Don’t let your girls go to college in Idaho!
But all is OK with the menfolk: Medscape FDA Approves First-Ever OTC Erectile Dysfunction Gel
Just pointing out the double standard. I’m guessing that there’s no upswell of so-called parents protesting availability of erectile dysfunction remedies on college campuses.
Mental Health
Women who kill their newborns are deeply unwell, so why are they being tried for murder?
https://www.theguardian.com/...
REpresentation
An oddity:
Japan Sends Male Minister to Lead G7 Meeting on Women’s Empowerment:
As host of the event held in Nikko this year, the Japanese representative is also the chair.
When asked how he felt being the only male representative, Ogura, a Cabinet minister, said that male leaders with strong enthusiasm for gender equality are still needed.
Workplace
Some positive news, from HuffPo- Pregnant Workers Get Better Protections Under Landmark Discrimination Law:
"Starting Tuesday, the law enables workers to legally seek 'reasonable accommodation' for pregnancy, childbirth and associated medical conditions."
TeenVogue What it's like to be one among the 0.6% of Black female neurosurgeons in the US
Affirmative Action
TheConversation A look at how the SCOTUS strike-down of affirmative action will especially impact women of color.
As always, this is a group effort! Many thanks this week to Angmar, Tara (the Antisocial Social Worker), mettle fatigue, and SandraLLAP for items and discussion behind the scenes!