The man who says it can’t be done should get out of the way of the woman who is doing it. As frustration grows at the lack of progress on some of the world’s biggest environmental challenges, that saying is moving from metaphor to reality, with women around the world leading efforts to do what politicians have not. International Women’s Day is a good time to recognize that across the globe, women are working to democratize environmentalism, making a difference where governments are failing.
The list of environmental issues that have remained unsolved is long. The loss of habitats and the threat from poaching are two of the many environmental problems facing threatened species around the globe. People are encouraged to deforest because they don’t have access to clean water. The ocean is becoming more contaminated by plastic waste.
Although traditional wisdom suggests that we look to politicians and governments for solutions, a growing number women are refusing this approach.
Engaging people in science and collecting useful data about species is the first step to environmental empowerment. Eighty years ago, conservationist Aldo Leopold highlighted the need to promote what he called “wildlife sports,” engaging non-scientists in efforts to understand and protect wildlife. “Margaret Morse Nice, an amateur ornithologist, studied song sparrows in her backyard,” he noted in 1943. “She has become a world authority on bird behavior…” Today, there are many women like Margaret Morse Nice turning previously amateur interests into effective expertise.
SciStarter was launched by Darlene Cavalier, an online portal that connects citizen scientists with environmental and other researchers. There are now thousands of projects and over 100,000 registered users. SciStarter’s impact is not limited to the collection of observational data. Cavalier explains, “Engagement in citizen science has been shown to increase confidence and help create an identity as someone who can understand science and can influence outcomes.”
Sara Beery is one of the people who felt empowered to collect data and improve its use. While performing with the Atlanta Ballet, Sara became interested in technologies that could be used to solve environmental problems. That interest led her to pursue a Ph.D. in computer science at Cal Tech, where she is one of the world’s leading experts on applying artificial intelligence and computer vision to wildlife conservation.
Others are using environmental technology for women empowerment, improving their lives and reducing their impact upon the planet. Working with women entrepreneurs in Africa to provide reliable access to clean water, Alison Wedgewood realized the system wasn’t working for the women who needed it most. The burden of collecting water falls on women first, so the costs for a failure of the system are also shared by them.
Pumps installed by governments or well-meaning NGOs failed frequently and were often controlled by the “head man” of the village. Wedgewood, who is the head of eWATERservices, helped create a cloud-connected water pump that allows women to use an electronic fob instead of asking the man in charge to turn on their spigot. This creates a revenue stream that gives women customers a financial incentive to keep their water flowing. Pumps that used to take a month to fix are now done in one day.
This simple innovation is a major breakthrough for women as well as the environment. Instead of having to walk for water, women can now use a pump at home. These remote African villages would boil water from nearby streams to purify it. “The landscape is being denuded of trees,” says Wedgewood. You could also buy plastic bags filled with clean water. Plastic often ends up on the ground because there is no reliable way to collect it. Access to clean water is now easier for women and girls.
Many of the most innovative environmental efforts take place in developing nations, where technology is cheap and opens up new avenues to help protect wildlife and ecosystems. WILDLABS, which is led by a group made up of women, works with people around the world to apply conservation technology. Sara Beery is currently working on the camera traps. Recent surveys of conservation activists worldwide found that a majority were optimistic about the future role of conservation technology. As Talia Speaker, Research Lead at WILDLABS notes, “the capacity of the ever-growing conservation technology community to forge a better future for our society and planet even with such limited resources is astounding.”
There are many more women and organizations that I could name. They and many others are democratizing environmentalalism and looking for new ways to solve environmental problems that have long been elusive. This is a moment to be proud of, in a time where there is so much frustration over the state our environment.
