Take a look at many of the spaces where climate related decisions are being made - from government, to business, to media - and you'll notice someone missing. Women. Despite being roughly half the people on the planet, women are often excluded from critical climate decision making spaces. This isn't just bad for women - it's bad for everyone. This week, we take a deep dive into the data to show how this lack of women in climate leadership can not only exacerbate the harmful impacts of climate change but can also make it harder, if not impossible, deepen the harms of climate impacts and make it harder, if not impossible to take meaningful action on staving off the worse impacts of climate change. We'll also speak with someone who has seen firsthand how women’s leadership on climate solutions can be transformative. 

Guests: Anne Karpf, Christina Ergas, Wanjira Mathai

Calls to Action

• Elevate the work and the threats facing environmental defenders. Normally, we would caution against being a social media activist. But many of these leaders are at risk because of corporate interests and power, and the threats fly under the radar. Amplifying the risks they are facing can actually make a real difference. Global Witness is one organization you can check out to see what risks they are facing and how to draw attention to them, while the news outlet MongaBay has an ongoing series on what they call, "Endangered Environmentalists."
• Vote for Women. Or if you are a woman, consider running for office yourself.  Dr. Christina Ergas reminded us that support for women climate leaders should extend to the ballot box, to voting for women, especially women of color, in all sorts of races from city councils to state legislatures to Capitol Hill and the White House. If you're considering running for office, there are several groups that want to help you! 
• Emily's List (one of the oldest organizations focused on helping Democratic women and non-binary people fun for office)
• She Should Run (which helps women regardless of political affiliation)
• Higher Heights (focused on helping Black Women run for office)
• Matriarch (focused on helping progressive women run for office)
• She the people (focused on helping women of color run for office) 
• Run For Something (focused on helping young, diverse, progressive people, regardless of gender, run for office)
• Dr. Anne Karpf reminded us to make sure that we’re engaging in collective action – which is far more effective than individual gestures. She recommended campaigns like EarthJustice’s Clean Air campaign, and the #PaidToPollute campaign that’s taking on the British government – the very same government who’ll be hosting COP26 in a couple of months – to court them to stop subsidizing oil and gas production.
• Stay informed with the Women's Environmental Development Organization’s Gender Climate Tracker. There’s even an app for that! So if this episode left you enamored with all the reams of research and data, you can make sure that you have the latest information on this critical topic in your pocket and at your fingertips.

Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis and Lauren Silverman. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our supervising producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Sam Bair with original music from Peter Leonard, Bobby Lord, and Emma Munger. Our fact checker for this episode was James Gaines.