Letters for Sunday, March 27, 2022

Put the women in charge

Women are uniquely critical to addressing climate chaos. The data, social science and history, or maybe we should say herstory, back this up.

Women worldwide are more vulnerable to environmental catastrophe. Fully 80% of those displaced by climate change have been women. In 2020, the Women’s Environment & Development Organization (WEDO) released several dozens of studies showing how women take the risks of climate change much more seriously than men.

Men tend to favor complex geo-engineering solutions, often ignoring the root causes of climate change and giving less attention to the impacts. Men’s views are more-often associated with individualism and women’s views are more egalitarian, with a more-communal lens.

What is needed is a plurality of voices with the prominence of women’s voices. Currently, women are vastly underrepresented in governance and other decision-making bodies related to the environment. When women are included more gets done.

There are a host of studies showing that in countries where women play a prominent political role they are more likely to ratify treaties dealing with the climate crisis. One study found carbon-dioxide emissions per capita are lower in nations where women have higher political status, even when controlling for many other factors. The most-successful climate talks so far, which produced the Paris agreement, was the first and only time a woman, Christiana Figueres, was in charge, and worked with a team of women behind the scenes.

Nations with greater female representation in positions of power have smaller climate footprints. Companies with women on their executive boards are far more likely to invest in renewable energy and develop products that help solve the climate crisis.

Women legislators vote for environmental protections almost twice as frequently as men, and women who lead investment firms are twice as likely to make investment decisions based on how companies treat their employees and the environment. Nations that have higher proportions of women in Parliament and similar bodies are more likely to ratify environmental treaties. The more women in political positions with decision-making power over climate and environmental policy, the stronger and more-robust those policies end up being.

A remarkable example is the leadership of Dr. Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In the 70s, she started a women’s movement in Kenya to plant trees to counter deforestation and desertification. Their work addressed climate change in a significant way, provided an income and industry for the women, and it also helped make the connection between the environment and poverty and food self-sufficiency. The Greenbelt Movement, as it was named, has involved hundreds of thousands of women, and planted over 51 million trees in Kenya alone. And it has since spread to other African nations.

In complex ways, the Greenbelt Movement also led to a more-democratic Kenya. Maathai made the connection between the environment and peace, understanding that most wars are fought over land and resources. She is the first person to win a Nobel Peace Prize for environmental work.

At the grassroots level, women are leading. Upwards of 60% of community environmental-justice organizations today are spearheaded by women, particularly women of color. In recent climate strikes in the U.S., two-thirds of the organizers were women.

Women are placing themselves in harm’s way to stop climate chaos, but they are not at the decision-making in meaningful numbers yet. Still, women on the frontlines are linking arms, leading with heart and a deep commitment to peace and justice. To do things correctly, or to be pono, as defined by Hawaiian scholar Jonathan Osorio, is to have balance between the masculine and feminine.

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Laurel Brier is with Kaua‘i Climate Action Coalition, which meets via Zoom the third Monday of the month. Email kauaiclimate@gmail.com to join and for more information. Education forums are held the second Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. via Zoom. April 13 will be a legislative update on climate-related bills with state environmental caucus leaders and Kaua‘i legislators. For more information, go to the Zero Waste Kaua‘i FaceBook page or register at bit.ly/climatelegislation.

Take better care of crime victims

Do people ever wonder what happens to those who fall victim to violent crime on Kaua‘i?

The pain never leaves their life, and in some cases keeps destroying the victim’s life.

In a case involving a man who shot his roommate in the face and chest with a .357 while he slept, the man was convicted of manslaughter. The state accepted financial responsibility for future medical costs and placed the victim on Medicare.

“The victim is very fortunate to be alive,” said the prosecutor, and “He will suffer for the rest of his life.”

He was not kidding! The victim who was shot in the jaw (mandible bone) has been denied treatments because the mandible bone is considered a dental issue not covered by Medicare, and placed on permanent Social Security disability.

The perpetrator has no money, is serving a 20-year sentence, with better dental coverage than the victim, who eats out of a straw and is denied procedures that are available.

Is that the way the state of Hawai‘i accepts medical responsibility?

Peter Bonfiglio, Wailua