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Communities Taking a Stand at Standing Rock
Continuing to send thoughts and strength to the encampment of protectors defending land, water, communities and future. Help to spread the word to build support for the camp and this movement! Protecting water and our sacred places has always been at the center of our cause. The Indian encampment on the Cannonball grows daily, with…
Photos Show Why The North Dakota Pipeline Is Problematic
Last week, the U.S. federal government gave approved the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which will run for 1,172 miles to transport crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken oilfields to Patoka, Illinois. The pipeline would travel through lands sacred to the Lakota people, and cross under the Missouri, Mississippi, and Big Sioux rivers. Just one…
Nepal quake impact on single women highlights need for equal land rights
By now, we are all aware of the devastating impact the 2015 earthquakes had on Nepal. What may not have been as comprehensively covered in the weeks and months that followed was the acute impact on women. According to this article in Reuters, “Of the more than 900,000 homes damaged and destroyed, about a quarter…
President Barack Obama Says, “This Is What a Feminist Looks Like”
In June, WEA was honored to have our Leadership Board Member Pandora Thomas represent us at the #StateofWomen Summit in Washington, D.C., bringing our (and your!) voice to this historic gathering. During the summit, President Obama made his now-famous declaration that, “I may have a few more grey hairs than I did 7 years ago, but this…
Indigenous women in Peru use seed saving and traditional knowledge to combat climate change
Throughout the 10 years of WEA’s work, we’ve seen how women are often those preserving traditional knowledge and shepherding intergenerational knowledge transfer within communities. This is true of both ecological and cultural knowledge, and those two things more often than not are intimately linked. Seed saving is a wonderful example of this link, and we…
Women, disasters and climate change
As Mary Robinson and Wangari Maathai stated in the Huffington Post in 2010, “The battle to protect the environment is not solely about technological innovation — it is also about empowering women and their communities to hold their governments accountable for results.” This has been a core foundation of WEA’s work for the last decade, and — as…
India’s new reforestation law ignores indigenous people
Analysts and experts are stating that a new Indian law — the Compensatory Afforestation, Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) law — aimed at boosting reforestation across the country ignores the importance of indigenous people in conserving land and tramples on their rights. “Evidence from around the world shows that farmers and local communities are far…
Climate Change Effects Lead to Mass Migration in India
“Displacement for populations due to erratic and extreme weather, a fallout of climate change, has become a scary reality for millions of people across swathes of India. Flooding in Jammu and Kashmir last year, in Uttarakhand in 2013 and in Assam in 2012 displaced 1.5 million people.” South Asia continues to be hard hit by…
Over 1 million people hit by flooding in India’s tea region of Assam
We’ve just learned of the flooding that has hit the communities and tea gardens in the Assam region of India. This is also the region (specifically, the Tinsukia district) where our project, Together for H2OPE — a partnership between WEA, Numi Foundation, and Purva Bharati Educational Trust — is based. Please join with us as we keep…
Meet the Interns: Hi, Olivia!
Every summer, we get a chance to work with an incredible team of intelligent, inspirational interns, and while they may not be with us for very long, their impact on the WEA team will always be felt. We are so fortunate to have had Olivia join us for part of her summer as part of…