Fall WEAvings Newsletter: This is the future we are shaping

Over the past few months, our work has carried us across conversations and communities—at Climate Week NYC, where inclusion and accountability took center stage; and alongside our Program Leads in Bali, Mombasa, and La Paz, where women eco-entrepreneurs, divers, and ocean conservationists are adapting to climate threats and creating community-based solutions. Across these moments, one truth has emerged: progress begins with care for people, for the planet, and for the communities holding both together.

In a recent essay, Bill Gates wrote that “climate change is serious, but it will not be the end of civilization.” He called for the world to focus more on improving lives—reducing hunger, poverty, and disease—rather than viewing climate change as a doomsday scenario. His reflections invite an important conversation about what progress really looks like, and how it shapes global priorities.

At Women’s Earth Alliance, we see these priorities as inseparable. The health and prosperity of people reflect the strength of our climate response—a proof point for how well we’re addressing the climate crisis. That’s why each WEA program is guided by three key measures of impact: environmental, economic, and social. When women restore coral reefs in Baja California, shift from forest-encroaching economies to forest-friendly eco-enterprises in East Java, or transform plastic waste into livelihoods in Nairobi, they are doing more than adapting to a changing climate. They are redefining what successful climate solutions look like: nourished families, healthy ecosystems, and thriving local economies.

We see, every day, that addressing climate change is improving lives. The same solutions that nourish the Earth nourish people, and the women leading them understand that deeply. Their leadership is a reminder that the climate conversation cannot be reduced to a tradeoff between technology and humanity. It’s a call to invest in approaches that center both.

Climate change is a human story and an Earth story. As the world turns its attention to COP30 this month, we have an opportunity to expand how we measure success, recognizing that restoring the planet and improving lives are not separate goals, but the same path forward.

This is the future WEA’s leaders are already shaping: one where climate action uplifts communities, strengthens economies, and restores the Earth we share.