INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
The list of women defenders of nature is very extensive, but we have selected those who have influenced decision-making, people’s lives, and even some who have received a Nobel Prize for their work.
Even though the great environmental conferences are full of men, many women have dedicated their lives to the environment and have made great contributions to improve and raise awareness about the climate crisis and the importance of conserving nature.
Researchers, naturalists, activists, some are university students, others are housewives who organized to defend the interests of their communities.
The list of women defenders of nature is very extensive, but we have selected those who have influenced decision-making, people’s lives, and even some who have received a Nobel Prize for their work.
Among familiar faces, we highlight the primatologist Jane Goodall, who at more than 80 years of age continues travelling the world to publicize her cause. Or some of the pioneers in the world of natural sciences, such as Maria Sibylla Merian, who at a time when almost no one was interested in the study of insects, least of all women, made important advances in the understanding of metamorphosis of insects.
Rachel Carson, who with her outreach work laid the foundations for environmentalism and helped to create a global awareness of the effects of human activity on the environment.
We highlight the work of Wangari Maathai, Kenyan activist promoter of the famous “Green Belt Movement”, a project that has African women as the protagonists and thanks to which millions of trees have already been planted in Kenya.
The incessant work of this biologist at the service of her community earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, and Wangari Maathai received the affectionate nickname “Tree Woman”.
We have also selected other fewer media figures but with equally outstanding stories, such as that of Louis Gibbs, an American housewife who led a neighbourhood protest movement in her neighbourhood, built on a dump of highly polluting toxic products. Gibbs is the founder of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice and in 1990 she received the prestigious Goldman Prize for the Environment.
Last but not least we highlight the Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg who first heard about climate change when she was little.
In August 2018, shortly before the elections in her country, she started a school hunger strike on her own. Every day she sat in front of the Swedish Parliament with a banner: “Strike for the climate” to spotlight the protest. After the elections, she continued to do so every Friday. Her movement has inspired the global movement “Fridays For Future” and thousands of young people around the world follow her example, demanding more forceful actions to prevent climate change since their future is at stake.
