Women’s Rights and Climate Activists to Host Briefing on A Feminist Agenda for the Green New Deal

The coalition includes MADRE, the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), the Sierra Club, the NAACP, Ginew, and the Network for Social Justice and Human Rights in Brazil.

 

Earlier this week, the coalition launched a set of collective feminist principles to help advance the Green New Deal. These 10 key principles call for climate policy analysis through an intersectional gender lens, reproductive justice, the creation of regenerative economies, a shift from exploitative and unsustainable production patterns and a rejection of false solutions to the climate crisis.

 

As New York Climate Week and the UN Climate Summit bring attention to the climate crisis and interest in the US Green New Deal Resolution grows, the coalition seeks to engage with Members of Congress; policy, activist and community groups; and others on the importance of centering gender justice, global justice, frontline communities, Indigenous leadership and human rights in Green New Deal programs and policies.

 

Available for interviews:

The coalition thanks Representative Barbara Lee for sponsoring the room for this event.

 

Comments from Feminist Green New Deal Coalition Partners:

Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) said, “The extreme magnitude and scope of the climate crisis requires that the Green New Deal (GND) addresses root causes of socio-ecological demise and offers bold, systemic change. In response to this need, GND Feminist Principles are essential in the strategy and implementation of climate solutions to advance a vision and actions that confront historical oppressions nationally and globally, and to ensure that community-led solutions are heeded and that Indigenous and frontline communities, peoples of color, women and girls, and all who have been marginalized are centered in decision-making. There is no time to lose in generating actionable policies and agendas that are truly just across all sectors as we work ceaselessly for a healthy future for people and planet.”

 

Bridget Burns, Director, Women’s Environment and Development Organization said, “The Green New Deal resolution marked an important moment in advancing the tireless work of indigenous peoples, local communities, researchers and grassroots advocates across this country and around the world who put their hearts and bodies on the line to protect people and the planet every day. It is long past time for bold, unwavering, and moral leadership in the United States to legislate the ambitious and large-scale policy shifts needed – shifts that are rooted in addressing systemic inequalities within communities across this country, and around the world, who suffer the first and worst impacts of climate change while contributing the least. For Green New Deal policies to work towards true systemic change, it must embody the principles of a transformative feminist agenda for change – where gender equality, human rights, and environmental integrity are at the heart of creating a peaceful and healthy planet."

 

MADRE Executive Director Yifat Susskind said, "The Green New Deal presents a vital opportunity for us to secure a more just and sustainable future--by recognizing the social and global dimensions of the climate crisis. The principles embedded in this feminist agenda offer the guidance policymakers and advocates need to put those priorities into practice, with the urgency and effectiveness that a response to climate breakdown demands."

 

Jessica Olson, Campaign Representative for the Sierra Club's Gender Equity and Environment Program: "The Green New Deal offers the boldest solution yet to address the root causes of the climate crisis and inequity, and together with our allies, we are proud to launch the Feminist Green New Deal principles to help move that agenda forward at the speed and scale demanded. We know that the climate crisis and inequity are not gender neutral, and together with this broad movement, we can help ensure that  people across the gender spectrum, particularly women and LGBTQI people, are both at the center of the solutions and at the table making the decisions about their futures."