How Women Are Leading the Fight for Climate Justice. Interview with Dr. Spitzer | Tanglic Talk – EP02

Tangelic Talks – Episode 02

How Women Are Leading the Fight for Climate Justice. Interview with Dr. Spitzer on Tangelic Talks

6 minutes to read

In this episode of Tangelic Talks, we sit down with Dr. Peg Spitzer—author, climate activist, and advocate for gender equity—to explore the vital role of women in the fight against climate change. Dr. Spitzer shares powerful insights from her work and research, highlighting how women in the Global South are leading the charge against environmental degradation while confronting systemic inequalities.

The Nexus of Gender and Climate Change

Dr. Spitzer outlines the critical intersection of gender and climate change, emphasizing that women in developing regions are disproportionately affected by climate crises. Their traditional roles in water collection, food production, and caregiving put them on the front lines of climate impacts such as droughts, floods, and resource scarcity.

However, Dr. Spitzer’s work demonstrates that women’s unique perspectives and roles in their communities also make them powerful agents of change. “Women have the resilience and knowledge to implement localized, impactful solutions,” she explains.

Empowering Women Through Gender-Just Solutions

Dr. Spitzer’s book, Empowering Female Climate Change Activists in the Global South, explores grassroots innovations led by women. From her time researching irrigation technologies in Gujarat, India, to examining solar-powered cooking initiatives in Africa, Dr. Spitzer has seen firsthand how empowering women can transform entire communities. She highlights several gender-just solutions:

  • Bungaroo Technology in Gujarat: This irrigation solution grants women control over water resources, bypassing traditional land-ownership barriers.

  • Mealworm Farming in Guatemala: Women-led micro-enterprises cultivate mealworms as a sustainable protein source, addressing food insecurity caused by climate change.

  • Solar Battery Building in Turkey’s Refugee Camps: Women learn to assemble and sell solar batteries, creating both sustainable energy solutions and economic opportunities.

The Role of Transnational Advocacy

Transnational advocacy is essential for scaling these local solutions. By connecting women-led projects across borders, communities can share knowledge and resources to address common challenges. Dr. Spitzer emphasizes the importance of platforms like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), where gender-just climate solutions are recognized and celebrated through initiatives like the Women and Gender Constituency Awards.

Challenges and Opportunities

While women’s leadership is vital, systemic barriers often hinder progress. In many patriarchal societies, women’s participation in decision-making remains limited. Dr. Spitzer notes that building confidence and community support is key: “You can’t just put women in charge overnight. It takes time, training, and trust-building to ensure long-term success.”

She also stresses the need for financial and technical support from the Global North, particularly in the form of loss-and-damage funds and capacity-building programs. “Richer nations bear responsibility not only for historical emissions but also for empowering those most affected to adapt and thrive,” she argues.

Thought Provoking Q&A Session with Dr. Spitzer

Absolutely. There’s a term for it. It’s called traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) that people use to talk about the way in which we understand the world and we observe changes in the world. And I think that a lot of, again, indigenous communities or people who live in one area for a long time are able to see changes in nature and able to understand and appreciate things that are happening. This one project that I’m working on now is in Guatemala again, but it’s looking at the way in which people are cutting down trees, not thinking about what’s happening as a result of this. So there’s some human changes that need to occur. What they’re seeing is when you cut those tress down, it affects the wildlife, the ecosystem, and even temperature rise, because you don’t have the shade, which is significant too. 

Dr. Peg Spitzer

Research Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at Stony Brook University in New York.

Peg Spitzer

Peg Spitzer is an interdisciplinary scholar and Research Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at Stony Brook University in New York. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota, and master’s and doctoral degrees from American University in Washington, DC in International Relations with a specialty in the modernization of sciences and technology in the developing world. She tackles structural gender norms to empower women to speak up for their rights. Peg collaborates with innovators and entrepreneurs to conduct oral histories that uplift those who experience environmental degradation in their communities. She has developed two digital oral history projects, one on Women in US–Asian relations and the other on the implementation of a women-led irrigation technology in India, titled Mirroring Hope. 

Prior to her work in climate change, Peg wrote a series of short biographies on women leaders in local communities; and served as a program consultant, with a specialty in Asian and Asian American studies, in Washington, DC for the Kluge Center for International Scholars (Library of Congress), Freer and Sackler Gallery (Smithsonian), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the East-West Center. Her book, Empowering Female Climate Change Activists in the Global South:  The Path Toward Environmental Social Justice, was published in 2023. 

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