Note: This letter from the editor was originally published in our weekly newsletter and is being republished here.
Happy Friday guys!
With the Australian bushfires still raging in some regions (RIP to the US firefighters who lost their lives in the NSW bushfire plane crash) and other areas in drought, to get the rain we did over the last week has been a godsend.
If you’ve been following on Instagram Stories, you’ll know here at HQ we don’t rely on town water and we collect and harvest all water we use ourselves via our dams and rainwater tanks. It had been six months since we had had solid rain and we’d been rationing our water. Over the last week though we’ve received 160ml of rain, filling our tanks and dams and this has brought a sense of relief to our agricultural region, turning it from dusty brown to green once again and filling us with hope (some of our neighbours are also cattle grazers and small crop growers).
Below is an image of our local creek in early December and what it looked like several days ago. Our neighbourhood is thrilled as you can imagine and some of us have been swapping photos of our rain gauges and dams as only people living on the land do LOL.
Now as I mentioned in my last newsletter, this year we are mobilising serious climate action and targeting macro systems and the frameworks that govern our societies and economies so that we can build a sustainable future.
As a result of this commitment, we have now established our Women Who Love Politics private Facebook group. My own experiences in online political discussions ending with gendered abuse and stalker-troll behaviour (often from males) is the reason why our online group is closed and private. The point is to encourage interest, participation, knowledge and understanding of politics amongst women/womxn so that they feel confident and empowered enough to contribute to positive change in political systems across the world, and perhaps consider running themselves!
Related Post: Why Empowering Women Is Essential For Sustainable Development and Health
Observing the veritable shi*tshow otherwise known as Australian politics over the last 10 years, I am increasingly concerned about the direction the country is headed if we don’t have creative, talented, intelligent and empathetic people leading – and that means a lot more women being involved in all levels of politics.
Democracy seems to have been hijacked by the super wealthy and well-connected, lobbyists and corrupt politicians, and increasingly –thanks to the lack of regulation of social media platforms– bots and paid troll armies spreading misinformation and fake news.
If you’re a woman/womxn interested in politics, please consider joining the group. There is a fresh round of local and state government elections in Australia and there is also the US presidential election in November so this is not the year to sit on the sidelines if we want to see serious climate action (like pricing carbon). If the IPCC reports are anything to go by, we don’t have time to waste; we need to start accelerating transition away from fossil fuels and particularly Big Coal ASAP.
Related Post: 3 Reasons Why There Aren’t More Women In Politics and How We Can Improve Participation
What can you do if politics isn’t your jam but you want to make a big contribution in mitigating climate change? Switch to renewable/green electricity, divest from fossil fuels, switch to responsible banks and ethical super/retirement/investment funds, and start spreading the message so that others may do the same. Governments have layers of bureaucracy (and climate deniers on the bench) which is why they are slow to act so until then, we must put our faith (and money) in the private sector to accelerate positive change.
I’ve touched on this in my last newsletter and published a whole piece about ethical finance so I won’t go into it again, but if you’re keen to learn more, read this post.
Anyway, we’ve got the internet working again (after a horrifying start to the year in terms of internet, hosting and software) so I’ve got to get a move on. Have a fabulous weekend and I really hope to see many of you in our Women Who Love Politics group!
Peace, love and all that jazz,
Editor-in-chief Jen xx
p.s. We’ve just started recording more podcast shows so if there’s a person you believe deserves to be interviewed, feel free to nominate them by replying to this email. Our first show for 2020 will be up within the week so make sure to keep an ear out 🙂
Recommending reading:
- Our 2020 Plan: Mobilising Serious Climate Action, Activating Hope and Promoting Diversity and Inclusivity
- 6 Sustainable Fashion Trends to Watch Out for in 2020
- For Widespread Adoption of Sustainable Solutions, Eco Folk Must Get Beyond the Echo Chamber
- How To Be A Political, Social Equality and Environmental Activist In Your Own Way
- 30 Things You Can Do If You’re Feeling Helpless About Climate Change
- How to Have Better Arguments About the Environment (or Anything Else)
- Voting Green: How to Encourage People to Vote for Politicians That Support Climate Action
Title image via Shutterstock.
