Inspired by the book All We Can Save, a celebration of the feminist climate renaissance, 15 local women, including PSR PA Executive Director, Tonyehn Verkitus, were asked to give a 150 word response to the question: “If we are at a crossroads of peril and promise, where do you see possibility alive and growing?” The responses were shared in a two part series on their blog.
Tonyehn shared the following thoughts:
I have often thought: if you want to solve a problem put a handful of women in a room and give them a deadline. Women tend to think about the collective, not just the individual, and are more apt to make decisions that support and invigorate society as a whole — think pay equality, fair benefits and ethical responsibility.
When it comes to climate change, we are at a point of crisis where the only way forward is change and women can lead the way as powerful organizers. The environmental movement was started by women. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring inspired us to care about the Earth, and today women like Suzanne Simard, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, are inspiring us to look even further. Addressing climate change requires the work of visionaries with the depth of character to make the most reticent individuals answer the call.
You can read the rest of the responses on The Academy of Natural Sciences blog.