Support the Power of Educating Girls
One of the best tools we have to limit global heating is to educate girls and young women!
“CLIMATE IS EVERYTHING.” That’s the theme in the April 26 – May 3, 2021 issue of TIME. One of the most hopeful articles in this issue is an interview with a young climate-justice activist, Vanessa Nakate. Born in Uganda, Nakate shares the perspective of the nonprofit group Project Drawdown. “Investing in universal education and family planning in low- and middle-income countries could reduce emissions by 88.42 gigatons by 2050. That’s about a decade’s worth of China’s emissions.”
Published in 2017, Drawdown, a New York Times best-seller, explains that women with more years of education have fewer, healthier children and actively manage their reproductive health. A report from the Brookings Institution states that “the difference between a woman with no years of schooling and with 12 years of schooling is almost four to five children per woman.”
Dawdown offers even more benefits of educating girls. Educated girls have higher wages and greater upward mobility. Their rates of maternal mortality drop as do the mortality rates of their babies. They are less likely to marry as children or against their will. They have lower incidences of HIV/AIDS and malaria. Their agricultural plots are more productive and their families are better nourished. Educating girls and young women “is the most powerful lever available for breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty, while mitigating emissions by curbing population growth.”
Nobel laureate and girls’ education activist Malala Yousafzai states, “One child, one teacher, one book and one pen, can change the world.”
We can support the work of Malala by donating to MALALA FUND. The home page of Malala’s website states that “20 million more girls may never return to school once the COVID-19 crisis subsides.”
Who We Can Be
We can be people who embrace and support the value of education for girls and young women throughout the world. We can impact the climate crisis with our actions! We can impact the devastating effect of the pandemic on the lives of girls and young women.
