The Climate Solution Nobody Is Talking About

Why Elon Musk Won’t Save us. And women in rural Indonesia just might.

80% of the people already displaced by climate change are women. Yet they also hold the key to ending the climate crisis.

Let’s do a quick experiment!

Close your eyes for just a moment and think of the best solutions to climate change. 

What came up for you?

For most people, and it’s the same in the media, it’s electric cars, solar panels, and flying less. And these solutions all have their place. Yet something that’s not commonly talked about is women. 

Because women are not only at the forefront of climate change - currently, they make up 80% of the people already displaced by it. Empowering women and giving them access to education is the number one climate change solution according to Project Drawdown. 

Yet not nearly enough people talk about it. 

* Taken together, educating women and ensuring rights to self-determination when it comes to having children, are the number one climate solutions in terms of potential carbon savings.

Why Women Are The Solution

The main reason why the economic and educational empowerment of women is so important is this: Once women get access to education, they tend to have fewer, healthier children and make use of their right to be in charge of their reproductive health. 

This does in no way mean telling women to have less children - it is the effect of women making use of their rights to self-determination. When women are in charge of family planning, it follows the expressed needs of women and focuses on child health and the prosperity of her family. 

Environmental benefits are a mere side effect of this. 

But there is more: As we have seen in many of our regeneration projects, women are wonderful guardians of their environment. They’re more efficient in growing more crops on less land - and in our own experience, are more open to organic practices. 

Educating these women and giving them fair market access shores up their resilience and gives them the tools to prepare for the impacts of climate change - while taking even better care of the environment around them. 

That’s why we invest so much in women.

At Rumah SukkhaCitta Foundation, we envision an inclusive world where women are fairly rewarded and recognized for their crucial role in protecting the environment. 

Because it is women who can help us solve the climate crisis. 

Not eccentric billionaires ;)