Hurricane Melissa, from ICFP to COP30, safer period and beauty products, controversial Gates memo

There's a whole lot going on around the world: This weekly brief from Climate, Gendered is your chance to spend a few short moments on just five items with the potential to disproportionately impact over half the global population — and the ideas that might make a difference.

Groups highlight women's role in Melissa recovery: 'Not only among the most affected but are also essential to … resilience' (Climate, Gendered)

The local organizations and global partners that were making gender-responsive preparations for the impacts of a devastating Category 5 hurricane last week are now focused on recovery. But in addition to prioritizing the unique health and safety needs of girls, women, and other marginalized communities during major storms, these groups see their expertise and leadership as key to recovery and, in the long term, to disaster prevention.

Discussions at ICFP underscore the need to improve access to sexual and reproductive health care in the wake of extreme weather, temps

For the first time since its inaugural convening in 2009, the International Conference on Family Planning included a track dedicated to the environment and climate change. Track leaders hosted virtual events leading up to the conference, covering topics like midwives in a changing climate; extreme weather, contraceptive use, and fertility preferences; and how frontline leaders and communities are protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights in light of the climate crisis.

Held this year in Bogotá, Colombia, during the first week of November, the ICFP itself featured multiple in-person events from organizations such as YLabs, the Margaret Pyke Trust, CHED Solutions, Ipas, and the SRHR & Climate Justice Coalition as well as collaborations with the Humanitarian & Crisis Settings Subcommittee.

At the conclusion of ICFP, many turned their attentions to Belém, Brazil, for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as COP30. There, groups like the U.N. Population Fund and the Women's Environment and Development Organization are working to advance gender-responsive climate action and policy decisions. 

Nearly 80K sign petition to establish safety regulations for period products: 'It’s a public health crisis' (WEN)

Wen delivered a petition bearing over 78,000 signatures to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in early November. In partnership with Pesticide Action Network UK and Ekō, the advocacy group is calling on the government to establish safety regulations for menstrual products and to require manufacturers to disclose the materials used in their consumer goods.

Of particular concern to Wen and others is the potential for products like pads and tampons to contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — or PFAS, also known as "forever chemicals" — as well as heavy metals. Both have been linked to serious health concerns, including reproductive issues and certain cancers.

Research scientist on monitoring beauty products for toxic ingredients: 'It’s a mental burden that’s exhausting' (Woman Child Health)

In a recent Q&A, Lariah Edwards of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health discussed topics addressed in a study published in September in the journal Environmental Justice.

The research, conducted through the Taking Stock Study, sought to evaluate how the strategy of avoiding potentially harmful ingredients while shopping might affect chemical exposures in women of color, a population that has not received sufficient evaluation in this area while facing disproportionate hazards.

The co-authors concluded, "While individual-level behavior change can help shift chemical exposures among Black and Hispanic/Latina women, advocacy for safer chemicals and ingredient transparency is needed to achieve health equity."

Climate scientists respond to controversial Gates memo: 'We care about climate change … because it affects everything else' (Covering Climate Now)

Sammy Roth of the newsletter Climate-Colored Goggles hosted a panel of climate scientists at Covering Climate Now to respond to the recent memo from Bill Gates seeming to suggest deprioritizing investments in climate solutions in favor of "funding for health and development — programs that help people stay resilient in the face of climate change." The panelists discussed what seemed to be a false binary underlying the argument. Said scientist Katharine Hayhoe:

There is no question that [climate change] disproportionately affects the poorest and most vulnerable people who've done the least to cause the problem in the first place. And it does this by taking all the issues they're already coping with — poverty, hunger, disease, lack of access to clean water, a safe place to live, basic health care, education, gender equity — taking all of these things and making them worse. 

So the image I have is that all too many people, including Bill Gates, as he clearly lays out in his memo, they see climate change as one more bucket at the end of a long line of buckets of things we need to fix. ... But that mental model is fundamentally flawed because climate change is not a separate bucket. The only reason we care about climate change is because it affects everything else we already care about.

One goal at Climate, Gendered is to bring an undeniable spotlight to the reality that proliferating pollution, increasing temperatures, sea level rise, extreme weather, habitat loss, and more can uniquely and disproportionately impact girls, women, trans communities, and nonbinary people. We welcome with gratitude your timely observations on this topic: Please share one way you noticed this week in which climate and gender connect — and share CG with a friend.