Drag artist raises $1M for outdoor nonprofits, women-led efforts key to cyclone recovery

There's a whole lot going on around the world: This weekly brief from Climate, Gendered isn't intended to be exhaustive but rather your chance to spend just a few moments on a handful of items with the potential to disproportionately impact over half the global population — plus, the ideas that might make a difference.

In this digest ...

• Women facing Iran water crisis also blamed for it, pray for rain
• Microplastics in uterine lining could be clues to fertility, endo
• No-pay markets, 'prepositioned' supplies in cyclone-hit South Asia
• Engineer pens books to represent girls of color in climate resilience
• Drag artist raises $1M for outdoor nonprofits with 100-mile trek

In Iran, women may be disproportionately impacted by the water crisis, blamed for it, and also pray for rain: 'It has to really move from the patriarchy side of water… to the women's side'

The story behind Iran's unfolding water crisis isn't as "simple" as climate change alone since the severe scarcity there has reportedly long been driven by man-made factors, such as resource mismanagement, unsustainable farming practices, and groundwater depletion. But a years-long drought is also worsening a life-threatening situation that has brought President Masoud Pezeshkian to consider evacuating the capital. Now, not only could the extended water crisis and its ramifications pose unequal impacts along gender lines — such as unequal water collection burdens and challenges to menstrual care — but women and girls have, in some cases, also been blamed for it. Meanwhile, gender-responsive climate innovations and gender-equitable representation in water planning efforts may be among the best solutions to this man-made problem …

Microplastics research could yield clues to fertility, endometriosis: 'Essential to proving why environmental legislation and collaboration is necessary'

Preliminary research suggests exposure to microplastics could affect fertility by altering regular changes to cells in the uterine lining. Further studies could also contribute to the growing body of research on the factors that may contribute to endometriosis. Julia Froese, a researcher and college senior at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been exploring the relationship between microplastics, uterine lining, and fertility. She recently shared her insights with CG …

From free period products to no-pay markets and 'prepositioned' supplies, advocates and officials are working to meet community needs following devastating floods across South and Southeast Asia

Monsoon rains, a typhoon, and multiple cyclones devastated communities across Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam this November. Governments, humanitarian groups, and grassroots organizations have responded to gendered needs by visiting evacuation centers to help ensure safety, providing sexual and reproductive health supplies, and launching no-pay markets in cities and rural areas. Some survivors have also been supported through the "prepositioning" of essential resources throughout the disaster-prone region. Women-led "disaster committees" are helping to shape such efforts around the world too ...

Engineer pens children's books to represent girls of color in STEM and climate resilience: 'We need role models to help us believe that what we want to do is possible'

She was forced to evacuate her New Orleans, Louisiana, home as a high schooler living through Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Then, she pursued a career in civil engineering with the hopes of mitigating similar disasters. Now, Courtney Kelly is writing children's books that ensure girls of color can see themselves as essential to infrastructural solutions like wetland restoration and green space creation …

Drag artist raises over $1M with 100-mile trek in support of outdoor equity: 'If people laugh in your face … you're likely on the right path'

Pattie Gonia backpacked down the California coast in fanciful drag to raise over $1 million for eight nonprofit efforts aimed at improving equitable access to nature, including one dedicated to creating outdoor experiences for LGBTQ+ youth. "I hope I can be a little bit of proof to you that combining who you are and what you’re good at to fight for the change you want to see in the world works," she posted on social media at the completion of her hike. It's a message perhaps all the more notable for its coming on the heels of calls for trans- and non-binary inclusion at COP30 in Belém, Brazil. Read the full article for more on how trans-led climate efforts, like calls in Pakistan, are spotlighting disproportionate climate impacts too …

One goal at Climate, Gendered is to bring a spotlight to the reality that proliferating pollution, increasing temperatures, rising seas, extreme weather, habitat loss, and more can uniquely and disproportionately impact girls, women, trans communities, and non-binary people — especially those from communities of color, Indigenous people, disabled people, immigrants and displaced people, people experiencing poverty, and residents of low- and middle-income countries. We're also interested in the climate crises and concerns that can disproportionately affect men and boys. 

This work cannot be done alone or in silos. We welcome with gratitude your feedback and observations. And please feel encouraged to share one way you noticed this week that climate and gender connect — and share CG with a friend.