Feminist Founder: Latinas for Climate
Latinas for Climate is an international network of young Latin American activists. In 2020, the founders came together to build an intersectional coalition of communities across Latin America and the Caribbean. Today, 33 women from many countries are part of the organization. With a feminist approach, the group actively works to organize protests, share resources and uplift the work of Latin American climate heroes from herstory. Feminist caught up with the founders of Latinas for Climate to learn about ways to be involved in climate justice, why more women need to be at COP26, and what feminism means to them. Read on for the full interview.
Q: What is one way to join the climate justice movement beyond donating?
Emiliana: There are many movements and chapters fighting for climate justice around the world, but everyone can also help by educating people and speaking out on the issue. The relationship of social and gender issues to the climate crisis is a topic that is rarely talked about and often the lack of information about it allows the individual to be blamed for the climate crisis, when it really is not. Understanding the issues of the community and the region is a crucial step to fight for them.
Emiliana Rickenmann
19 years old nursing student from Colombia but studying in Switzerland. Climate justice advocate, mainly with an intersectional focus on gender and human rights.
Q: What sparked your interest to start your Latinas for Climate?
Emiliana: When I started doing activism on an international level I realized that it was hardly accessible to Latinx people, especially women, and therefore there was very little representation. I met other Latinas who felt the same way and that's when we decided to create L4C to fight for the representation of Latinas in the climate movement.
Q: How do you use the power of your platform to empower your community?
Emiliana: It is very important to understand that not everyone has the same level of education or knowledge, so the information shared should be as understandable and accessible as possible, taking into account aspects such as language or scientific terms but at the same time without oversimplifying the information because in our platform we believe that such important information should be for everyone.
Q: Tell us about the intersectional experience of latina's and climate change.
Emiliana: When you arrive at the climate movement, or at least in my experience, you are more concerned about the ecological consequences. But when you start to listen to the stories and learn more about the cause, you realize that the crisis goes beyond that and that it is related to all the other current issues so the only solution is to fight for intersectional climate justice. In our case, we highlight the relationship between gender, social and climate issues because Latin America is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change, and one of the least heard in decision-making processes, and so are women.
Q: How do you rest and rejuvenate as an activist in the Climate Justice movement?
Emiliana: This is a very important part because many times we forget that activism is voluntary and that we are young people (or even children) with other responsibilities. Many times we feel the pressure of having to do more but I have learned that there is no benefit in overloading ourselves apart from the consequences and that it is better, and necessary, to take breaks and breathe. Personally, I recently learned to knit and it is the most relaxing thing I have ever done in my life.
Q: What top 3 goals would you like achieved during COP26?
Emiliana: I hope that something real will be decided, not more pretty speeches. After the health crisis in which we live, it is time to understand that if crises are not addressed in time, their consequences will be impossible to manage. Furthermore, this should be the last COP where representation is an issue, we are at a time when it should be clear that the most affected populations should be the most heard and this should be something that is decided there and not something that has to be fought for, the COP cannot continue to be an elitist and inaccessible event. And finally, the global temperature goal, in addition to the fact that it must be understood that the objectives for 2050 are useless, this is a crisis and urgent action must be taken.
Q: Why does representation matter at COP26?
Emiliana: Because it is a space where decisions are made for the entire planet, and if they are only made by privileged people we will continue in the same vicious circle where the most vulnerable populations are ignored. We need an inclusive and representative decision-making space for solutions to have a transversal impact, because the crisis is already affecting the most vulnerable communities and they cannot continue to turn their backs on them.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
Emilana: It is a way of understanding the world. We live and have grown up in constant oppression so we must unlearn what we have learned. That is why we must also fight for feminism to be intersectional and to include all fights to not fall into the same status quo of the society in which we live.
VALENTINA PRADA
21 year old Literature student and photojournalist/documentary photography from Colombia. Interested in human rights issues and their relationship with climate and gender.
Q: What sparked your interest to start your Latinas for Climate?
Valentina: I was working for the Escazú Agreement campaign in Colombia and that’s when I had the opportunity to meet the rest of the team. I was really interested in gender, climate change and human rights, so when we started talking about doing something that went further than the campaign we were planning I was really happy. I believe that women who work together can make great changes.
Q: How do you use the power of your platform to empower your community?
Valentina: First of all, teaching, sometimes people in our circles don’t understand the correlation between climate, gender and human rights, so we share information in a way that people can learn about this and choose to act. We also want to share experiences of women who experience the effects of the climate crisis and give them a platform where they can give their thoughts. Finally, we have created a team in which the women involved can work towards these same objectives.
Q: Tell us about the intersectional experience of latina's and climate change.
Valentina: First of all, it has to be clear that Latin America is a very unequal continent, so not everyone experiences the effects of climate change (like us, the co-founders of L4C, for example). However, the people that do experience these consequences have to go through lack of water, food, pollution and others and women tend to be the most affected by climate change. Latin America has historically been exploited by countries in the Global North for resources and end up affecting people in rural areas, and--as I said before-- women.
Q: What is one way to join the climate justice movement beyond donating?
Valentina: You don’t need to be an activist in order to join the climate justice movement, though the movement is always keen to receive new people, you can act from academy, art, investigation, politics, or even go on strikes and demand for climate justice.
Q: How do you rest and rejuvenate as an activist in the Climate Justice movement?
Valentina: During the past year I worked non-stop on the climate movement and I realised that that was not the way because my mental health was being deeply affected . I understood that we are not superheroes and we shouldn’t be sacrificing ourselves, climate is important but so are we and we need to take a moment to rest. I’m right now taking a step back from activism, still working alongside L4C, and taken time to think, spend time with friends and family, sleep and of course take pictures and finishing university.
Q: What top 3 goals would you like achieved during COP26?
Valentina: First of all, I think that COP should be way more representative, it cannot be that getting a badge for Latines and global south activists is so difficult while global north activists easily go to COP. Second, I think that COP should focus on social justice. Colombia, for example, is the most dangerous country to be an environmental leader and worldwide it's dangerous as well, Escazú exists but we need more initiative in order to go over these. Third, the goals of worldwide temperature, that economy is targeted in order to reach the goal of 1.5 or 2.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
Valentina: Feminism isn’t just an academic term, it is a proposal of how the world should work. I think that Feminism teaches us that the system we live in is against us--both women and men but of course mainly women and gender dissidences or minorities, POC and the LGBTQ+ community-- and gives us a new perspective of interaction and decision making. You don’t need to be the one that has read the most in order to be a feminist, I think that just with understanding and wanting to change the patriarchy we live in you can be called a feminist.
Q: Why does representation matter at COP26?
Valentina: The world cannot work and will never work if people from everywhere are not heard, no one understands their reality and their necessities more than the people that live through them, so if world leaders really want to make a change and fight climate change they need to include as many people as possible from as many places as possible.
Q: What is one way to join the climate justice movement beyond donating?
Karin: I always like to highlight that anyone can join the movement! From day to day actions to attend climate strikes to join and actively participate in organizations, all actions add up. Also, putting your skills in service of the movement! We don’t only need biologists or environmental lawyers: we need people to speak, to research, to translate, to create, to mobilize, etc! For example, I am a designer, and I have realized over time the value we have for the movement, to communicate from the graphic and information design. It’s an important part of team work to have different skill sets :)
Karin Watson Ferrer
24 y/o creative/designer from Chile but studying in Barcelona. I’m a human rights activist and I work mainly on their intersection with climate & gender.
Q: What sparked your interest to start your Latinas for Climate?
Karin: It was, in fact, during our campaign for the signing and entry into force of the Escazú Agreement, a regional treaty on access to information, public participation and justice in environmental matters, and that connects environmental rights to human rights. We had a great team and a collective interest in climate justice and intersectional feminism, and we wanted to keep that spark and to create projects together, with the possibility of involving our latinx identity and these beliefs on them.
Q: How do you use the power of your platform to empower your community?
Karin: We believe in the democratization of information: it is really important that technical information on climate change, human rights, gender, and social issues in general be translated, first, into a simple language that can reach people in a transversal way, but also, translated into different languages, since we often find it only in English. That’s one of the ways we have to empower our community: through making information accessible.
Q: Tell us about the intersectional experience of latina's and climate change.
Karin: The climate crisis affects everyone, but it is the world's poorest and most vulnerable, especially womxn and girls, the ones that suffer the most from its effects. Latin American women, therefore, are one of the most affected groups by climate change, and they’re also those who lead environmental struggles in the territories, and those who are the most threatened, attacked and even murdered for their activism. And at the same time, women are the least represented at decision making bodies on climate change. There are many other social factors, such as the aforementioned poverty, cultural roles, or access to resources such as water or sanitation that further affect this situation. L4C is also born with the mission to raise awareness about this reality, to seek spaces and to put the voices and experiences of those women in our region at the center of climate discussions.
Q: How do you rest and rejuvenate as an activist in the Climate Justice movement?
Karin: Recently I have been understanding the importance of living a slower life. Between college, work, activism and my own reality as a migrant, my mental health has really taken a hit. The anxiety brought on by the climate crisis and the sense of helplessness in the face of the non-urgence we see at the political level doesn't help either. That's why disconnecting from the media, and having quality and quiet time with my loved ones, having contact with nature, or giving myself time for creation, for art, to read, to call and talk to my family and friends in Chile, or just walking or biking around the city have appeared as my coping mechanisms. I also need a lot of sleep haha!
Q: What top 3 goals would you like achieved during COP26?
Karin: For me, one of the main things is a real understanding of the sense of urgency. That discussions move to action and concrete steps are taken now, not talk about what might happen in 2050. Understanding that the climate crisis is happening and affecting lives now! Besides, that decisions and measures on adaptation and mitigation of the crisis have human rights at the center. We cannot allow new actions to mean new ways of violating the rights of the most vulnerable people! Also, that these decisions include mechanisms of reparation to the people who are being and will be affected. Finally, and I believe it is our goal as a team, that the voices of Latin America, in all their diversity and richness, and with a special focus on vulnerable communities, indigenous communities and women and girls, are once and for all considered and translated into action.
Q: What are impactful ways one can take their activism off instagram and into the real world?
Karin: It also has to do with what I mentioned about women being the least involved in decision making, and Latina women even more so. It cannot be that systematically those who make the decisions about our lives are men, white, heterosexual and (mostly) from the global north. It cannot be that the specific effects of the climate crisis on women's lives, anatomy and health are neither studied nor taken into account. It cannot be that decision makers put economic and political interests before people's lives. If we want real solutions to the climate crisis for everyone, we need the people who are already living the effects of the climate crisis, the people who defend the land and territories, the people who are really affected to be at the center of the discussions, we need people's lives and rights put before corporate profit. Nothing about us without us!
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
Karin: Feminism is a way of living, of thinking, of inhabiting and relating to the world. Once you encounter feminisms, in my case intersectional feminism, you start to question everything around you. It can be very exhausting, but also very enriching. It makes you want to always want to improve, to always want to learn and question the ways in which society has been built. It makes you relate to women in a new way, and challenge the idea of competition that has hurt us so much. It makes you want to take it all apart and build it up again, in a way that truly includes and benefits us all.
Pamela EA
23 y/o Photojournalist from Mexico, climate justice organiser focused on gender equality.
Q: What sparked your interest to start your Latinas for Climate?
Pamela: During the pandemic, each of us were leading the #EscazúAhora campaign in our respective countries, exhorting our governments to ratify the Escazú Agreement. As we approached the end of the campaign, we noticed that we had built a very unique and powerful relationship with one another. We all felt passionate about climate justice and intersectional feminism. Interestingly enough, none of us knew a space that addressed both issues so we got together and created it. With the goal of leaving no one behind, we created Latinas for Climate, an international network of young Latin American activists.
Q: How do you use the power of your platform to empower your community?
Pamela: Our platform has been used as a way to uplit young Latinxs who are interested in becoming changemakers. We have done this by sharing accessible information addressing the climate crisis, and gender inequality gap in our region. As well as by sharing the history of Latinas who have been changemakers long before we were born, but also of those who are still fighting for a better future today.
Q: Tell us about the intersectional experience of latina's and climate change.
Pamela: I like to think of Latinas for Climate as an ecofeminist network. A space where we understand that patriarchal dominance has led to a disconnect with mother nature, which has negatively affected marginalized groups as well as the natural world. In our region, Latin America and the Caribbean, numerous womxn and girls experience many social inequalities on a daily basis. From gender-based violence to gender inequality, and lack of education to name a few. Adding the climate crisis to those existing vulnerabilities leads to the exacerbation of existing problems as well as the onset of many others. That is why for us, it was crucial to have a space where we come together and empower one another to address this reality not only in our own communities but also internationally.
Q: What is one way to join the climate justice movement beyond donating?
Pamela: It doesn’t matter who you are, you have a space in the movement. In order to create a systemic change, we need everyone to participate. You don’t need to be a politician or a scientist to care. You just need to be human.
Q: How do you rest and rejuvenate as an activist in the Climate Justice movement?
Pamela: My way of resting as an activist in the climate movement, and preventing burnout is by claiming my time early in the morning and late in the evening. I like to have that time for myself to exercise, read, relax and unwind.
Q: What top 3 goals would you like achieved during COP26?
Pamela: We are reaching irreversible tipping points that will lead to drastic changes with devastating effects. These effects will affect the most vulnerable people. So I would like to see not only reparations for the most affected people and areas but also accountability from the G20 countries, as they are the ones who are responsible for 80% of global emissions. I would like them to come to an agreement on ending fossil fuel expansion and move to 100% renewable energy. With this in mind, I would like to see world leaders treat the climate crisis as a true emergency. I would like to see them live up to their words and be ambitious. I want them to believe another world is truly possible.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
Pamela: To me, feminism is working towards a world without oppression, where we coexist and respect all living things. A place where we are seen as humans and not objects. Where we have an equal seat at the table, and our words are taken as seriously as his. Where we can all choose what we want to be, and not be told what we need to do.
Q: What are impactful ways one can take their activism off instagram and into the real world?
Pamela: If you take a look at the climate justice movement, women are not only leading the movement, but also the frontline of the crisis. Yet, COPs have historically been male-dominated. In the words of Mary Robinson, “If you don’t have women here, how can you say this is about people?”
Catalina Santelices
18 years old, ecofeminist activist and law student from Chile.
Q: What sparked your interest to start your Latinas for Climate?
Catalina: Having the possibility to create a community and a space that is inclusive and intersectional, where we can talk about climate crisis but from different points of view and letting the most affected for this crisis be first, was what inspired me to cocreate Latinas for Climate and to keep working on our platform daily to achieve our goals and to educate about this issues.
Q: How do you use the power of your platform to empower your community?
Catalina: Through educating them on diverse topics, and constantly talking with different girls and women from Latin America and the Caribbean that are already taking action for a cause, because we want their stories to inspire others to identify a problem and to do something to solve it.
Q: Tell us about the intersectional experience of latina's and climate change.
Catalina: It has been an experience that completely changed my way of watching the climate crisis forever. We are constantly learning new ways of intersection between these two topics that open our eyes and give us new motivations to do something about it, and taking action for these issues together give us the possibility to change the life of these women for the better, not only for empowering them out of oppression but to adapting and mitigating the consequences of the climate crisis, because many studies says that women are to most affected for this due to their social and economic vulnerability in the global south.
Q: What is one way to join the climate justice movement beyond donating?
Catalina: Joining a movement, all around the world we need hands to take action for the climate crisis, despite donating can really help to achieve our goals, it is in the daily work that the motivation is needed. Everyone is important in the climate crisis fight.
Q: How do you rest and rejuvenate as an activist in the Climate Justice movement?
Catalina: Between college and activism sometimes it is hard to really be able to rest, but having a great community (family, friends and activists colleagues) that understand our busy agenda it’s crucial to survive in these chaotic times. Having some personal time is really important to keep our mental health stable, so the support of others is really helpful to be able to talk about what we have in mind and to do activities that reset our thoughts, like being in nature or hanging out.
Q: What top 3 goals would you like achieved during COP26?
Catalina: First, representing the voices and the needs of our community of young latinas. Second, make connections that will help us to create projects with more impact in our region. Third, learn from all the experts on the climate crisis and the amazing climate activists that will be there to amplify their acknowledgment with our platform.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
Catalina: Feminism is a way of living that makes you see everything different. Once you get into feminism and start loving it, you won’t be the same, because being part of this safe community changes you and your way of relating to others to be everyday more conscious of the different oppression patterns and how to change them.
Q: What are impactful ways one can take their activism off instagram and into the real world?
Catalina: Having the voices of underrepresented groups at COP26, even if we are just observers, gives the opportunity of our voices being heard and that our local problems are being seen in the same space where the international public politics for climate change mitigation and adaptation politics are being decided.
Sofia Hernandez
23 y/o, political scientist and human rights activist focused on gender equality and climate justice. Nationality: Costa Rican.
Q: What sparked your interest to start your Latinas for Climate?
Sofia: It all started last year when we got together to work regionally for the entry into force of the Escazu Agreement, each of us were organising at the national level. At the end of the Escazú Agreement campaign, we realised the importance of amplifying the representation of Latin women within the climate movement.
Q: How do you use the power of your platform to empower your community?
Sofia: If society, young people and women have access to information, it is a society capable of transforming politics and the status quo. Modernity has many disadvantages but it also has things to rescue: how easily news can go viral, how easy it can be to transmit knowledge and the basic tools for people to know about their rights and how to fight for them. In the end, we are a group of young Latin American women from different countries, with different backgrounds and studying different college majors. Together, we seek to democratise our knowledge and show that age and country are not exclusive when it comes to fighting for social and political causes.
Q: Tell us about the intersectional experience of latina's and climate change.
Sofia: First of all, Latin America is not only the most unequal region in the world, it is also the region where most environmental and indigenous defenders are being killed and is in constant crisis of human rights and democracy. Moreover, Latin America is one of the regions where the climate crisis is already a reality; all the factors of inequality disproportionately affect the most vulnerable populations: women, youth, people with disabilities, indigenous people and more. Latin American states have a huge historical debt in the progressivity of human rights and democratic values. I would also like to mention that there is a misconception of what latinx means, in the end it is an umbrella term to catch different races, ethnicities, nationalities and cultures that live together; some people have more privileges and are equally or even more responsible as other people from other regions for the inequality that the region lives in, however, it is important to retake "Latin-Americanism" as a movement for solidarity and for a common fight against the system that even today continue to exploit and oppress us.
Q: What is one way to join the climate justice movement beyond donating?
Sofia: The first step, which is in fact fundamental, is to read, get informed and spread the word. Social (climate) injustices are a common cause from which no one is exempt, everyone has a role and something to support, from the academy, from the grassroots and even from the more institutionalised forms such as militancy in political parties.
Q: How do you rest and rejuvenate as an activist in the Climate Justice movement?
Sofia: I really doubt that I take a break from human rights activism and politics as such, it is what I am specialising in as a professional, what I work on and what I am passionate about talking about whenever I get the chance. I also always like to read, learn new languages, do some exercise and, before the pandemic, to travel. Something very important is to have a supportive family and friends who know how crucial mental health is, to take breaks and to back you up when needed.
Q: What top 3 goals would you like achieved during COP26?
Sofia: First of all, this COP will have a lower amount of real representation from countries of the Global South, nor will I with my important social and economic privileges be able to attend. This COP is crucial to negotiate carbon markets, to finally put human rights at the centre of all discussions and to achieve climate commitments that are more radical and meet the 1.5 goal, hand in hand with adaptation and resilience of the most vulnerable communities and populations. Sadly, many voices of young people and civil society are and will continue to be silenced.
Q: Why does representation matter at COP26?
Sofia: Because diplomacy is meaningless if it does not effectively include the grassroots and civil society, we cannot continue to perpetuate the plutocracy, aristocracy and meritocracy that for centuries have oppressed entire regions at the cost of their interests. Representation means human rights, transparency and justice.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
Sofia: It is justice, it is about being progressive with human rights and acknowledging historical debts to women and girls. It is a process of deconstruction necessary as a woman and as a human being in order to live in a more fair society and in respect for each other and for nature. Each woman has her own specific process of deconstruction, each of us has something specific that moves us, but in the end, if we seek the common good and the guarantee of fundamental rights, we know that we are on the right path.
Q: What is one way to join the climate justice movement beyond donating?
Costanza: By. taking. action. We cannot stress this enough. First of all, you need to get educated. You can do it from the internet or by talking to anyone who knows a little bit more than you do. Then find ways to take the action, it doesn’t matter if it’s big or small, you’re contributing to the movement (a tip: it’s better if you start on small actions). You also must acknowledge your power, if you’re in a position to make bigger changes, do not hesitate to take it and amplify the voices of people who need it. Use your privilege for the good (as we are trying to do too).
Constanza Galli
23 y/o, political scientist and human rights activist focused on gender equality and climate justice. Nationality: Costa Rican.
Q: What sparked your interest to start your Latinas for Climate?
Costanza: I’m very passionate about justice and climate, starting activism in small communities always made my heart pump stronger and when the pandemic hit, my activism became a desk-activity until we got together within the taskforce we created for the Escazú Agreement campaign. We met online, a bunch of climate activist gals with the will to take action for the people and the environment, acknowledging that our continent was one of the most affected in the world.
Q: How do you use the power of your platform to empower your community?
Costanza: Nowadays, people are educating themselves through the internet and media. Which can be a double-edged sword in terms of consequences. We acknowledge that society has granted us this amazing resource, but it’s our duty to use it fully and with a greater intention, by providing necessary information that it’s not getting where it needs to be, with the community. As a diverse group, we can give a wider look of the many issues we face as latinamerican young women, talking about our experience fighting climate, gender and social inequalities.
Q: Tell us about the intersectional experience of latina's and climate change.
Costanza: Being latina means always fighting for something. We live in one of the most unequal and unfair region when it comes to the effects of the climate crisis, having very vulnerable ecosystems and the extractivism doesn’t help with the climate effects we’re having at this point of the crisis. Many people in our region is uneducated in the topics of the climate crisis because they live with other daily fights, so it becomes sort of a privilege to be a climate activist and being able to dedicate time to it, but also it’s a necessity when it comes to the consequences we’re facing, specially indigenous communities who are the most affected by weather phenomena.
Q: How do you rest and rejuvenate as an activist in the Climate Justice movement?
Costanza: I don’t think I get to do that, although it is very needed. When you start on this path of activism, the information never stops coming your way, we get overwhelmed with the knowledge of the climate crisis and we understand that looking the other way is a privilege we don’t count on, because we’re to a point in the climate crisis where it’s no longer a matter of taking small steps towards the greater way of living, but a necessity that we must take to prevent consequences that can lead us to extinction. But yeah, I take some breaks to watch comfort shows and pet my dog, even delete social media sometimes to not get myself into more crises that I can’t carry.
Q: What top 3 goals would you like achieved during COP26?
Costanza: 1.Raise the voice of the latinamerican community, give our demands to people who have the power to help and demand action from them. 2. This COP will take place in Europe, where many “Global-South” voices will not be heard, so another goal would be to join spaces and demand to be heard. 3. The topics this COP will talk about are the ones we most need to work on in our region so it would be great to push leaders and authorities to get the work done, we cannot afford to take more time.
Q: Why does representation matter at COP26?
Costanza: Having this question asked is more than enough to understand why representation is needed. We shouldn’t even be asking for representation in the first place, but now more than ever it’s needed. This COP will happen in Europe, in a time where there’s going to be very little representation from the “Global South”, where voices will be diminished in a place where they need to be heard the most. Having representation at COP means that the decision makers will acknowledge our fight and demands, or at least we will try to make them hear us.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
Costanza: Justice, birthright, responsibility and community. Feminism is a fight and a stand we take every day, because this world was hand-made by and for cisgender, privileged males that gaslighted the world into thinking they were in power. But as women we are taking our right of belonging back and teaching others that taking power back is a right and a necessity, time is up to keep believing that women don’t belong in conversations, we have proven that by being put in positions of power we are able to make the change we need. I look in every space of activism I’m in and see that when women are talking, change is being made. Feminism is the key to change and a brighter future if we get one.
You can support Latinas for Climate by following @latinasforclimate
and help them to go COP26 through their gofoundme.com
