As one of the founders of Project Dandelion, I am pleased to share some reflections on what we observed and responded to in 2024 and how we envision our work in the new year. We’ve spent 2024 proving something powerful: the appetite for meaningful action at the intersection of climate and nature has never been greater. This is about what we can do together. It’s about connecting the people and resources needed to tip the scales toward a livable, just world.

A self evident truth, right? And yet, only 11% of the stories in US history textbooks are about women and less than 10% of public monuments across the US are of women — a statistic which includes mermaids! But finally, after decades of advocacy from women leaders, there will be such a museum in the Nation’s Capital… hopefully, in my lifetime!

Committed as I am to using this platform to lift up good work and share information and inspiration, this week’s post is a re-post from an organization I greatly admire — the IBU Movement.

As the world grapples with the climate crisis, the knowledge and sustainable practices that Indigenous communities possess are crucial for protecting biodiversity and the fragile ecosystems necessary for sustaining life on earth.

As Americans try to prepare for what’s ahead with the re-election of Donald Trump, I am sharing some facts this week on one of the many areas of concern for pushback — the nature and climate crisis.    

The time for mourning and heartfelt disappointment is ending and the time for organizing and activating in response to the potential dangers of a Trump presidency (again) is now. As the great civil rights leader, Coretta Scott King observed, “Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.”

Along with Project Dandelion Executive Director Ronda Carnegie, I attended what is known as the BioCOP, and wanted to share, in brief, what I would describe generally as a learning journey that gave both of us a clearer understanding of the fact that there can be no solution to the climate crisis without solutions to the nature crisis.

I am thinking a lot about leadership as faithful readers know, and assuming you are, too, given that we, as citizens of a democracy, are electing our most important leaders, nationally and in states and communities. I’ve written a lot already in this weekly post about the historic nature of this US election, and I felt that profoundly this week when I voted with my 18-year-old granddaughters who are first-time voters.

In this post-truth world, there are just too many lies leading to too many conspiracy theories to keep up with rebuttals based on facts… and apparently, the facts have become much less popular than the lies that travel much faster online.

I do…and that was some decades ago! The memory of standing in line in my small hometown in Georgia — a much shorter line than the ones I stand in today in Atlanta — and being handed a paper ballot with boxes next to a long list of names is one that I will never forget.

Come together to show solidarity for women’s rights and the right to a habitable planet — both of which are under threat.

Women in the US have the opportunity to unify around the imperatives for reproductive rights and access to health care — imperatives, that I believe and the polls indicate, might lead to a new solidarity with an outcome that could be history making and transformative.

During this important election year with so many countries electing leaders, including us in the US, I am paying close attention to the leadership journeys of those stepping forward to lead. These initial steps a leader takes on their personal leadership journey can offer insights into how they will lead.

There is more public support than ever to demand swift actions on climate change. The biggest ever standalone public opinion survey on climate change, the Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024, shows that 80 percent of people globally want their governments to take stronger action to tackle the climate crisis.

By 2050, heat waves will affect more than 3.5 billion people worldwide with great risks to cities, according to a 2023 study commissioned by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center. Women leaders like Emma Howard Boyd (Vice Chair, Climate Resilience for All), Kathy Baughman McLeod (CEO, Climate Resilience for All) and Reema Nanavaty (SEWA), are the allies the world needs to enact solutions in these dangerously hot times.

Earlier this week, some very good news, as two women, Halla Tómasdóttir in Iceland and Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico, were elected president. But stories of women workers suffering in the brutal heatwaves in India remind us that women experience more acutely the many negative impacts of climate change, and it is women leaders who must prioritize the climate and nature crisis.

Kenya has been very much in the news this week. Feted with a state dinner in DC last Thursday, Kenyan President William Ruto, his wife, Rachel, and a delegation of ministers concluded the first state visit to the US by an African leader in nearly two decades.

“Climate change is affecting mental health literally everywhere,” writes Daisy Simmons at Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. It's not surprising. We’ve just lived through 16 months with the hottest temperatures on record, and extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change keep happening. But research shows that action is indeed the antidote to despair.

We must restore earth's ecosystems so that Mother Earth is a livable home for everyone.

Mark March 20 on your calendar and join Project Dandelion for a day of action on social media. Why March 20? It’s the halfway point between International Women’s Day and Earth Day, and a good day to amplify the call for women’s leadership on the intersectional issue of our time — the climate and nature crisis, which is everyone’s issue.