Seeding a Movement for Climate Justice

Over the last few weeks, Project Dandelion, a women-led global movement for climate justice, has been very active. Energized by the connections we’ve made during our learning journey to better understand how to elevate and amplify the important work we’ve observed, we are more convinced than ever that leading for a just transition from the current crisis is the challenge — and yes, the opportunity — for all women to show up, speak out, and come together, connected by a vision of the future that is in our hands.

*Blowing the dandelion seeds…every girl’s discovery. Above the daughter of The Carter Center Human Rights Program Director Susan Marx*

There is an increasing recognition that the climate crisis is disproportionately impacting women (more than 70% of the deaths and displaced persons). At every gathering during UN’s Climate Week (that just wrapped), a stronger and more collective response from women leaders at every level was evident, as were the consequential outcomes generated by women who are already leading on every continent.

Like the Dandelion, whose attributes of regeneration and resilience, among others, inspire us to be regenerative in our work and resilient in our resolve to meet the gaps in communication and active connections that can and will create a new collective force, everywhere, to demand the actions necessary to secure a climate-safe future for all of us.

Every movement needs a logo, a symbol, and Project Dandelion has one, developed by WRTHY, a marketing agency for Mother Earth. With gratitude for all the Dandelions already wearing the pin and engaged in the campaign, we’re been active the past couple of weeks in ‘seeding’ more.

Africa Climate Summit

At the Africa Climate Summit in Kenya, Project Dandelion curated a panel of women leaders who met the challenge of being shut out of the venue (a registration debacle) by sharing their stories with everyone they met, meeting with youth activists and doing what women do, creating connections behind the scenes.

We also hosted an event at Ndemi Place, curated by Jerotich Seii. It was a beautiful closing celebration where more than 100 climate leaders gathered for conversation and to listen to some of Africa’s climate champions including Wanjira Mathai, managing director for Africa and Global Partnerships at World Resources Institute, who assisted Project Dandelion’s co-lead, Hafsat Abiola, in hosting the program that also included Skoll Foundation President Marla Blow, Open Society Foundation’s Director for Climate Justice Yamide Dagnet, and many others.

March to End Fossil Fuels

This past week, climate activists and government leaders gathered in New York City for the United Nations Climate Week, and it kicked off with a march. Project Dandelion joined more than 75,000 people in the "March to End Fossil Fuels.” Dressed in “Flwr Pwr” shirts, wearing our dandelion pins, we marched with a large contingent of feminist activists, Indigenous peoples, faith-based communities, youth activists, scientists, and others to send a message to US policy makers that subsidies to and support for the industries that are the cause of the interrelated climate emergencies must end now.

*Marching with my granddaughter Vasser Seydel, president of The Oxygen Project.*

We need no more evidence than the unprecedented temperatures, floods, fires, rising seas, disappearing species, and loss of land to see the interrelated challenges of this climate emergency. If we don’t end our reliance on fossil fuels and make the transition, justly, to renewable energy, regenerative practices for food production and distribution, and protections for oceans, air, Indigenous lands and communities and more, we will go from a climate emergency to a climate catastrophe.

Climate justice champions like Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and chair of The Elders; Jane Fonda, long time activist and founder of Jane Fonda PAC; Ndidi Nwuneli, leading for regenerative agriculture, and many, many other leaders showed up and spoke up at the UN and at podiums and forums around the city, to make a clear and compelling case for the action and the policies that are necessary. We must get back on track in order to head off the catastrophic future we’re currently facing.

Project Dandelion Reception at Rockefeller Foundation

*(Clockwise) Former President of Ireland and Chair of The Elders Mary Robinson; Jane Fonda with Ndidi Nwuneli; and Connected Women Leaders co-founders Ronda Carnegie, Pat Mitchell and Hafsat Abiola.*

Once again this Climate Week, we were honored to invite a community of women climate leaders to join us at The Rockefeller Foundation, the original and much appreciated funder of the work of ConnectedWomenLeaders (CWL), a network of networks of leaders who have developed Project Dandelion.

The turnout surpassed our expectations as the number of networked leaders grows with each opportunity to meet, connect, and learn more about how the Project Dandelion movement can meet a global communication gap between the $4 billion a year going towards misinformation campaigns by the oil and gas industries and the need for accurate information, scientific data, and a more informed and engaged public.

Project Dandelion pins! Clockwise: Gloria Walton, president & CEO, The Solutions Projects with Mary Robinson, chair of The Elders; Laura Turner Seydel, chair of the Captain Planet Foundation; Seed funder Liz Sheehan with Laura García, president & CEO of Global Greengrants Fund; Activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, president, Association for Indigenous Women and People of Chad with Charlot Magayi, winner of Earthshot Prize 22; Hafsat Abiola with CARE CEO Michelle Nunn; and Lisa Witter, co-founder of Apolitical.

We have met so many inspiring climate justice leaders — women who are leading around the world across many sectors, now realizing the intersectionality of all our work towards a more just and equitable world. We must also engage and activate the millions of other women leaders who are not prioritizing climate to become part of our movement to combat the misinformation and fear with a new narrative of hope, a new collective force of committed individuals, connected and mobilized to take the actions necessary to lead to the future that we want for our children and families.