Climate and the World Wise Woman

Let’s explore women and education, world-wide.   This column has to do with opportunities for women and how women can help save the world’s climate. (With us men, optimistically, lending a hand).

In Drawdown, out of the 80 recommended actions to conquer rapid climate change, what ranks up there near the top? If pursued aggressively, it is considered the 6th most effective way to win the battle against the heat. Their answer:  girl’s education. 

The background story here is the world’s population is increasing rapidly. In many ways our numbers are outpacing mother nature’s means of providing for us.  What does the data tell us? It is simple. The more education women have, the less children they bear. Statistics tell us that if a girl is given the means to a K-12 education she will have 4 to 5 fewer children than she would have had if she had no education. In short, more education means less kids.

Let me digress to personal experience. A few years ago, I volunteered to help some dedicated doctors, dentists, and nurses on a medical mission to Singida, Tanzania. My job was to sanitize working spaces, turn a wrench, and bring order to the mass of Singida citizens who, for the first time in their lives, had an opportunity to see a doctor. Yeah, it was a handful and everyday brought unforgettable experiences.  In my “keep order task” I worked with Tanzanian healthcare administrators who were the first stop for the patients. They analyzed each patient’s health problem(s) so we could get them the right treatment. What I discovered was that few women had money, or an education. They were there for treatment and advice.  Often, they were there determined to have a baby, or another baby.

Research by the World Bank, the Brookings Institution, and Harvard attribute a women’s motivations to various factors.  It is my opinion that humans, deep down, want to lead meaningful lives and contribute to other’s well-being. A woman, perhaps by virtue of their child-bearing and nurturing qualities, (whether they have children or not) are gifted with a pronounced humanitarian drive.

An education, for a woman, simply adds a myriad of opportunities to meet this need. In addition to child-bearing, women have traditionally played roles as stewards and managers of community healthcare, food, soil, forests, and water.  We can see, perhaps just in the nick of time, women finding their voices in the stewardship of our climate.

When, I say these Tanzanian women were poor, I discovered this the hard way. Unknown to our team, there was a co-pay, being levied to patients before they could see our healthcare providers.  I saw a woman turned away. I asked why. The woman patient did not have the 50 cents to pay the fee. We intervened and paid this upfront fee for our patients.

I tell this story because an educated woman normally has fewer children, has more resources, more money, more time, and more knowledge to devote to fewer children. These children, in turn, have more opportunities for a meaningful creative life to address the challenges they will face.

Do not let me leave you with the idea that reducing the earth’s human population will solve the carbon pollution problem alone. First, we must reduce and eventually cease emitting carbon pollution. A person in Madagascar every year dumps one tenth of a ton of carbon into the air. A citizen of India dumps 1.8 tons, and we dump 18 tons of carbon, on average, each year into the atmosphere. Thus, concentrating simply on reducing the world’s population will not solve our climate crisis. We should not let a burgeoning population distract us from our very solvable challenge of transitioning to sustainable, carbon free, energy sources.

Saying that, giving an aspiring girl an education serves her and humanity is so many ways that I encourage anyone, any church, any organization to sponsor a girl who needs an education.