Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) addressed the Copenhagen climate change conference today, framing climate change as a women’s issue.
Speaking to a roundtable hosted by the Global Gender and Climate Alliance, Pelosi said the U.S. has for too long ignored climate change.
“For too long, America has failed to lead on climate change,” she said. “We have come to Copenhagen to say: 'Those days are over. America is back.”
Pelosi said women should be particularly concerned about the detrimental effects of climate change.
â??Women have the most to gain and the most to lose in the climate crisis," she said. “The impacts are not gender-neutral; as the primary users, managers, and stewards of natural resources, women feel the consequences first.”
She continued:
â??Changing agricultural conditions will hit women hardest. In most developing countries, women produce the vast majority of the household food supply. It is the worldâ??s grandmothers, mothers, and sisters in most countries who fetch water, gather wood and prepare meals. As resources become more scarce, so do opportunities for these women to attend school, tend crops, and lift themselves out of poverty.
Pelosi touted the House’s passage of cap-and-trade, higher fuel efficiency standards, and the U.S. Capitol’s decreased carbon footprint as evidence that the U.S. is serious about fighting global warming.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) addressed the Copenhagen climate change conference today, framing climate change as a women’s issue.
Speaking to a roundtable hosted by the Global Gender and Climate Alliance, Pelosi said the U.S. has for too long ignored climate change.
“For too long, America has failed to lead on climate change,” she said. “We have come to Copenhagen to say: 'Those days are over. America is back.”
Pelosi said women should be particularly concerned about the detrimental effects of climate change.
â??Women have the most to gain and the most to lose in the climate crisis," she said. “The impacts are not gender-neutral; as the primary users, managers, and stewards of natural resources, women feel the consequences first.”
She continued:
â??Changing agricultural conditions will hit women hardest. In most developing countries, women produce the vast majority of the household food supply. It is the worldâ??s grandmothers, mothers, and sisters in most countries who fetch water, gather wood and prepare meals. As resources become more scarce, so do opportunities for these women to attend school, tend crops, and lift themselves out of poverty.
Pelosi touted the House’s passage of cap-and-trade, higher fuel efficiency standards, and the U.S. Capitol’s decreased carbon footprint as evidence that the U.S. is serious about fighting global warming.
