Empowering Female Climate Change Activists in the Global South

Peggy Ann Spitzer is Research Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota and master’s and doctoral degrees from American University in Washington, D.C. – all in International Relations. She lectures and conducts workshops on women’s leadership in global climate change adaptation through environmental and gender equity strategies and oral histories.Peg has co-authored four scholarly articles and four book chapters (two of which won awards) on the social and cultural aspects of climate change; and one case study on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, she developed two digital oral history projects, one on women in US-Asian relations and the other on the implementation of a women-led irrigation technology in India.Prior to her work on climate change, Peg wrote a series of short biographies on women leaders in local communities; and served as a program consultant, with a specialty in Asian and Asian American studies, in Washington, D.C. for the Kluge Center for International Scholars (Library of Congress), Freer and Sackler Gallery (Smithsonian), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the East-West Center. Currently, she serves as a jury member for the Gender Just Climate Awards program through the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change; and represents Stony Brook University in the Paris Committee on Capacity Building Network.

• Introduction Chapter 1. Why a Female-Centered Approach? Chapter 2. The Case for Gender Equity Chapter 3. Reflexive Feminist MethodologiesChapter 4. Oral Histories from around the World Chapter 5. Environmental Social Justice in Rural Indian Communities Chapter 6. Supporting Female Empowerment through Visual Arts and Social Media Conclusion

Inspiring citizens to act to solve the global climate crisis in every situation of their lives is certainly one of the most crucial missions of humanity today. Dr. Peg Spitzer’s wonderful book Empowering Female Climate Change Activists in the Global South: The Path Toward Environmental Social Justice, provides such a galvanizing inspiration, with a wide variety of diverse and stunning true stories. But most importantly, this book reveals the untapped potential of tackling structural gender norms and empowering women to speak up for their rights, to create and to implement relevant and just climate solutions that serve people and the planet. As a university professor, mentor and jury member of the Gender Just Climate Solutions Awards, granted each year during the climate COPs, Dr. Peg Spitzer has had the opportunity to collect numerous oral stories of impressive female and feminist grassroots climate activists from all regions of the world. She offers these life jewels to the reader in a fascinating literary piece.