Taking a look at Project Drawdown’s solutions to climate change
We’ve all heard of the most common suggestions for solving the climate crisis: implementing alternative energy sources, preventing deforestation, or following a more plant-based diet. However, Project Drawdown ranks a surprising solution near the top of their list: the education of girls. The link may not seem apparent at first, but the idea is that if women receive primary and secondary education, they will marry later in life, have fewer children, and lead healthier lives. Population control is one mechanism suggested to lower global emissions, which may help slow the destruction of our climate. Rather remarkably, it is estimated that if every girl around the world received a full thirteen years of education, then around 52 gigatons of carbon emissions would be reduced by 2050. Furthermore, achieving universal education would cost only around $39 billion annually, according to UNESCO. By comparison, Canada alone spends around $25 billion annually on its national defense and is projected to spend $264 billion on healthcare in 2019. The returns on the investment into universal education are incalculable when compared to the economic costs resulting from climate change. Thus, investment in education is something that ought to make businesses, governments, and citizens around the world very enthusiastic.
An interesting relationship exists between girls’ education and climate change. Climate change is stimulating many weather-related disasters, and to deal with the stress caused by these disasters, girls in poorer countries are often pulled out of school so they can work to help their families financially, or help with household responsibilities. Ironically, women who complete their education go on to lead their communities in more sustainable practices that protect the environment and are more adaptable in the face of climate disasters to deal with economic stresses.
There are still 130 million girls around the world aged between 6 and 17 who do not go to school. As the climate crisis escalates and discussions on how to respond continue, we need to think beyond traditional approaches and invest in solutions that address the interconnectedness between environmental degradation and global inequality.
Selected climate change solutions compiled and ranked by Project Drawdown (for the comprehensive list, go to https://www.drawdown.org/). See the following issue for the next proposed solution.
