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She Who Speaks for the Earth
A personal reflection on feminism and climate justice from India
When I was younger, climate change felt like background noise. Something for documentaries and distant summits. I knew it was serious at least in theory but it felt far away from my day-to-day life.
Not anymore. Now, it’s the unbearable summers in Delhi that seem to stretch forever. It’s the floods that swallow homes in Uttarakhand, the haze that clings to Mumbai’s skyline, the names in the news of farmers, mostly men who died by suicide because the rain never came.
Climate change isn’t some abstract headline. It’s real. It’s personal. And, as I’ve come to see, it’s deeply gendered. That’s what this essay is about: a reckoning with the truth that feminism and climate justice are not just connected — they’re inseparable.
If we want to survive this crisis with any shred of humanity, the voices we’ve long ignored — women, especially those most impacted — need to be at the center.
When the well dries up, It’s women who walk
