Along with Project Dandelion Executive Director Ronda Carnegie, I attended what is known as the BioCOP, and wanted to share, in brief, what I would describe generally as a learning journey that gave both of us a clearer understanding of the fact that there can be no solution to the climate crisis without solutions to the nature crisis.

I am thinking a lot about leadership as faithful readers know, and assuming you are, too, given that we, as citizens of a democracy, are electing our most important leaders, nationally and in states and communities. I’ve written a lot already in this weekly post about the historic nature of this US election, and I felt that profoundly this week when I voted with my 18-year-old granddaughters who are first-time voters.

In this post-truth world, there are just too many lies leading to too many conspiracy theories to keep up with rebuttals based on facts… and apparently, the facts have become much less popular than the lies that travel much faster online.

I do…and that was some decades ago! The memory of standing in line in my small hometown in Georgia — a much shorter line than the ones I stand in today in Atlanta — and being handed a paper ballot with boxes next to a long list of names is one that I will never forget.

Come together to show solidarity for women’s rights and the right to a habitable planet — both of which are under threat.

Women in the US have the opportunity to unify around the imperatives for reproductive rights and access to health care — imperatives, that I believe and the polls indicate, might lead to a new solidarity with an outcome that could be history making and transformative.

During this important election year with so many countries electing leaders, including us in the US, I am paying close attention to the leadership journeys of those stepping forward to lead. These initial steps a leader takes on their personal leadership journey can offer insights into how they will lead.

There is more public support than ever to demand swift actions on climate change. The biggest ever standalone public opinion survey on climate change, the Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024, shows that 80 percent of people globally want their governments to take stronger action to tackle the climate crisis.

By 2050, heat waves will affect more than 3.5 billion people worldwide with great risks to cities, according to a 2023 study commissioned by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center. Women leaders like Emma Howard Boyd (Vice Chair, Climate Resilience for All), Kathy Baughman McLeod (CEO, Climate Resilience for All) and Reema Nanavaty (SEWA), are the allies the world needs to enact solutions in these dangerously hot times.

Earlier this week, some very good news, as two women, Halla Tómasdóttir in Iceland and Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico, were elected president. But stories of women workers suffering in the brutal heatwaves in India remind us that women experience more acutely the many negative impacts of climate change, and it is women leaders who must prioritize the climate and nature crisis.

Kenya has been very much in the news this week. Feted with a state dinner in DC last Thursday, Kenyan President William Ruto, his wife, Rachel, and a delegation of ministers concluded the first state visit to the US by an African leader in nearly two decades.

“Climate change is affecting mental health literally everywhere,” writes Daisy Simmons at Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. It's not surprising. We’ve just lived through 16 months with the hottest temperatures on record, and extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change keep happening. But research shows that action is indeed the antidote to despair.

We must restore earth's ecosystems so that Mother Earth is a livable home for everyone.

Mark March 20 on your calendar and join Project Dandelion for a day of action on social media. Why March 20? It’s the halfway point between International Women’s Day and Earth Day, and a good day to amplify the call for women’s leadership on the intersectional issue of our time — the climate and nature crisis, which is everyone’s issue.

Over the first year of Project Dandelion, a worldwide movement that strives to establish a climate-safe environment for all, we have worked to strengthen partnerships with women leaders who are on the front lines of climate solutions. This week, I write about an innovative, new approach to mitigating the climate impact of extreme heat in India that is yet another example of women leading for solutions that are just and sustainable.

The best mentorships contain learnings for both the mentor and the mentee. This week, I want to share the journey I took with Catalina Escobar, the founder of Colombia’s Juanfe Foundation, which offers an innovative model of care, education, and job training that is disrupting a cycle of violence in families and communities resulting in unwanted teen pregnancies and intergenerational poverty.

Some of you may have received the announcement this week already, but as friends, colleagues and a connected community of readers, I wanted to share a personal perspective on the news about TEDWomen. TEDWomen is evolving into TEDNext, expanding its platform with a change of name but with the same mission to spread the ideas and innovations that shape a better future for the world and to provide a platform for connection and for community.

One of the 90 or so films chosen for screenings at the Sundance Film Festival was Daughters, a documentary directed by Natalie Rae and Angela Patton.  It’s a beautiful, inspiring and moving film, a perfect example of the power of independent work to shift perspectives with personal stories we might not otherwise see.

Guest Post By Angela Patton
Daughters is a new documentary by filmmakers Natalie Rae and Angela Patton that received the Audience Favorite Award at the Sundance Film Festival last month. The film was inspired by a TEDWomen Talk that Angela gave in 2012. I asked Angela to share her experiences at the festival as a first-time director.

Having just returned from my 30th year of the Sundance Film Festival, I am sharing some thoughts about how this festival, widely respected as the premiere festival for launching new work and discovering new talent, reflects an ever evolving global ecosystem of independent films, and how this impacts what you and I are viewing on our screens, big and small.

Earlier this month, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev announced the organizing committee for COP29, which will be held there in November. The list included 28 appointees, including Azeri government ministers of energy, health, finance and economy, among others. What the list did not include: women.

Ava DuVernay's new film, Origin, is a breathtaking film that “explores the mystery of history, the wonders of romance and a fight for the future of us all.”