senegal at a crossroads: economic prosperity or climate protection? 

“in electing me, the people of senegal have decided on a break with the past,” said bassirou diomaye faye in the first interview after his election as the president of the small but geostrategically important nation in western africa. 

in the midst of the “free sudan” and “free congo” movements, an amplified focus on african struggles has echoed through the american and european publics. meanwhile, senegal has also had a glimmer of hope to remedy some of the problems that have burdened its people in recent decades. 

in 2023, the country’s youth mobilized in protests aimed at opposing the efforts of then-president macky sall to stay in power for longer than two mandates, and in 2024 the country elected its youngest president to date, diomaye faye, as part of a leftist movement that promises to eradicate corruption and increase economic justice. 

however, one particular dilemma has arisen: is the move toward more progressive economic policies harmful to the environment? or must a break from the past be accompanied by environmentalism? 

such questions have become pressing particularly as the new administration has promised to begin working with australia’s woodside lng, a liquified natural gas company and a large contributor to fossil fuel pollution, to ensure that senegal’s natural resources are utilized to increase the nation’s prosperity. 

pollution is a persistent problem

long before the election of diomaye faye, pollution has been a problem, especially in the capital city of dakar. walking through dakar, one may walk past market stands full of fruits and vegetables, bustling streets filled with people proudly donning traditional clothing, and speedy motorcycles zooming through the busy traffic. 

but exploring the city quickly turns painful due to the immense amount of smog generated by second-hand cars brought from european countries and burning trash. in 2019, prior to the pandemic, bbc reported that air pollution levels were exceeding by more than seven times the world health organization’s limits of particulate matter (pm), and according to the united nations environment programme the situation has only worsened since.

with the capital city of dakar already struggling with decreasing air quality, what do people in senegal have to say about the choice between progress in the western sense and the promise of additional revenue versus the need to preserve the peoples’ and climate’s health? 

kéba djibril mané, who teaches french, wolof, and several other languages spoken in africa to foreign students affiliated with the peace corps and additional international programs in the city of dakar, said he is appalled about the pollution situation in senegal.  

“pollution has reached an extraordinary level,” he said. “i know many people who have health problems because of pollution. and this pollution is largely due to cars. you wait for a taxi in the street. a car passes, but there is smoke. everyone is affected.” 

a choice between health and opportunity

beyond his passion for languages, djibril mané is also interested in politics because he has seen the effects pollution can have on health and wants to see this issue being addressed effectively by the country’s leaders. his sister-in-law, the wife of his older brother, became sick from the air pollution in dakar. because she developed a respiratory disease, he said, her family had to move to a rural area where there are fewer economic opportunities but the air is cleaner.

stories like that of djibril mané’s sister-in-law are common in dakar. in an article published in the new york times in 2019,  the chief of the pulmonology unit at a hospital in the capital of senegal was quoted stating that asthma is one of the main childhood diseases in the city and that over a third of the city’s population has some form of lung disease. 

moreover, according to an article published in the journal of pulmonary and respiratory medicine in 2019, there is a direct correlation between the poor air quality and the prevalence of respiratory manifestation in dakar. 

specifically, during a six year period (2011 to 2016), nearly 350,000 patients in dakar were treated for respiratory symptoms, which gradually increased over time. the manifestation of both upper and lower respiratory diseases was strongly correlated with exposure to sulfur dioxide (so2) and nitrogen dioxide (no2). due to the poor quality of the air in dakar, children and adults were likely to not only contract a range of respiratory illnesses, from cough and acute respiratory infection to asthma, bronchitis, and angina, but also to have persistent forms of such diseases and recurrent outbreaks.

mask up to protect against (covid) toxic air quality

according to djibril mané, pollution has become such a prevalent issue that many have realized the masks of the covid era should be worn all year around for protection not against viruses but against the toxic substances in the air. 

“you have to hide your face in your sleeve, we cover our faces like that after about a minute on the street. even today, there are people who wear masks,” he said. “now, people are used to the masks because of covid, and covid came and went, but people have continued to wear masks. i have. if you ask why you want to put on the mask again, it is very useful, not only to protect yourself against covid, but for dust, pollution in general during the day. when i go to town, there are too much dust, fumes, toxic gases, etc.”

djibril mané said he is aware that second-hand cars constitute one of the biggest sources of pollution in senegal and overall in africa. he also knows a key reason for this pollution is that european nations such as france impose bans on older cars, but that countries in africa then import those refurbished cars from europe. 

“it’s not just cars by the way, it’s a lot of things. many things are imported second-hand, there are tvs like that, large or small. there are refrigerators and there are gas stoves and other materials which are not within the environmental standards at the international level, they are prohibited for use in europe,” he said. “when they can no longer use them in france, they say ok, we cannot use them in france, but we will use them among africans.”

“not good for health. what should we do instead of destroying them? recycle them?” djibril mané said.

“there is the buñuul. it means black in wolof. this is what french people call africans pejoratively. he’s a wolof. it is the only wolof word that is in the french lexicon.”

“france has the right to choose that it needs good health for its population and it needs a good environment for its population. but africa doesn’t have that right. this is the inhumanity, the lack of humanism, of neocolonialism.”

while djibril mané is not opposed to developing new economic opportunities such as those related to natural gas, he thinks the association with western companies for such endeavors will not lead to success. he said he views western countries and companies as entities that seek to keep africa in poverty and africans marred by disease both by exporting used products to africa and by exploiting africa’s natural resources.

‘everything they do on other continents, they don’t do in africa the same’

“unfortunately, western policy toward africa is much more based on racism, because often everything they do on other continents, they don’t do in africa the same,” he said. 

el hadji faly, a college student who is interested in the betterment of african youth, mental health, and environmental action, and who published the book therapy is banned in africa, is somewhat more optimistic about environmental aspects in senegal. 

in high school, hadji faly had the opportunity to live and learn in the united states for a year and to compare the environmental situation in american and african settings. moreover, in 2023, to continue his studies during the political protests, he transferred from a university in senegal to a university in rwanda, which allowed him to consider how pollution fares across african countries. hadji faly thinks there are both challenges and opportunities in regards to environmental issues in senegal. 

hadji faly acknowledges the negative impact that pollution has long had in dakar. 

“yeah, it was definitely a problem because i have allergies, unfortunately. so when i was living in dakar, it was really tough sometimes because of all the smoke coming from the cars and the buses. it really affected my health and wellbeing,” he said.

dakar’s all electric bus fleet 

however, hadji faly also feels that pollution in dakar has come down a little since the introduction of electric buses. the city “just got a bunch of electric buses, but the old ones are still in use,” he said. “if we could get rid of the old ones and keep the electric ones, it would be really good for the environment. i guess it’s a process, but we can get there.”

in march 2024, dakar launched its bus rapid transit (brt) system which the administration claims to be leading the way for african cities. it is a nearly 20-kilometer (approximately 12.5-mile), fully electric bus system that according to the institute for transportation and development policy in dakar is expected to carry 300,000 passengers a day, reduce travel time per person to nearly half, and shift toward zero emission urban transport. with access to public transit, officials hope residents of dakar will use private vehicles less and thus contribute to the improvement of air quality. 

djibril mané agrees that electric buses provide some relief from pollutants, but he also thinks it is too little, too late. 

“this is precisely the problem. we are in the 21st century. those are tools that existed in other countries more than 20 years ago,” he said. 

in his view, senegal should be at the forefront of environmental innovation, but western european countries are not allowing african countries to develop and adopt new technologies at the pace needed to mitigate environmental issues while protecting valuable resources. 

djibril mané points out that  the contracts were actually signed under macky sall regime, and those contracts are disastrous for senegal because the vehicles are imported at high prices, with requirements to be repaired in western european countries, but without contribution from senegalese workers. 

djibril mané particularly fears the lobbying power regarding such economic advancements that disregard local needs of the economic community of west african states (ecowas). 

“we have to be sincere. we africans must know. we know it, the majority know it,” he said. “but there are always lobbies that are there, which do not want the people to follow these ideas,” he said. 

neocolonialism by any other name

“ecowas is not there for the interest of africans. ecowas is there to obey the orders of the settlers and continue to be the long arm, as we call it, of neocolonialism.” 

both djibril mané and el hadji faly believe that the new leadership of senegal will try to provide real solutions for both economic justice and environmental protection. according to djibril mané, the political movement of the new president resonated with youth because of the message “we are poor today, but in reality, we should not not be poor because we have mineral resources, we have human resources, the right people. if we are still poor, it is because a small group of people take the wealth of the country.” 

this movement now has a mandate to address economic issues. one of the critical challenges for the new administration will be to pay attention to justice for those who have been underprivileged while also maintaining mindfulness for environmental aspects. 

elsa park, a u.s. teen who spent 10 months in senegal during the 2023-2024 school year through the u.s. department of state’s kennedy-lugar yes abroad program, agrees that there are opportunities as well as challenges in regard to balancing the need for economic development with mindfulness for environmental action. during her stay in senegal, she saw change as the regime of macky sall was replaced by the new administration of bassirou diomaye faye. high school students were urged to spend multiple saturdays cleaning up their schools and to also participate in cleanups in the city, in their neighborhoods, and on beaches. “for young people, it was nice to feel that you were making a difference,” she said. 

under the new administration of senegal, additional environmental action initiatives have been started. specifically, $5.5 million will be dedicated to promoting environmental health. this will be achieved by reducing the release of unintentional persistent organic pollutants (upops) and toxic chemicals as well as establishing laws for the rational management of urban waste, a major contributor to harmful particle releases. moreover, senegal’s national waste management unit in collaboration with other agencies has installed 18 standardized collection points where communities can deposit their waste.

the united states has taken an interest in collaborating with senegal’s new administration. in july, deputy secretary of state kurt campbell traveled to senegal and met with president diomaye faye and entrepreneurs. campbell highlighted the two nations’ shared dedication to good governance. he announced u.s. investments in senegal’s economy, including the millennium challenge corporation’s $550 million power compact to increase energy access solutions can boost economic growth and help address environmental challenges.

while concerns remain about the government’s collaborations with highly polluting organizations such as australia’s woodside lng, senegalese youth have found grounds to believe that it is possible to increase the prosperity of regular people while also engaging in good stewardship of the environment. 

said hadji faly: “i think we just need good leaders, some people who are ethical and who fight here for the population, not only for themselves.”

evanston, il – a team of northwestern university climate scientists teleport back in time with naturally preserved records they extract as cylindrical cores of lake sediment.

the sediment layers in the cores open the way to time travel through climate changes over the past 20,000 years. third-year ph.d. students bailey nash and aidan burdick analyze cellulose and carbonate materials, respectively, found in sediment over time to better understand how we can prepare for accelerating human-caused climate change now and moving forward.

after carefully extracting the sediment cores from lakes in greenland and the midwestern united states, the team brings them back to professor yarrow axford’s quaternary sediment laboratory on campus for the laborious analysis.

“this research is very iterative,” burdick said. “you do one thing, you learn something from it, you move on to the next, and eventually, you build a body of knowledge over time.”

burdick focuses his research on the midwest, looking at sediment deposits from lakes around the region. by building a record of illinois’s hydroclimate, his research will help serve illinois and midwest city officials by improving water resource management, among other applications.

“we can already see clear evidence of way more sediment being deposited after europeans arrived [in illinois], probably because of agriculture and things like that,” burdick said. “i’m using this core to try to understand lake chemistry in the context of carbonate materials. we can use the chemical variations in the minerals to see how the local hydroclimate has changed over time.”

while burdick is focused on the midwest and great lakes, nash noted that much of the team’s work takes them to the arctic, specifically in south greenland where deglaciation began around 15,000 years ago driven by rising air temperatures. this upcoming summer, nash will be visiting the community of narsaq to conduct her research.

“one of the primary questions that i’m trying to address through my ph.d. work is how arctic lakes respond [to climate change], especially in regard to their lake levels,” nash said. “so, did lake levels rise or fall during periods of past warmth? and what does that mean for arctic communities that rely on these similar arctic lakes today as a municipal water source?”

after extracting cellulose from ancient plant matter in the sediment, nash uses a mass spectrometer to analyze cellulose isotopes over time. cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer on earth, and the isotopic signature of cellulose that gets preserved in geologic materials can serve as a record of differing past climate conditions.

“these isotopic compositions can say a lot about whether lake level was higher or lower in the past,” nash said, “or if the environment was warmer or colder than it is today — those pieces of the climate story.”

it’s not well understood whether lake levels in the arctic will rise or fall in a warming world, but the risk of lakes either flooding or drying up is a climate concern across the world. thus, nash feels this must be investigated. because their work takes place on indigenous land, nash also emphasized the focus their group has on community engagement and performing scientific research respectfully and ethically.

“these communities have a very complicated relationship with western science in general and the people that we represent when we come back,” nash said, “so it really takes time and open-mindedness entering these communities and building trust, honestly, and laying the foundation of mutual respect and understanding.”

in a field dominated by men, nash gravitated towards axford’s lab not only because of her specialization on arctic paleoclimate research but specifically after reading axford’s science article titled ‘thanks to the glass ceiling breakers,’ outlining her experiences as a woman in stem.

“today, i’m living my dream,” axford wrote in her 2016 article, “and yet, despite how far science has come… i have lost track of how many times i’ve met a colleague for the first time and been told, ‘i’ve read your papers. i thought you were a man!’”

“i was just blown away by everything she had to say [in the article],” nash said. “i thought she seemed like such an incredibly strong glass ceiling-breaking scientist… the arctic is the most rapidly warming region on the planet today, which poses a very immediate concern for climate scientists. i was very compelled by the argument that studying past and current arctic climate change impacts can help us better understand and prepare for current and future climate change impacts globally.”

washington – when dr. lisa patel was working on a project for the environmental protection agency in 2005, she visited a children’s hospital for asthma in mumbai, india. after seeing the main parts of the center, she was surprised when the coordinators took her to a nearby gymnasium that had been converted to a children’s asthma ward. it was filled with even more children who were receiving care.

seeing an entire gymnasium full of child asthmatics struggling to breathe was moving for dr. patel, the executive director of the medical society 2022年世界杯亚洲预选赛结果 on climate and health. but the global climate crisis became much more personal when the california wildfires reached her own children almost a decade later.

“that’s when it became very concrete to me that no child should be breathing in this absolutely foul pollution that’s ruining their health,” she said.

according to a report by the harvard t.h. chan school of public health, children face disproportionate ill effects as a result of climate change, largely because they are actively developing both mentally and physically.

children are affected by both “indoor air” and their surrounding climate, executive director of the children’s environmental health network nsedu obot witherspoon said at a moms clean air force (mcaf) event about children’s health in the face of the climate crisis on feb. 8.

according to witherspoon, “indoor air” is impacted by a number of products including cleaners, toys, pesticides and other human-made items children encounter. “climate” encompasses air quality, water quality, pollution, natural disasters and any additional environmental factors. 

while everyone is impacted by these types of exposure, children are more likely to be negatively impacted.

“their airways are smaller. they have developing immune systems,” dr. patel said. “so things like nox or pm2.5 irritate the lung lining and put children at higher risk for respiratory illnesses.”

nox, also known as nitrogen oxides, are “a group of highly reactive gasses, including nitrogen dioxide, nitrous acid, and nitric acid,” according to the arizona department of environmental quality (adeq). similarly, the adeq classifies pm2.5 as “the smallest, most harmful particulate pollution.” pm2.5 is a combination of nitrogen oxides and other harmful substances.

in the u.s., 49% of parents say climate change has affected their decision about having more children, according to a recent study conducted by morning consult on behalf of the technology company, hp. 

moreover, the study concluded that 91% of parents globally are worried about the climate crisis and have changed their purchasing habits as a result.

“i studied climate change in college and at the time, it felt like a calling, and it felt like something that i wanted to do,” dr. patel said. “but i think when i had my kids, it no longer felt like a choice. it felt like something that i had to do.”

even so, parents have little control over what substances their children come into contact with. with more than 12 million children under the age of five in the united states in some form of nonparental care, witherspoon said the industry lacks sufficient regulations, focusing on these “critical windows of exposure.”

prevention through policy

existing health and safety policy surrounding child care is largely centered around the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases and violence, though there are also climate-related regulations to highlight.

the national resource center for health and safety in child care and early education is the most prevalent organization setting health and safety standards for child care facilities. their resources give providers national and state standards to follow.

one national standard largely influenced by the clean air act stated that providers must check the air quality index before determining if it is safe for children to play outside. there are also established protocols surrounding natural disasters to keep facilities prepared to protect children in the event of an emergency.  

states can establish their own rules for child care providers too. for example, a 2018 california law required licensed child care centers to test their water for lead by 2023. 

after results found shocking levels of the poisonous substance in the water supplies, rep. katie porter (d-calif.) said california children’s lead exposure was alarming.

“one in four california child care centers has dangerously high levels of lead in their drinking water,” porter said. “children are our future, and we owe it to every american to protect all kids’ safety and well-being.”

in remarks made in pittsburgh on feb. 20, vice president kamala harris promised to eliminate all lead pipes in the united states, recognizing the impact that lead has on children’s health.

the biden-harris lead pipe and paint action plan “includes over 15 new actions from more than 10 federal agencies that ensure the federal government is marshalling every resource to make rapid progress towards replacing all lead pipes in the next decade.”

“when children drink toxic water through lead pipes, it has an impact on their learning ability, on their health,” harris said. “and for too long, this has been the case, that communities have been crying out for support to get rid of these lead pipes.”

there are also environmental justice concerns around the quality of drinking water, which porter alluded to in her remarks.

“many of the worst facilities for lead levels are in low-income areas or communities of color,” she said.

according to witherspoon, the child care industry is a space where environmental injustice is heightened because the profession is largely dominated by women, including women of color and women of childbearing age. she said there is a dual benefit of reducing the environmental hazards and limiting the negative health effects for both children and their care providers. 

exposure to plastic

another concern for children’s environmental health is exposure to plastics. judith enck is the founder and president of beyond plastics and a former epa regional administrator. her work focuses on the dangers of plastic pollution. at the mcaf event in early february, she cited how plastic emissions are replacing those originally produced by the coal industry.

“plastics is plan b for the fossil fuels industry,” she said. “all of us have microplastics in our bodies.”

microplastics are a particular danger because they are being found in a variety of organs, from livers to placentas. according to a study by a peer reviewed journal titled birth defects research, exposure to microplastics as a newborn “is linked to the development of multiple illnesses in adulthood.”

yet exposure can also occur before a child is born, “which may have the potential to cause harmful effects later in life,” according to a recent study by environment international.

while action has been taken against the rise of plastics, enck said she is still working toward more change.

in december, the epa decided that vinyl chloride, which has been a known carcinogen for about 50 years, will be among five chemicals that will begin the risk evaluation prioritization process under the toxic substances control act, enck said. “but that’s the beginning of a ten-year journey to ban vinyl chloride,” she added.

the mental health toll of the climate crisis

research shows that children’s mental wellness is also affected by the climate crisis.

“there’s actually some emerging data that early exposure to air pollution places children at higher risk for anxiety and depression,” dr. patel said.

dr. lise van susteren, a medical doctor and general and forensic psychiatrist, indicated the youth population is paying a mental toll for the climate crisis.

“the extreme weather events they face not only bring – acutely – fear, anger, sorrow, etc. but over time, what happens is they become dispirited, even demoralized and feel potentially a feeling of abandonment and betrayal by their government,” dr. van susteren said.

while the public might differ over which initiatives to support, two-thirds of americans agree that the government should be doing more to solve the climate crisis, according to a 2020 study conducted by the pew research center. this support extends across partisan lines.

dr. van susteren said there should be more psychiatrists who specialize in climate mental health. this support could help improve the morale of a younger generation that feels a widening gap between themselves and their government.

at the mcaf event, she said it is important to consider a child’s particular age, behavior and the context in which they live before talking to them about climate change. supporting a child’s mental well-being is not a “one size fits all approach.” 

while some kids need more transparency, others need protection, dr. van susteren said. it is up to those supporting the children to assess what they need based on existing factors.

dr. van susteren said adults should also be aware of their own mental well-being. she wants people who are struggling mentally with the climate crisis to “recognize that it’s really our collective effort – individually counted, it’s just like votes on election day – but this is what ends up changing the course of our history.”

dr. patel said she feels a particular responsibility to protect her own children.

“i brought them into this world. and so it’s incumbent on me to make sure that this is a world worthy of them,” she said.

what if the future of air quality justice rested in the threads of a spider web?

in this original hand-drawn comic, climate cartoonist joy reeves explores a recent initiative in north carolina to use spider webs to monitor air pollution. spearheaded by the north carolina environmental justice network and a team of volunteer “funnel web finders,” the “spidey sens-r” project aims to measure heavy metal pollution on funnel weaver spider webs in greenville and goldsboro communities. the team hopes to use the metals collected on the webs to identify air pollution hotspots near polluting industries—especially in areas that lack government air quality monitors — in order to prioritize future testing in those areas and uphold environmental justice principles through community science. 

southeast washington d.c. is facing an environmental crisis. research has shown a number of harmful effects of pollution, both air and water, that impact the health of residents. four professors from american university, georgetown university, and the george washington university discuss their research and analysis of the issue and provide their insights on how it can best be addressed.

“sulochana is a good motivator. and she has a lot of stories to tell you here,” said shreya some, knowingly with raised eyebrows. sulochana pednekar shook her head and laughed, but some was right. just a couple minutes later, pednekar was in full swing, passionately educating me on how one cleans cloth menstrual products.

shreya some is a climate mitigation, adaptation and policy researcher from kolkata, capital of india’s west bengal state. sulochana pednekar is a women’s health researcher and an expert menstruation education advocate from siolim, a village in goa state. i got to interview them both even though they have different research fields thanks to one significant overlap: a scientific literature review titled “enabling factors for sustainable menstrual hygiene management practices” published last august. this paper is co-authored by four researchers: sulochana pednekar, shreya some, kajal rivankar & renuka thakore. it reviewed studies from 21 different countries and compared levels of awareness and access, as well as common benefits and concerns for various menstrual products (some of which i hadn’t even heard of before): menstrual cloths, disposable pads, biodegradable pads, tampons, reusable cloth pads, disposable cloth pads, and menstrual cups.

some and pednekar did not meet through sustainable menstruation research; actually, they roomed together at an environmental economics conference eight years ago. while chatting, pednekar‘s personal openness with reusable menstrual products and enthusiasm for destigmatizing menstruation presented some with new information about sustainable menstrual care and piqued her curiosity about researching it. 

the first story pednekar told me began with her first period. the stigma in her joint family started immediately: pednekar grandmother suggested that her mother pull her out of school at least when she was on her period, and menstruating people were prevented from participating in puja (hindu religious ritual) and served food from a distance. pednekar has worked on projects interviewing other women in goa and finds that she is not alone. some women found themselves even having to wait outdoors during religious practice or if guests knew of their menstrual cycle.

however, being able to choose what menstrual product to use can have an incredible effect on how much exposure someone has to that stigma. in pednekar case, using a plain cotton cloth like many people around her came with the problems of cleaning it, which often interfered with school because she couldn’t stay for extra classes if there was risk of leaking. as pednekar noted in an article she wrote, “at least 23% of girls in india leave school when they start menstruating and the rest miss an average of five days during each monthly menstrual period.” it wasn’t until she began constantly traveling and walking as a field worker that she regularly used commercial disposable pads. some, who currently also travels consistently for work, agrees; her lifestyle made her unsure that reusable products could work for her. disposable pads weren’t always affordable, but without them, pednekar said, “it was always that this would otherwise stop me.” 

it needs to be a choice because every individual knows their own situation the best. people’s concerns may range: whether they have enough water supply to clean cloth products, whether there are discreet places to dry them, whether the water supply they use is safe to rinse a menstrual cup with, whether there are incinerators to discreetly dispose of disposable products (a rising phenomenon in india), whether the product triggers virginity taboos, and also simply whether products are available and affordable. i mentioned complications i run into while trying to use a menstrual cup, and pednekar nodded firmly. “until and unless i try myself, i said no, i will not promote anything which i don’t believe in,” she said. “if i am satisfied with it, then i will believe in it. and i will promote it.” in pendekar’s and some’s world of menstrual health activism, bettering lives is the key to adopting sustainability.

in fact, because of climate change, these sustainable product choices could be made a lot more available. it’s easy to get stuck in pessimism and mournfulness due to climate change, but if there’s one hopeful side to it, it’s that climate change forces our communities to take big steps planning and preparing for a changing world. for example, the review covered one case where nepal’s government provided reusable pads to communities after an earthquake in 2015, and reusable pads were adopted widely and successfully. while natural crises like earthquakes or climate disasters are not our choice, they shake up norms, creating opportunities — and necessities — for changing our ways.

the question is whether people will be left behind. will we change to have better, more inclusive norms? i asked some and pednekar if they feel hopeful that menstrual health will be taken into consideration with new sustainability and policy changes. they didn’t seem to think improved menstrual access will primarily come from policymakers. pednekar helped draft mandatory menstrual hygiene management guidelines for all schools in india with the indian ministry of drinking water & sanitation in 2015, but through her research it seems that these guidelines have not been widely implemented. “for the state where i am, it’s a very big work in progress. this thing is not in the priority agenda of the policymakers,” some said. although in some ways the sentiment is there, funding for menstrual health research, product innovation, ensuring bathrooms for menstrual care management, and education is nowhere near top concern. 

some and pednekar unanimously agree that equity will come mainly from menstrual health education — for all genders, not just girls. while governments can promote sustainable products for the environment’s sake, the way to true change is by making sustainability a good, available choice for each individual. some’s and pednekar‘s study found that awareness of alternative menstrual product options was low across the globe. pednekar, as an ambassador for menstrual access project eco femme, has provided reusable cloth pads to family members who may not have tried them otherwise. after attending a workplace talk about incinerators for menstrual products, some’s mother began thinking about how that could help their residential community. people want menstrual health practices that they can sustain, and communities will champion sustainability themselves when they are enabled with knowledge and access to these options. 

as we move into a world being reconfigured by climate change, i really admire this humanizing two-pronged approach of environmental sustainability and human equity — rather than pitting the two against each other, realizing they can be the same goal. people can choose various reusable menstrual products, not just because the burden of climate change forces them to, but because their quality of life matters. 

“i will continue to work. and we need to create more people to do this work, see if we can create more replicas of me,” pednekar said, laughing. pednekar said, laughing. pednekar and some inspire us to imagine more inclusive future communities as we readjust to climate change. and they remind me that uplifting ourselves and each other can and should be part of loving our environment.

this is a story about the intersection of science and indigenous communities. focusing on the potomac river watershed, this film highlights inequalities in environmental management. the patawomeck tribe of virginia, the original people of the potomac river, discuss environmental injustices facing their community. filmmaker and ph. d. student, veronica malabanan lucchese, uses social network analysis, or the scientific study of relationships, to identify the most and least influential managers. tying together research and personal histories, “managing the potomac: featuring the patawomeck tribe of virginia” shows the need for more inclusive management.

it’s a story about how excluded communities, research, and government can work together for a more sustainable future. this film was supported by the integrated application network at the university of maryland center for environmental science, the coast card project, the environmental justice journalism initiative, the noaa-lmrcsc fellowship, the belmont forum, and the national science foundation. 

more than 80% of young individuals experience some level of eco-anxiety, according to a recent study in lancet. the study defined eco-anxiety as a type of anxiety caused by fear of environmental damage and found that increased awareness of climate change and exposure to environmental issues in news and on social media are heightening this form of anxiety.

for some young people, direct experience with climate related events is also feeding their anxiety. naomi boyd (they/she) is a student at cornell university studying biological sciences with an environmental focus.

“the canada wildfires were very stressful,” boyd said. “when i was reading the news, i remember thinking, ‘oh, this is bad.’” 

naomi’s words highlight the challenges that many college students face when dealing with eco-anxiety. according to an article by the association for child and adolescent mental health, eco-anxiety can have a significant impact on one’s mental and physical health, often leading to anxiety, depression, insomnia, and difficulty concentrating. it can also make it difficult to socialize and enjoy activities.

boyd is passionate about the environment and said they are worried about the state of the planet and the impact that climate change will have on future generations. the wildfires turned on a switch for boyd and made them realize how serious the environmental crisis is. 

“i felt sad. it looked like the apocalypse or like the world was ending,” boyd said. “i think that was a wakeup call for me because i could actually see it,” they added. 

boyd said they worry about how their everyday activities might impact the planet.

“i think about how much power we consume. even using a computer is not good because you need to get that energy from somewhere, and it’s probably not from a clean resource,” boyd said.

boyd’s worries are not unfounded. according to a study published in science direct, the united states is the world’s largest consumer of energy, accounting for nearly a quarter of global energy use. this consumption is heavily reliant on fossil fuels, which release harmful greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. 

it will not go away by itself

the awareness of this reality is a significant source of eco-anxiety for many students. in fact, eco-anxiety is closely related to several negative emotions, including grief, guilt, anger, and despair, according to an article by researcher panu pihkala of the university of helsinki. another article by cody januszko of carnegie mellon university states that guilt can be generated and assigned through environmental discourse. this means that individuals might see the environmental damage caused by our consumption habits and feel a sense of guilt and responsibility. they know that their individual actions, while seemingly small, contribute to the larger problem.

chawezi ngoma (she/her), a licensed psychotherapist and an advocate for climate action, believes that eco-anxiety does not simply disappear entirely on its own. 

“it will not go away by itself. it’s something that’s often worked on in therapy,” ngoma said. one thing that people struggling with eco-anxiety can do is understand what their triggers are and be prepared for these triggers before they occur. unfortunately, not a lot of people realize they are experiencing eco-anxiety. ngoma urges everyone to talk about eco-anxiety and raise awareness about environmental issues. “it’s important to start talking about it and treating it as something serious,” ngoma said.

boyd also believes that colleges could do more to support students who are struggling with eco-anxiety. they would like to see more talk sessions and advertising for help with this issue. “i don’t think there’s anything specifically for eco-anxiety here. having talk sessions or a group of people who want to talk about it might be helpful,” boyd said. they also think it would be helpful if professors and staff discussed eco-anxiety more openly. “i don’t think it’s ever directly addressed; i’ve never heard them say the word ‘eco-anxiety’ before,” boyd said.

boyd’s story is just one example of how eco-anxiety is affecting college students worldwide. as climate change becomes more evident, there is a growing recognition of the mental health toll that it is taking on people. there is a need for acknowledging the seriousness of eco-anxiety and taking steps to support those who are struggling with it.

diallo founded clinic+o because he grew up in rural guinea with a diabetic father and understood from a young age the difficulties of dealing with a chronic illness in an area lacking a healthcare system. malaria is one of the illnesses clinic+o treats and according to the world health organization, guinea and other countries have had an increase in cases of malaria which may be related to climate change.

the rainy season

according to the mayo clinic, malaria is a disease caused by bites from infected mosquitos. patients first experience symptoms like chills followed by high fever and lots of sweating. malaria is uncommon in the united states and more common in areas of africa south of the sahara, according to the centers for disease control and prevention.  

guinea is only a few hundred miles north of the equator, meaning it is located in a subtropical climate with a dry and a wet season. the dry season takes place from november to april followed by the wet season in may to october. diallo said throughout his life he has seen an increase in how long the wet season in guinea lasts. 

“we used to have three to four month rainy season and now we have six months of rainy season,” diallo said. 

he said the increase of the rainy season has to do with climate change. the national centers for environmental information reported increased temperatures caused by climate change result in more rain. 

per diallo’s observations, guinea has seen a longer rainy season because of increases in temperatures. according to the climate change knowledge portal, guinea used to have an average air surface temperature of around 75 degrees fahrenheit, but this number has jumped to almost 80 degrees in recent years. 

diallo said cases of malaria are seasonal in correlation with the rainy season because guinea has a “very, very inefficient” waste management system. diallo said people in guinea pile their trash up on the streets because there is nowhere else for it to go. he also said guinea does not have a good draining system which has consequences when it rains. 

“when it rains that trash spits back into the community,” diallo said. 

according to a study from stanford university, mosquito-borne diseases, like malaria, are expected to grow with climate change, but a high presence of trash in communities is another factor in the increase of cases.

communities combat malaria

presently, diallo is combating these cases of malaria through clinic+o. since the founding of the organization, they have treated a total of 104 cases of malaria per their database. 

diallo said clinic+o focuses on introducing healthcare to citizens of guinea through technology. he said when he first started clinic+o in 2021, diallo used facebook to advertise clinic+o and whatsapp to connect with patients. he said he has now moved away from those ways of technology and instead made his own online application which puts all aspects of guinean healthcare into one place.  

“we have developed an application that only help patient record other data but also create an interpretable connection between all the stakeholders within healthcare system including consultation, lab exams and medication,” diallo said. 

unlike other organizations providing healthcare in africa, clinic+o trains citizens of rural guinea to diagnose and treat the members of their community. diallo said there are not enough healthcare professionals in guinea, so they used the people they could find. 

“we do not have enough physicians, we do not have nurses,” diallo said. 

he said when a patient comes into the clinic+o facility in their village, they are treated by local community members. but if a health situation a patient is facing goes beyond the abilities of local communities, clinic+o has over 90 medical professionals a patient can be put in contact with through telehealth technology, per clinic+o’s website. 

through clinic+o, over 35,000 patients have been “screened and educated” and 17,000 have received remote telehealth consultations. 

when treating patients with malaria, diallo said clinic+o uses a “holistic” approach because clinic+o wants to understand the environment the patient lives in. he said clinic+o healthcare workers ask patients whether they have mosquito nets and proper sanitation, such as an indoor bathroom or healthy drinking later. 

“those are the questions we require,” diallo said. 

he also said clinic+o healthcare workers ask questions about a patient’s symptoms. if their symptoms point toward malaria, they make a patient take a rapid test by pricking their finger into a cassette. if a patient tests positive, they are treated with medication.

diallo said the method clinic+o uses to ship medication to rural locations is sustainable because it uses local taxi drivers which he compared to uber. he said when rural guineans use clinic+o for their healthcare, it also cuts the cost of shipping their medicine. 

he said the cost of malaria medication is between $1 to $3 for patients using clinic+o. diallo said patients living in rural guinea who do not use clinic+o for their healthcare may need to travel between four to eight hours to purchase medication and pay closer to $12. 

“[we] are just selling our own medication and paying them a fraction of what we would have paid if we would have had to take our own car and send that medication,” diallo said. 

after a few days on this medication, diallo said the patient is then called back for a checkup. he also said clinic+o looks to integrate practices into the community to avoid citizens from developing more cases of malaria through collaborating with the local government on plans for a more effective waste management system.

“local government is supposed to help me put together an effective waste management system whereby people can come and collect my waste, either for free or in exchange for a fee,” diallo said. 

diallo said there should be more research on climate change’s relation to malaria and he would be open to collaborating with scientists on the subject to develop more research. 

“we need to make sure the future that we will be leaving for our children is better than the ones we have inherited from our parents,” diallo said. 

as if knowing of its rapturous admirers, the short-eared owl circled the cricket playing field before disappearing out of sight. if i had been told a few years earlier about the possibility of seeing such a creature amongst the cityscape of london, i would not have believed it. over the last three years, i have become more in tune with the natural world around me. this process occurred because of my growing adoption of birdwatching to unwind and manage my anxiety. the owl, like many birds i had seen in the park, was a culmination of my journey so far – the connections i had formed between my local urban spaces and the natural places within them.

london

sunrise over london taken on hampstead heath. (keir chauhan)

before i became interested in birds, i had to escape the conception that nature could not exist within a cityscape. i had to embrace the agency of my city, london, as a place of special importance to wildlife and people. i needed to learn how the built environment provided homes and havens for breeding and migratory birds. most of all, i had to alter the way i saw the city’s green spaces. i had to realize that london’s individual environmental places — remnants of the ancient forest of middlesex — when assembled, form an altogether wilder, healthier, and greener picture of london.

for londoners like navita atreya, “green space allows (her) to reset and think about things differently” and “to breathe more slowly and deeply” so that she can escape from a “turbulent world”. atreya’s experience is illustrative of the power of embracing green spaces for londoners’ health.

the national park city movement

the national park city movement works to make greener, wilder, and healthier cities. london was the first national park city to be formally recognized under the national park city charter. my first encounter with the london national park city concept thrilled me because it encourages inclusive and equitable access to the natural environment for all londoners. it allowed me to consider how some of my favorite places to walk might add up to something bigger than their constituent parts. they could become part of a city that embraces its green spaces and the importance of the human as part of the ecosystem.

the national park city movement joins together different community groups working on the environment. my own experience of being a london national park city ranger has been useful in informing my understanding of the strength of such a concept. by linking birdwatchers and herbalists with campaigners and artists, the london national park city can embrace the diversity of london’s people and places.

london national park city

ferns growing on a bridge in hampstead heath. (keir chauhan)

the london national park city project has discussed and worked on improving the safety of city parks for women as well as running the #dolondondifferently campaign to highlight all that can be done in the city linked to green spaces.

ed santry, coordinator for the london national park city says the “movement is encouraging and supporting initiatives that address” environmental justice issues. santry highlighted the “disparity between green spaces and house prices” in london. the link between access to green spaces and higher house prices systematically excludes those who are most vulnerable from accessing natural spaces. by tackling the “disassociation” between people and green spaces, the london national park city hopes to improve cultural cohesion throughout london, according to santry. this includes tackling food insecurity through “working with food banks” to distribute locally grown food from allotments (community gardens) and working directly with communities to get the benefits “of green spaces for everyone.”

the vision for london and other proposed national park cities including chattanooga, tennessee is for a new citywide focus on people’s environment and the benefits of equitable access for all. by working to expand those who are connected to place, ed santry hopes “the stronger the voices can become” for equitable and increased access to green spaces.

environmental initiatives like london national park city and the broader national park city movement help to build the capacity for changes to the status quo. when discussing environmental injustice in cities it can be disheartening. yet, by reimagining cities for people and natural places through the national park city movement, more positive connections can be created to build the capacity for deeper connections between human and non-human city-dwellers. for me, it might have started with a seemingly simple idea, but it resonated with me because it allows londoners to see our homes and by extension our existence as a part of, not separate from, the natural world.