The Domino Effect: Climate Change

MANDY MCANALLY: Nathan, tell us what PAI’s new film “Weathering Change” is about.

NATHAN GOLON: The film is specifically about how women are dealing with climate change now. The reason we’re focusing on women is because women tend to be the ones who are most affected. They’re the ones gathering firewood, they’re the ones gathering water, and largely, they’re the ones doing the agricultural work. So, any change in rain patterns and temperature usually tends to affect them more so than anyone else.

MM: Did you know a lot about this subject before you started?

NG: I’d seen headlines and I had read articles, but our goal was really just to go and see what we would find. And it wasn’t hard finding the story. The communities where we filmed had a story to tell about climate change. It wasn’t hard to see it beyond the anecdotal evidence. For example, we filmed in Peru during the winter, but you can literally see the heat waves over the mountains where the snow is receding. So, when you have people telling stories like the ones you hear in the film and you can literally see what it is they’re telling you, I think that made for a very powerful final presentation.

MM: Michael, do you find that the stories really hit home more than the data?

MICHAEL KHOO: It’s a great contrast to the ways things are talked about, say, in Washington, D.C., or even in American politics. The climate change issue is debated back and forth. It’s very contentious; people question all aspects of the facts. But when you go to somebody like Radhika, the first woman who’s interviewed in the film, there’s just no argument to be had. She’s experiencing this and that’s all that matters. What people really connect with is just the look on her face, the struggle that you see she goes through every day, and you think of how you can help.

MM: What are the main messages you want audiences to walk away with?

NG: Well, the main message that I walked away with after working on this project is that climate change isn’t theoretical; it’s something that people are dealing with. While we debate and have conversations about climate change, there are a lot of people on this planet right now who are having to face the reality of it, and it’s significantly changing their lives.

MK: The line that Nathan liked most from all filming and that ended up being the final line was by Aragash, the woman interviewed in Ethiopia. She says, “Life is hard for a woman; climate change is making it harder.” And that really became the whole coalescing purpose of the film. Although women are making some progress at some levels, climate change threatens to stop all that progress.

MM: How do you make delicately the link to climate change and population, since it is a sensitive connection to make?

NG: Before we turned the camera on, we talked to the women about the issues that were affecting their lives. Climate was one of them, education was one of them, obviously poverty was one of them, and they also talked openly about family planning. Like you said, it is a delicate subject in some places, but we didn’t find that at all. These women were very open about family planning. In fact when we found Aragash and Radhika, we thought they were really great women to tell the story because they’re so passionate, open and sincere. Later, we found out they provided education about family planning as volunteers.

MK: And family planning is one of the critical tools for women’s empowerment, which is broadly what the film is about – how the empowerment of women is being threatened by climate. They’re policy connections if you break it down to those of us doing lobbying on U.S. government policy. For these women, it’s just a very direct, visceral, daily connection on what it takes to empower them so that they can take care of their families, which is something that everybody can agree on.

About PAI
Population Action International advocates for women and families to have access to contraception in order to improve their health, reduce poverty and protect their environment. PAI’s research and advocacy strengthen U.S. and international assistance for family planning. The organization works with local and national leaders in developing countries to improve their reproductive health-care programs and policies. PAI shows how these programs are critical to global concerns, such as preventing HIV, combating the effects of environmental degradation and climate change, and strengthening national security.