Her Planet

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How you can help: Groups doing important work for women, their communities and the environment

Whether the issue is water pollution, drought, microcephaly, or community displacement, women and girls are leading the fight.

How you can help: Groups doing important work for women, their communities and the environment
devi

She's 23. Here's why she's biking around the world.

She's 23. Here's why she's biking around the world.
Environmentalist Emily Kelsall holds up samples of gas pump labels.

A Canadian city is putting warning labels on gas pumps

A Canadian city is putting warning labels on gas pumps
“Habitat Degradation: Ocean Acidification” contains ocean pH data from 1998 to 2012. Research on clownfish has shown that more acidic water affects their ability to detect the chemical signals that they used to find their way home.

Watercolor? Look closer. It's a climate change graph!

Watercolor? Look closer. It's a climate change graph!
Maria da Penha

Iconic activist in Rio watches as her home is bulldozed to make way for the Olympics

Iconic activist in Rio watches as her home is bulldozed to make way for the Olympics
Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrates International Women's Day at the Kremlin in Moscow March 8, 2015.

Aw, thanks, Vladimir: But Women's Day is hurting Russia's carbon footprint

Leading up to the March 8 holiday, some Russian environmentalists have been discouraging consumers from going too crazy with the bouquets. They say that cultivating some of those pretty flowers and transporting them way over to Russia is harmful for the environment.

Aw, thanks, Vladimir: But Women's Day is hurting Russia's carbon footprint
Mavis, a housekeeper from the Pretoria township of Mamelodi, depends on her garden to help provide for her five children and seven grandchildren. But with this year's region-wide drought, her garden is just a dusty patch of seedlings. “I want rain every d

For one South African house cleaner, this year's big drought means crying, hungry children

The current drought in southern Africa is the worst in decades, and likely a harbinger of things to come as the region warms up and dries out as its climate changes. The drought is having real impact on one resident in a Pretoria township, and what governments in the region can do to help prepare for a hotter and drier future.

For one South African house cleaner, this year's big drought means crying, hungry children
Honduran activist protest

In the world's most dangerous nation for environmentalists, a leader is murdered

Berta Cáceres, a 44-year-old mother of four, fought to save her beloved Gualcarque River in Honduras. Despite death threats, she led a movement that stalled a hydroelectric dam. US and UN officials are demanding answers after her killing.

In the world's most dangerous nation for environmentalists, a leader is murdered
Brazilians embrace at Piscinão de Ramos, an artifical lake next to Guanabara Bay.

Banned from the beach for pollution, these Brazilians brought beach culture to a lake

This Brazilian beach doesn't bring a song to mind and it's not in the brochures at the tourism office. But Piscinão de Ramos, or “big pool of Ramos,” is where thousands of Brazilians — prevented from accessing the actual beaches at Guanabara Bay because of the pollution — relax away their hour.

Banned from the beach for pollution, these Brazilians brought beach culture to a lake
oil pelican

As a child, the beach was synonymous with tar on my feet

As part of our Her Planet series, we asked our readers what water means to them. To Stephanie Dube, her memories of happy trips to the ocean in the Gulf of Mexico have lost their luster with time. But the water is still her happy place.

As a child, the beach was synonymous with tar on my feet
Isabel Swan

Olympic sailor Isabel Swan wants a clean bay in Brazil for the Olympics

Brazilian sailor Isabel Swan just found out she's a torch bearer for the Olympics in Rio this summer. She's also been heading up efforts to clean up Guanabara Bay's polluted waters ahead of the Games.

Olympic sailor Isabel Swan wants a clean bay in Brazil for the Olympics
Cup Island trash

Not many fish are left to bite in Rio's trash-lined bay

Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay has become so polluted that catching fish is all but impossible.

Not many fish are left to bite in Rio's trash-lined bay
Gleide Guimarães

The bigger problems behind Brazil's recent disease outbreaks

Forty percent of Brazil's homes lack access to any kind of sewer system. Public health workers are afraid to go to crime-ridden neighborhoods. Activists in the country's poorest areas say both investment and mindsets have to change to tackle a public health crisis.

The bigger problems behind Brazil's recent disease outbreaks
Antonia Melo

Brazil’s huge dam is built, but these women won’t stop fighting

The mammoth Belo Monte dam in Brazil will start generating power next month. But the women who have been fighting against it for decades still haven't given up.

Brazil’s huge dam is built, but these women won’t stop fighting
water barrels

'Little Teresa' helps São Paulo women fight drought and male domination — with rain barrels

Brazil's largest city, São Paulo is coming out of a searing drought. But its impact wasn't all bad. One woman saw the drought as an opportunity to empower women and bring her community closer together.

'Little Teresa' helps São Paulo women fight drought and male domination — with rain barrels
doctors at Ipojuca

A 'tsunami of disease' slams Brazil's health system

The triple-whammy of mosquito-borne illnesses — the Zika virus, dengue fever and chikungunya — has pushed Brazil’s universal healthcare system beyond its already stretched capacity at a time when there is little money to shore it up. In the state of Pernambuco, the scope of the epidemics is stunning: Reported mosquito-borne illnesses rose from 20,000 in 2014 to 150,000 in 2015.

A 'tsunami of disease' slams Brazil's health system
Nadja Cristina Gomes Bezerra

Brazil's microcephaly outbreak captured in portraits

Last week, Across Women's Lives photographer Anne Bailey spent time at a rehabilitation clinic in Recife, Brazil, for babies with microcephaly. She took portraits of a few of them with their parents.

Brazil's microcephaly outbreak captured in portraits