Only about a quarter of Haitians have access to electricity. Nonprofit EarthSpark is bringing green energy to the country, and they're making it a feminist issue.
Image: UN/Foto: Chris McMorrow
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When 14 households in the small Haitian town of Les Anglais connected to the power grid for the first time in 2012, it was a big occasion. Less than 25 percent of homes have access to electricity in the Caribbean country.
But what was even more unbelievable for the town's residents, was that women were the ones doing the connecting, recalled Allison Archambault, president of EarthSpark International, the nonprofit behind the electrification project.
When the microgrid, a community sized electricity infrastructure, powered up, one local man called the customer service hotline saying he couldn't switch the lights on in his home. Roseanne Jean-Jacques, a local woman trained to troubleshoot grid problems, went out to visit him with Archambault. Jean-Jacques simply tugged on the string connected to the bulb and the light came on.
Allison Archambault from EarthSpark International Image: DW/J. Collins
"He just hadn't been tugging on the cord hard enough," said Archambault. "But for that man it was like 'whoa this woman just, like, invented electricity in my home.'"
The microgrid customer wanted to know where the woman was from, and had to ask twice before believing Jean-Jacques lived just down the road.
"I'd like to think two things happened in that house that day," Archambault told DW. "One, that man got electricity in his home for the first time and two, he saw a woman from his community in a completely new light—and that's one of the empowering elements of feminist electrification."
Feminist electrification
The microgrid that began with just 14 households has since grown to 450, and now collectively serves a quarter of the almost 8,000 people in Les Anglais. Additionally Jean-Jacques is now training women in other towns to be "grid ambassadors" like her.
Lighting up Les AnglaisImage: UN/Foto: Chris McMorrow
EarthSpark, which has just been recognized for its projects tackling energy poverty and gender inequity with a UN Momentum for Change award, is also training women to be electricians.
The idea of feminist electrification, said Archambault, is to have women involved on all levels of the project, because as the primary caregivers they're disproportionately impacted by climate change, lack of access to energy services and are often left out of decision-making processes because of gender inequity.
"Infrastructure projects that involve women in the planning and operations are more likely to succeed. So they're more investable," said Archambault, who has been working with the nonprofit for nine years. "From a climate solutions perspective, educating women and girls is in the top 10 things we can do to solve climate change. So that is an important element of this as well."
Climate change hits women harder
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Green microgrids
EarthSpark uses solar energy plus storage to feed energy into the grids, which Archambault says is "wildly cost effective for solving energy poverty." Some 2 percent of the energy delivered into the grid comes from diesel generators, but she says they're phasing this out because it's too expensive and isn't environmentally-friendly.
The nonprofit is developing 80 other microgrids in Haiti that will provide around 200,000 people with access to electricity, and has also sold over 18,000 small-scale clean energy products, such as solar lanterns and efficient cookstoves.
By switching away from the kerosene lamps commonly used in Haiti and individual diesel generators to microgrid energy, EarthSpark says it could reduce CO2 and black carbon emissions by around 19,000 tons.
2017: Devastating effects of climate change
The world is increasingly taking action to stop climate change. But the frequency of devastating climate events in 2017 has shown that we are starting to run out of time. DW takes at look at some of the most dramatic.
Image: Reuters/E. De Castro
Sweltering heat
Unprecedented heat waves swept across the globe in 2017, leading to droughts, wildfires and even deaths. Australia started the year with temperatures near 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), the "Lucifer" heat wave brought the mercury above 40 degrees Celsius throughout Southern Europe in July and August and scorching heat hit India's most vulnerable people. Get ready for next summer...
Image: Imago/Agencia EFE
Disappearing wonder
Earlier this year, scientists realized that coral bleaching in Australia's Great Barrier Reef was worse than first thought. In some parts of the UNESCO World Heritage site, up to 70 percent of the coral has already been killed. By 2050, scientists have warned 90 percent of the reef could disappear. Rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification are the main culprits.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Deadly combination
Armed conflicts are pushing millions of people to leave their homes or live in terribly precarious situations — and climate change is making it worse. A lack of natural resources increases the risk of conflict and makes life even harder for refugees. South Sudanese families, for instance, are escaping to neighboring countries like Uganda and Kenya — countries already suffering from drought.
Image: Reuters/G.Tomasevic
World on fire
From New Zealand to Spain, from California to even Greenland: the world has seen a nonstop year of wildfires. Global warming has been blamed for the increased fire risk, and in some countries that risk has turned into reality. Wildfires engulfed large areas of Europe's Iberian Peninsula, causing death and destruction, while firefighters in California have had no rest for more than six months.
Image: Reuters/G. Blevins
Record-shattering storms
Hurricanes Maria and Irma, which hit the Caribbean region in August and September, were two of the year's most damaging weather events. The list of deadly storms also included Ophelia in Ireland, Harvey and Nate in Central America and the US, and Xavier and Sebastian in Germany. Warming of the ocean surface has led to more evaporation, and that water may help fuel thunderstorms and hurricanes.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/Str
Melting Antarctica
In July, one of the largest icebergs ever recorded separated from the Larsen C ice shelf — one of Antarctica's biggest — reducing its area by more than 12 percent. While calving icebergs in the Antarctic are part of a natural cycle, scientists have linked the retreat of several Antarctic ice shelves to global warming and are closely monitoring potential long-term effects.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/NASA/J. Sonntag
Struggle to breathe
Deteriorating air quality causes thousands of deaths around the world every year. India's capital, New Delhi, is one of the world's most polluted cities. In November, large parts of northern India and Pakistan were engulfed by a blanket of thick smog carrying harmful particulate matter. Schools were forced to close, and hospitals were full of people with respiratory problems.
Image: Reuters/S. Khandelwal
Oceans at risk
The high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere represent a major threat for our oceans, already in danger due to plastic pollution, overfishing and warming waters. Ocean acidification could make these waters — covering more than two-thirds of our planet's surface — a hostile environment for sea creatures. And without marine animals, entire ocean ecosystems are at risk.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot/B. Coleman
Fierce floods and mudslides
Superstorms often trigger flash floods and mudslides. In late December, more than 230 people were killed when a storm hit the Philippines' second-largest island of Mindanao, a tragedy exacerbated by years of deforestation. In 2017, severe floods also hit countries such as Vietnam, Peru and Sierra Leone. European countries, including Greece and Germany, also felt the damaging effects of heavy rain.
