“A California congresswoman warns global warning will be so detrimental to poor women, it will drive them to prostitution. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., has re-introduced legislation that forces the government to address all “policies and programs in the United States that are globally related to climate change” through the lens of gender.
“Her resolution, “Recognizing the disparate impact of climate change on women and the efforts of women globally to address climate change,” asserts that long-term and catastrophic weather changes will result in drought and destructive weather events such as flooding, which could lead to food shortages, joblessness and disease, along with economic and political crisis on a regional scale.
“Since “women will disproportionately face harmful impacts from climate change, particularly in poor and developing nations where women regularly assume increased responsibility for growing the family’s food and collecting water, fuel and other resources,” the measure reads, they will be the most desperate and vulnerable, forced into situations, “such as sex work, transactional sex, and early marriage.”
“The picture that Lee, who has had a consistently high liberal voting record since she was elected to Congress in 1998, paints is grim. She says environmental crises will force women to migrate, often into refugee camps or other vulnerable circumstances, where they will have to scrounge for food and resources for their families. The resolution insists that the government should focus on poor women, as well as empower women to develop strategies to prepare for these eventualities. Lee first introduced the measure in 2013, but it was not enacted.
Speaking exclusively for Newslo, Lee stated that one of the measures that could help women deal with the devastating effects of global warming is legislation oriented towards legalizing marijuana across the United States.
“It’s clear as day,” Lee stated. “The benefits of marijuana have been known for years, which is one of the main reasons why it has been consistently used for various medical purposes. States like Colorado have already realized the benefits of making marijuana legal, and have set an example for other states.”
Asked how marijuana would help women cope with global warming, she said: “I’m surprised you would even ask me that. How does it help anyone deal with any other problem? It sends you into the stratosphere and makes you oblivious to the situation you’re in, duh.”
