Ripple Effect Images
Ripple Effect Images
Ripple Effect Images is a project started by Annie Griffiths, a prominent National Geographic photographer, to record the lives and stories of women around the world facing the effects of climate change. The project works to engage and inspire support from a global community.
Started in 2008, Griffiths brought together a team of world renowned, award-winning photographers and journalists “dedicated to documenting the plight of poor women and girls around the world.” The groups focuses mainly on “the devastating effects of climate change” and the ways in which it is effecting the lives of women in developing countries. The group works closely with scientists and NGOs to identify the challenges facing women and girls and and the innovative programs that are dedicated to helping them. The photographers then make trips to these regions and take stunning photos and video that they make available at no cost to their partners on their website. Organizations and policymakers are able to access and use the photos to help promote and raise funding for the empowerment of poor women and girls around the world.
The photographs are not only professional, but they are inspiring and taken with the sole purpose of increasing awareness of the plight of women in emerging countries and aim to effect change through visuals.
Mission
According to their website, “Ripple Effect’s mission is to raise awareness and funding to help empower women and girls in emerging nations around the world. The organization is currently working with NGOs, ambassadors, corporate leaders, and the State Department.”Ripple Effect “What We Do.” Retrieved 21 September 2013.
The work they do is directed at highlighting the effects of climate change and the fact that women in developing countries suffer more than men.Ripple Effects Website, “Why We do It” Retrieved 21 September 2013 As a result of this inequality, programs working to mitigate climate change by working with women have a much larger effect.
- “Most people in the Western world are unaware that women in developing countries suffer far more than men as a result of environmental changes. In drought, they must walk for hours to find water for their families. In nearly all situations, women are the ones who feed the children and the elderly, carry the young when they are forced to migrate, and nurse them when they are sick from waterborne diseases or malnutrition. Unfortunately, as critical decisions are made about designating climate change dollars, the specific needs of women are often excluded. It is a fact that the highest impact programs that mitigate climate change are those that invest in women and girls. Statistics show that when women are offered even a small opportunity, they pay it forward to their families and communities at three times the rate that men do. Climate change dollars designated for women’s programs have a significant impact on both human lives and the environment.”
Projects
Projects by Ripple Effect Images have taken place in Kenya, Jordan, Bangladesh, Peru, Nicaragua, Cambodia, and Rwanda.Ripple Effect Archive Gallery List Retrieved 21 September 2013. The organization has focused on five main issues facing women as a result of climate change: Water Availability, Food Security and Nutrition, Health Security, and Energy Security. Ripple Effect Images highlights solutions to ameliorate the challenges faced by developing countries in face of environmental threats and the programs that are doing work towards improving the lives of women.
Effects of Climate Change on Women
Ripple Effects has identified several main problems faced by women facing climate change. Natural disasters, drought, limited access to sustainable fuels, deforestation, air pollution, and flooding all impact the daily lives and quality of women living all around the world. Women bear the weight of the change. Ripple Effect Images has remarked upon this correlation and sees the opportunity to make a difference as a result of the inequality. If women are most effected by climate change, women can also make the biggest difference if they are empowered with the tools and the resources to do so.
Photographers
Almost an entirely female team, the photographers of Ripple Effect Images are the heart of the project. Using their vast experience in the field, the images they take convey a determination and optimism that the world can and will be a better place once women are empowered to make a difference.
Annie Griffiths was one of the first women photographers to work for National Geographic.Ripple Effect Images Website, “Who We Are: The Team.” Retrieved 21 Sept. 2013 Particularly focused on capturing images related to women’s issues, she has worked on six continents and has received awards from the National Press Photographers Association, the Associated Press, the National Organization of Women, and the White House News Photographers Association. Annie Griffiths’ Website. “About” Retrieved 21 September 2013
Lynsey Addario has photographed for National Geographic, Time Magazine, the Associated Press, the Boston Globe, and the Houston Chronicle. She currently covers India and South Asia for the New York Times. She has received a MacArthur Genius Award, a Pulitzer Prize, and a Young Photographer of the Year award from the International Center of Photography.
Lynn Johnson has been a photojournalist for over thirty years and in that time taken photographs for LIFE magazine, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and various foundations. She has won many awards including seven Golden Quills for Photojournalism, four World Press Photography awards, and a prestigious POY — Picture of the Year award.
Ami Vitale has traveled to over 75 countries documenting the stories of individuals. She has received recognition and awards from World Press Photos, the Photographer of the Year International award, the Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism, Lucie awards, the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Reporting, and the Magazine Photographer of the Year award.
Michael Davie works as the documentary filmmaker alongside the photographers of Ripple Effects Images. The only male on the team, he has won numerous awards for his films including two Emmys, the Overseas Press Club’s 66th Edward R. Murrow Award, a New York Film Festival Gold Medal and AFI Best Director Award. His work includes films on child soldiers in Africa, war refugees in the Balkans, the plight of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the empowering impact of music in South African prisons, and the effects of the Congo’s civil war on people and the environment.
Other contributors include author Barbara Kingsolver and Genevieve Roth.
Photo Archive
The Photo Archive is the main component of the Ripple Effect project. Partner organizations and non-profits are granted access to use the archive free of charge to use in order to promote their work. The Archive contains over 10,000 images and 17 films created in the past 5 years. Ripple Effect Website, “Our Impact” Retrieved 21 September 2013. The archive is divided into categories based on where the photos were taken.
Browse the archive and view the images here.
–[User:Sschor|Sschor]
See also
Gender and climate change Gender Equality and the Environment Rural Women and DevelopmentWikigender study: Farmers in a Changing Climate: Does Gender Matter?
Climate Change and Women