Education is Climate Action: Investing in Girls Builds a Better Planet
This Earth Day, we’re reminded that sustainability doesn’t start with solar panels or recycling bins—it starts with access.
Access to education.
Access to safety.
Access to a future.
Research shows that empowering girls through education is one of the most powerful tools we have to combat climate change and build a more sustainable world. Yet, for millions of girls across the globe, the impacts of a warming planet are stripping away that very access—putting their education, their health, and their future at risk.
When we talk about climate action, we can’t leave girls out of the conversation. In fact, at Nurturing Minds and SEGA, we believe that girls must be at the center of it.
Why Girls Are at the Center of the Climate Crisis
According to the UN, Girls and women—particularly those living in low- and middle-income countries—are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change. In many rural communities, girls are responsible for collecting water, gathering firewood, and securing food for their families—tasks made increasingly difficult by droughts, flooding, and environmental degradation.
As natural resources disappear, it’s girls who walk farther, work longer, and are pulled out of school to help their families survive.
The risks intensify in times of disaster. The UN reports that when extreme weather disasters strike, women and children are 14 times more likely to die than men, largely due to limited access to information, mobility, decision-making, and resources. They also estimate that four out of five people displaced by climate-related disasters are women and girls, compounding their vulnerability.
The long-term effects go even deeper. Research from Project Drawdown further illustrates how climate change exacerbates gender disparities around education, early marriage, reproductive health, and economic opportunity. By 2030, climate-related disasters could push an additional 100 million people into poverty, with 200 million adolescent girls facing increased risks of school dropout and early marriage. (Patterson et al., 2020).
Yet, even as girls bear the brunt of the climate crisis, they are also among the most powerful agents of change—if given the chance.
Educating Girls: A Climate Solution Hiding in Plain Sight
According to Project Drawdown, pairing girls’ education with access to voluntary family planning could reduce nearly 69 gigatons of carbon emissions by 2050—a climate impact greater than that of onshore wind energy. This isn’t just about population statistics—it’s about agency, leadership, and equity.
Educated girls are more likely to delay marriage, have healthier families, pursue meaningful work, and invest back into their communities. They are also more likely to adapt to environmental stress, protect local ecosystems, and step into leadership roles that shape more sustainable futures.
This is happening right now—at SEGA.
From Seeds to Solutions: SEGA’s Three Pillars of Climate Leadership
At the SEGA Girls’ School in Tanzania, sustainability is more than a subject. It’s a way of life. Through its powerful three-pillar framework of Living, Learning, and Leading Sustainably—SEGA is nurturing a generation of girls who are not only climate-conscious, but climate-confident as they help reduce the devastating effects of climate change.
Living Sustainably
On SEGA’s solar-powered campus, sustainability isn’t just taught—it’s lived. Students grow 42% of the school’s produce in on-site organic gardens, recycle food waste into compost, and use captured rainwater and graywater to meet much of the campus’s water needs. Conservation clubs like the Anti-Elephant Ivory Club connect girls to global issues through hands-on action. While the Carbon offset program in partnership with Carbon Tanzania, requires SEGA visitors to purchase carbon offset credits to reduce their carbon footprint on the planet.
According to the United Nations, If women had the same access to productive resources as men, farm yields could rise by 20–30%, feeding an additional 100 to 150 million people. SEGA is helping close that gap—equipping girls with the agricultural knowledge, practical tools, and leadership skills to nourish themselves, uplift their communities, and help heal the planet.
Learning Sustainably
SEGA’s curriculum integrates climate literacy and environmental awareness across science, leadership, and life skills courses. Through programs like STEM Adventures at SEGA, girls learn to solve real-world challenges with scientific thinking, creativity, and innovation. They explore topics like soil health, water conservation, and renewable energy—preparing for careers in Tanzania’s emerging green economy.
Paired with its Life Skills Program, SEGA also empowers students to make informed choices about family planning—key not only to their health and agency, but to long-term climate mitigation.
Leading Sustainably
SEGA believes that climate knowledge must lead to climate action. That’s why the third pillar—Leading Sustainably—focuses on developing the voice, confidence, and leadership skills SEGA girls need to become agents of change.
Through public speaking, mentorship, and community outreach, students learn how to share what they know and influence others. They’re not just being taught to care about the planet—they’re learning how to mobilize others to protect it.
SEGA isn’t just educating girls. It’s growing climate leaders.
This Earth Day, we’re reminded that the solutions we need already exist.
They live in the seeds SEGA girls plant.
In the ideas they bring to the classroom.
In the voices they raise for change.
And in the futures they are building—one harvest, one project, one leadership moment at a time.