I’ve noticed that what is amusingly called the “Science & Environment” Section of the BBC website has recently been featuring short pieces about ladies who are apparently included in the “BBC 100 Women” list. The thing that they all seem to have in common is climate change. I thought I’d take a closer look.

The list can be found here and it’s clear from the start where the BBC’s sympathies lie:

Among them are attorney and former US First Lady Michelle Obama, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, Ballon d’Or-winning footballer Aitana Bonmatí, AI expert Timnit Gebru, feminist icon Gloria Steinem, Hollywood star America Ferrera and beauty mogul Huda Kattan.

So far, so BBC. But then it becomes apparent that the timing of the publication of the list, and the ladies who have made it on to it, are heavily influenced by COP28:

In a year where extreme heat, wildfires, floods and other natural disasters have been dominating headlines, the list also highlights women who have been working to help their communities tackle climate change and take action to adjust to its impacts.

The list includes 28 Climate Pioneers, named ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28.

Yes, you read that correctly – 28% of the list comprises “Climate Pioneers”. Although the names are said to be listed in no particular order, if you want to search by category, – the other four (all clearly under-weighted) categories are Culture & Education; Entertainment & Sport; Politics & Advocacy; and Science, Health & Tech – it’s Climate Pioneers that appears as the first category.

My purpose in criticising the list is in no way to criticise the people who appear on it, many of whom are admirable in many ways. Rather, I wonder why the BBC takes it upon itself to produce such a list*, why so many climate campaigners appear on it**, how the categories are selected***, how the winners are selected****, who within the BBC makes the selection*****, what criteria are adopted******, and why the list is released just before COP28*******? I cannot help concluding that this is yet another illustration of the fact that the BBC is a campaigning organisation with favoured campaigning topics, and that it is certainly not an impartial, objective, disinterested humble and trusted reporter of the news. Rather, it seeks to make the news, or at least to control the backdrop to the news, and therefore what gets reported and how it is reported.

Rather than risk seeming to malign any individual, which certainly isn’t my intention, I won’t name anyone, but will instead highlight a few features from the short notes supplied by the BBC.

There’s a well-travelled Olympic athlete, who is “now an EcoAthlete Champion, which means she is committed to using her sports platform to encourage people to talk about climate change and take action to reduce carbon emissions.”

An eighteen year old who “is part of the children’s advisory team of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, where she champions environmental rights” features in the list because she is an “educator and climate adviser”, fighting (no less) to make climate education mandatory in schools. Having attended COP27 last year, she’ll also be at COP28. Unlike a lot of “campaigners” she has organised numerous local clean-up drives. I like her for that.

There’s a Vietnamese biogas business owner:

We must live, and must live well, so I have tried to cope and protect loved ones by enhancing our health through physical exercise, eating a balanced diet, and maintaining sleep patterns. I also encourage people to live an organic lifestyle, growing their own fruits and vegetables, and advocating against using chemical pesticides on our vegetables.

There’s also an expedition guide from Colombia. I share her love of mountains and the great outdoors, and I admire her peace project, but I’m left unconvinced by the brief bio (perhaps that’s the BBC’s fault), which includes this:

Through scientific expeditions and by assembling a team of mountaineers, photographers, scientists, and artists, [she] monitors changes and develops creative ways to prevent glacier loss.

It might have been a bit more informative had we been told what those “creative ways” are, rather than concluding with this:

Glaciers have taught me to deal with grief, with absence. When you hear them you know that their loss is a damage we can’t undo, but we can still contribute and leave a mark.

Next is a Thai lady who has a project to to educate and empower thousands of stateless and landless indigenous women, girls, and young members of the LGBTQ+ community and to stop gender-based violence in the region. That is admirable, but I still can’t help feeling that she owes her place on the list to ticking so many BBC boxes:

As an ethnic minority/indigenous lesbian feminist…

she is quoted as saying:

There can’t be sustainable climate solutions without the meaningful participation and voices from indigenous communities, LGBTQIA+, women and girls.

That’s a big tick and pass at the BBC I would say.

There’s a Nigerian mental health advocate whose “recent work has focused on exploring the impacts of the climate crisis on the mental health of Africans, especially young people” and who “set up The Eco-Anxiety Africa project (TEAP) to focus on validating and safeguarding climate emotions in Africans through research, advocacy and climate-aware psychotherapy.”

This also sounds like the sort of thing of which the BBC heartily approves.

There’s an Iraqi green building entrepreneur who was studying in the US when IS took over large parts of her home country. Despite the damage they wrought, and the menace that they still potentially represent, she muses “I am often anxious about the climate crisis. I can’t help but wonder how anyone can find peace without being part of the solution to mitigate its risks.”

There’s a South Korean Kpop4Planet campaigner who is “rallying K-pop fans all around the world to confront the climate crisis.”

A US school teacher who says she was in the past vulnerable to misinformation, but admits that she was wrong (there is more joy in Heaven over the sinner who repents, I’m sure – certainly she has gained kudos with the BBC). “Her journey has led her to become the climate change ambassador with the National Center for Science Education.”

An Iranian student and social entrepreneur “founded Climate Cardinals, an international youth-led non-profit group that aims to translate climate information into every single language and make it more accessible to those who don’t speak English….They have translated one million words of climate material into more than 100 languages.”

A Kenyan environmental adviser led “an indigenous grassroots organisation in Kenya that empowered women through the planting of trees.” She is now is now the managing director for Africa and Global Partnerships at the World Resources Institute, and the chair of the Wangari Maathai Foundation, and currently serves as Africa adviser to the Bezos Earth Fund, as well as to the Clean Cooking Alliance and the European Climate Foundation.

A farmer and entrepreneur from the Phillippines “empowers farmers, dismantles destructive food systems, and champions a rural-led green economy, putting control back in the hands of those who cultivate the land. She advises international climate policy, where she amplifies rural stories and knowledge. She was recognised by the United Nations Environment Programme as a Young Champion of the Earth.”

An Indian photographer “documents the changing landscape caused by climate change. She chronicles how drastically depleting groundwater, habitat destruction and land acquisition for industry devastate biodiversity and shrink common lands, displacing millions and pushing species towards extinction.” She sounds as though she may be more in my camp than many of the others – she recognises that human activities – other than causing climate change – are at the root of many environmental and ecological problems.

A French comedian formed the Greenwashing Comedy Club – “a stand-up collective that addresses environmental issues as well as feminism, poverty, disability and LGBTQ+ rights.” Yes, that also seems to tick a lot of BBC boxes.

A story-teller from Singapore “uses social media to share ideas about climate change…She co-hosts an environmental podcast focused on South East Asia called Climate Cheesecake, which aims to break down complex climate topics into more manageable slices.”

Next is an “indigenous and disabled climate expert” from New Zealand who co-founded “a social impact agency specialising in climate justice and social change. Her practice is grounded in Māori approaches to land and ancestors, which until recently were ignored by the mainstream climate conversation” and she seeks “to highlight the effects of climate change on her communities, while advocating for greater recognition of the rights of indigenous people and people with disabilities in the climate negotiations.”

A Ugandan vet “works to save the country’s endangered mountain gorillas, whose habitat is being eroded by climate change.” How climate change – as opposed to human encroachment on their habitat – threatens them isn’t explained, and is arguably undermined by the next statement, namely that she founded an “NGO that promotes biodiversity conservation by enabling people, gorillas and other wildlife to co-exist, while improving their health and habitat.”

An Australian sustainable tourism expert is “passionate about leading the industry towards a more sustainable future.” She is “a key part of Tourism Declares, a voluntary community of 400 travel organisations, companies and professionals who have declared a climate emergency.”

A marine scientist is one of the founders of “the UK’s first seagrass restoration scheme at a meaningful scale” which “could create a blueprint to help other countries restore their underwater meadows.”

An Indonesian forest manager leads a unit “to discourage illegal logging and hunters threatening Sumatran tigers, pangolins and other at-risk wildlife.” Very admirable, but I’m guessing that it wouldn’t have been enough for her to make the list, had she not “realised a major cause of floods in her village was deforestation, which also contributes towards climate change.”

A blind US/Iranian human rights lawyer “is a fervent advocate for the inclusion of people with disabilities when addressing climate change, particularly in relation to emergency response to climate incidents….Her mission is to educate decision-makers on their obligations when it comes to the impact of climate change on people with disabilities. She also champions the immense potential of individuals with disabilities in the fight against the climate crisis.”

Included in the list is the founder of Climate Café, “a community-led space where people come together to drink, chat and act on climate change…Attendees say these are safe spaces where they can share their ideas and concerns about the climate crisis.”

A Pakistani midwife, who sounds like a brave, hard-working and thoroughly admirable person has made the list, I suspect, because she said this:

The work of midwives in communities facing climate-related disasters is vital. We are both first responders and climate activists, who make sure women can continue to receive the reproductive, pregnancy, and postpartum care they need, even when the situation around them is deteriorating.

There is a carbon impact tech expert from Finland:

She led the city’s ground-breaking personal carbon trading model – the world’s first app to allow citizens to earn credits by using environmentally friendly transportation such as cycling or public transport.

She works as climate neutral cities adviser for NetZeroCities, an organisation which helps European cities attempt to reach climate neutrality by 2030.

South Africa’s first black female freediving instructor wants to make access to the ocean more diverse. Her quote for the BBC:

Thinking about the number of young voices, rising up to create change in society gives me hope when considering the climate crisis.

There is a wildfire detection tech developer in the US:

I have witnessed first hand the potential of technology and data-driven solutions to help address the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

A green energy consultant in Tajikistan “offers energy-saving equipment, solar kitchens and pressure cookers, freeing up time for the women and supporting gender equality in the home in a climate-friendly way…[and] is training communities on how climate change specifically affects people with disabilities and finding ways to ensure these voices are heard in political discussions.”

A Chinese diarist and sustainability advocate “has acquired skills in crafting eco-friendly products – including lip balm, soap and bags – to protect local water sources and inspire others to join the environmental cause.”

A Ghanaian fishmonger, a native of “a Ghanaian village washed away by the sea, has experienced first-hand the impact of climate change. With her husband and five children, she was forced to migrate as sea levels rose, making her land uninhabitable.”

That’s the end of the Climate Pioneers list. The rest of the list nevertheless conforms to standard BBC stereotypes. For instance (each paragraph represents a different person, and could easily feature on the BBC website’s news front page, each representing as they do a BBC preoccupation):

A lawyer, poet, lesbian and feminist activist, [she] works to dismantle homogenous feminine beauty ideals that she says are “classist, sexist and racist” and further fuel gender inequality.

After enrolling in a prestigious make-up training school in Los Angeles, she built up a clientele of A-list celebrities including several royal families across the Middle East.

She is best known for spending 12 years living in a remote cave in the Himalayas, three of those in strict meditation retreat.

She is an anti-ageism, feminism and LGBTQ+ activist, promoting body positivity and reshaping how we perceive ageing bodies and the elderly.

She uses this space to challenge gender norms in the male-dominated music and nightlife industry.

Born to a Liberian mother and Lebanese father, she moved to Lebanon aged 11, where she was confronted with racism and colour-based classism. Athletics became her avenue to self-discovery and empowerment and fuelled a commitment to advocacy.

She has also turned the LGBTQ+ coming-of-age story into an Emmy award-winning television adaptation for Netflix.

[She] was born to illiterate parents in Araribóia, in the Amazon region, where she had a front-row seat to the devastation climate change can wreak on an ecosystem.

Appointed executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, [she] spent the next six years developing a plan to ensure nations agreed on a shared climate strategy.

Can you guess who that quote was about? I’m surprised I didn’t find her in the Climate Pioneers section.

If you haven’t got it yet, try the quote she supplied to the BBC:

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by grief and become paralysed by my emotions, unable to act. Other times I feel anger and get hijacked by my emotions, wanting to strike out in react mode. But in the best of days, I use my pain and anger to anchor myself into the root of my emotions, transforming them into a deep commitment to act out of strength, love and expectant joy, co-creating the better world we all want for our children and their descendants.

Here’s a quote, to end with, from someone else who appears, not in the Climate Pioneers section, but in the Politics & Advocacy section:

Climate change has made things very different for us, causing floods that destroy our crops. When the Sun is too hot and there is a drought, a large part of our food is lost, which brings us great sadness, as all the efforts put into the crops go to waste.

Clearly, not being labelled a Climate Pioneer is no bar to straddling themes, and offering up a helpful climate change quite while you’re about it.

What conclusions can we draw?

First of all, I must repeat that there are many worthy ladies in the list, who can and should be proud of their achievements and all that they do. Others, from my subjective point of view, would struggle to make a list of my top one hundred, given the astonishing (non-climate change related) work done by millions of amazing women all over the planet.

The obvious conclusion, I would suggest, is that the BBC isn’t on the same planet as most of its licence fee payers.

Notes

*The BBC doesn’t tell us why, but it does tell us this:

BBC 100 Women names 100 influential and inspiring women around the world every year. We create documentaries, features and interviews about their lives – stories that put women at the centre and are published and broadcast on all BBC platforms.

**It appears so many climate campaigners were chosen because of this year’s theme (we aren’t told how or why the theme was selected):

A pool of names was also assessed against this year’s theme – climate change and its disproportionate impact on women and girls around the world, from which a group of 28 Climate Pioneers and other environmental leaders were selected.

***The closest we get to an explanation is this:

We represented voices from across the political spectrum and from all areas of society, explored names around topics that split opinion, and nominated women who have created their own change.

****We aren’t told how the winners were chosen, this being all the BBC says:

The BBC 100 Women team drew up a shortlist based on names they gathered through research and those suggested by the BBC’s network of World Service Languages teams, as well as BBC Media Action.

The list was also measured for regional representation and due impartiality before the final names were chosen.

*****We aren’t told who, within the BBC, made the selection of the final names.

******This is as close as we get to an explanation:

We were looking for candidates who had made headlines or influenced important stories over the past 12 months, as well as those who have inspiring stories to tell, or have achieved something significant or influenced their societies in ways that wouldn’t necessarily make the news.

*******The “why” isn’t explained, but the BBC seems proud to announce:

The list includes 28 Climate Pioneers, named ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28.

The timing was obviously deliberate.