Actors Don Cheadle and Mark Ruffalo took to the pages of The Hill to pen an op-ed exclaiming that only “radically feminine leadership” can “save our planet.”
In their op-ed, the Marvel superhero movie stars, who are now calling themselves “feminists,” insist that they want to use their “positions of privilege to support and learn from women leaders as they make history.”
The actors echoed President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address point that “women than ever now serve in Congress and state houses,” but then the pair dive right into their fears over climate change.
“Climate change is among the most urgent crises our new leaders face,” they write. “From wildfires, hurricanes, and droughts to cancer and asthma, the effects of dirty energy and climate change affect us all. Unfortunately, those already vulnerable — children, the elderly and those living in poverty, are hit hardest.”
Mark Ruffalo, who often attacks President Donald Trump, and Don Cheadle, who has shown support for a campaign to boycott Breitbart, then cite a study that purports to show that women leaders help organizations perform better during and after a crisis before lapsing into praise for the “noble savage.”
“Many indigenous cultures understand this,” the actors added. “They see Mother Earth as nurturing, creative and resilient. She grows from the bottom up and propagates diversity. She is vulnerable and courageous, responsive and relational, and driven to protect the ecosystem — the all — rather than the ego of a few. This is what we mean by feminine leadership.”
Citing other studies that push female leadership, the two segue to the Paris Accord climate agreement that few nations are fulfilling even as they tout it.
“We have the Paris Accord — the world’s first comprehensive climate agreement, with 195 nation signers — because of Christiana Figueres’ fearless feminine leadership as executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Rather than taking a traditional might-makes-right approach to negotiation, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change grew the Paris Agreement slowly and respectfully, engaging constituencies in every country.”
The op-ed goes on to specify several green initiatives by women in Washington D.C. and states such as New York, only to praise the idea of a Green New Deal “advocated by a notable sisterhood of congresswomen,” which “embodies a vision and values powered from the ground up by local leaders who are creating change.”
The two men then warn, “Don’t mistake this for a diatribe against men,” before saying that they are only pushing women-only leadership to bring “all hands on deck” to solve climate change. To do so, the pair urge groups and the government to invest more in women.
“If just 10 percent of U.S. grant money — $6 billion — went to organizations embracing feminine leadership and led by women of color, you would see amazing results and quickly. We guarantee it,” they exclaim.
To slam home their proclamation that women can solve everything, the actors cap their op-ed saying:
Given access, influence, and support, women will take us a long way toward solving the world’s most wicked problems. As The Avengers movie series come to an end this spring, sheroes and heroes in communities all around us fight on. It’s time for funders to invest in the people with the power to save the real world. Climate change isn’t waiting, and neither should we.
“Sheroes.”
Read the full piece here.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.