When The Climate Shifts, Women Carry the Burden

Story by : EWUBA NTUBE CARINE

Location: CAMEROON

Ewuba Ntube Carine is a Cameroonian teacher, storyteller, and mental wellness advocate, and the founder of EverBright Girl Initiative, a women-led platform dedicated to helping girls and women rest, heal, and rise through empowering storytelling, community engagement, and mental wellness advocacy.

I speak as the founder of EverBright Girl Initiative.

Climate change is not a theory to me.

It is something I have lived, seen, and felt especially as a woman in Cameroon.

I have watched seasons change in ways our mothers never warned us about. Rains that no longer come on time. Heat that drains the body before the day even begins. Food that costs more, stretches less, and brings worry into the home. And every time life becomes harder, it is women who quietly adjust skipping meals, managing emotions, holding families together.

As a teacher, I see it in classrooms.

As a woman, I feel it in my own body and mind.

As a community member, I hear it in women’s voices tired, anxious, overwhelmed, but still expected to be “strong.”

That is the part of climate change people don’t talk about enough: the mental weight it places on women.

When the environment becomes unstable, women’s minds carry the pressure. Worry about tomorrow. Fear of not having enough. The exhaustion of adapting again and again without rest, without support.

EverBright Girl Initiative was born from this reality.

I didn’t start it because I had all the answers. I started it because I saw women silently breaking while being praised for endurance. I wanted to create a space especially online where women could finally say, “I am tired,” without shame.

At EverBright Girl Initiative, we talk about rest, emotional wellbeing, and self-care because I believe this deeply:

A woman cannot pour into her family, her community, or the environment if her mind is empty.

Supporting women’s mental wellness is not separate from climate action it is part of it. A woman who is mentally supported can adapt better, make wiser decisions, teach her children resilience, and care for her surroundings with intention.