Anusuyabai Pandekar and her daughter-in-law, Mandabai, sit quietly next to a stone grindmill. It stands still, waiting for grain that no longer comes. Once, the mill was central to their daily life, a hub of activity. Now, the air is filled only with memory.
One of the women begins to sing, the other quickly joining in. Their song captures life’s rhythms and labor, evoking times when women would walk to the fields in heavy rain, carrying baskets of bhakri (bread):
“It is raining heavily, let the soil become wet.
Women go to the fields, carrying baskets of bhakri.”
These songs, rich with history, reflect a world where hand-grinding grains was routine. Nowadays, electric mills have replaced this practice, and the songs echo from a past that seems increasingly distant.
Climate change is often described with hard data—temperature rises, rainfall patterns, and emissions targets. While this information is critical, it falls short of capturing the true impact on everyday life. The emotional and physical toll of climate change is often felt most profoundly through labor, particularly by women whose voices are frequently left unheard in formal records.
During my research on labor in western India’s sugar industry, I found that women had their own narratives to share. They spoke of struggle—walking further for water and rationing food. Their stories were not just data; they were personal, reflecting the real effects of environmental change on their lives.
This knowledge is preserved in an incredible resource known as the Grindmill Songs Project. Established in the 1990s, this collection includes around 100,000 songs. Each one tells stories about labor, love, and environmental shifts, revealing how climate embeds itself in the fabric of life.
These songs highlight that environmental shifts are first recognized through their effects on work. For instance, in African farming communities, women sing to synchronize labor and share experiences of seasonal challenges. In Malawi, during times of drought, they lament:
“Koke kolole … pull, pull hard, pull the clouds –
why does the rain not come?
Our dead fathers, what have we done?
Forgive us … do you want us to die?
Send us rain.”
Here, the struggle for rain intertwines with deeper social issues. Environmental failure resonates within the community, connecting past and present.
Similar patterns emerge in maritime cultures. Songs from the Swahili coast carry knowledge about weather and fishing, while traditions in the Caribbean reflect the struggle against environmental vulnerability molded by plantation economies. In Colombia, women sing as they harvest peanuts, intertwining their labor with memory and tradition.
In North Sea fishing communities, workers known as “gutters” sang to maintain rhythm while gutting fish under challenging conditions. Their songs told tales of hardship, love, and separation.
These songs serve as powerful records, translating abstract environmental issues into the personal and practical. Climate change often intensifies existing inequalities; women’s labor becomes more demanding, stretching their responsibilities and resources.
Though these songs were not consciously created as environmental archives, they reveal a lived experience deeply connected to nature. As machine-led processes replace traditional labor, the spaces for these songs to be shared are shrinking, confining them to special occasions like weddings.
While scientific data is crucial for understanding climate change, the narratives captured in these songs add human depth to the statistics. They highlight shifts in labor, community links, and the essence of survival, making the impacts of climate change more relatable.
Reetika Revathy Subramanian is a Senior Research Associate at the University of East Anglia, focused on Global Development.
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