So What is Ecofeminism Anyway?A Crash Course

by Abbey Dobbin

Introduction to Ecofeminism

When finding our way through the complicated roads of sustainable living and feminist activism that have been paved by community grassroots organizers and climate theorists together, the intersections we come across in our journey help us to understand how different social movements are working towards the same goals and to protect the same people.

Ecofeminism is one such intersection in our path to global equality.  When eco-consciousness and feminism are layered on top of each other, it becomes crystal clear that the same groups of people walk with the target of violence on their backs because of where the climate crisis and the traditional patriarchy also intersect. Women, people of color, Indigenous communities, marginalized groups, and migrant workers face these threats, and the countless people in which these characteristics compound together are even more vulnerable. It is more crucial than ever for ecofeminists – a compound discipline in itself! – to fully understand and appreciate the gravity of the consequences of this intersection in order to show up and help out meaningfully.

“Intersectional climate feminism recognizes the extractive, violent system of patriarchy that contributes to the exploitation of our environment and natural resources for profit,” said Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson in All We Can Save.

This kind of naturally-occurring intersection of study is exactly the kind of activism that ecofeminists encourage. A less concrete and traditional way of thinking and a less linear path forward is much more natural and leaves more space for learning about the world around us and how we connect certain people to certain roles within it. The road is twisty, turny and messy, but that’s okay!

Ecofeminism was named by French feminist Françoise d’Eaubonne in the 70’s, began to see more academic space in the 90’s, and now is a major player in showing the true treatment of marginalized people today and in the past. Things shift and change as we move forward – and also backward and sideways at times – and ecofeminism has similarly adapted to the new ways in which it can help people. But let’s go back even further. Why are lesser-valued communities today so connected to our treatment of the planet, anyway?

Femininity & the Earth

We have likely all heard or used the nicknames of “Mother Nature” or “Mother Earth” when describing natural processes and/or the planet globally in conversation with one another. How did this completely accepted comparison between womanhood and the earth become so concrete? And why is it so dangerous? 

It may all come down to reproductive capacity. Nature is constantly growing, changing, and birthing new creatures; and this is precisely what women are assumed to be best at, when viewed through a patriarchal lens. Due to this massive assumption, women and displays of femininity and motherhood, as well as the larger “Mother Nature” are often acted upon – as if they are passive objects meant only to nurture to adapt rather than fight to thrive on their own accord.

In recent years, however, we have seen the forces of the natural and female alike wreak havoc that is far from quietly passive and comforting. The involvement of feminist activists in mainstream spheres has creative enormous change on issues such as inclusivity, representation, equal pay for equal work, reproductive rights, and protecting the safety of the most targeted women and other minorities today. It has been loud, proud, and absolutely not passive. 

Alongside this fight, it seems that the climate is also showing how unpleased it is with mass consumption and industrialization that not only does the targeting of women, people of colour, and migrants, but has raised the earth’s temperature by adding the emissions from fossil fuels to the atmosphere. The seemingly constant threat of a new tropical storm, hurricane, drought, flood, cold storm or heat wave on the news are perhaps reminders that when we take advantage of the people that are most vulnerable in our organization and mistreatment of the planet, we all become vulnerable.

Why Ecofeminist Activism?

When the issues of climate change and the mistreatment of human beings are so closely linked, it only makes sense that the solutions would be the same way. So why should we add an ecological focus to our feminist lenses? If these lenses are on a pair of glasses, it will help us to see how everything is connected when it comes to who has the privilege and power to survive an earth that becoming warmer and more treacherous and whose lives become much further away from comfortable and safe. By organizing our activism away from industrial practices and closer to the environment, the results will be less superficial when coming from a space of natural and mutual cooperation. 

Everyone benefits from a healthier planet, but those most endangered by our current lack of environmental protections and lack of empathy for those forced to give up natural resources and culture to a hierarchical and industrialist patriarchal culture - most often BIPOC and migrant workers - can begin to heal. When this happens, the connection between femininity and vulnerability with the planet can finally be an active and positive comparison.