Lady Darwin
21 May 2012 @ 1:00 AM

soapboxpixie:

So, first I think I need to explain what ecofeminism is not.

Ecofeminism is not the assumption that men abuse nature because women are close to nature.

This is my feeble attempt at explaining ecofeminism

 Ecofeminism is more of a philosophy (or at least that is how I understand it)

The principles of ecofeminism are that the same ideology used to oppress women is the same thing that we use to oppress nature.

The general ideas of “We are this, nature is other” “We are men, women are other” are lined up to create the ideology that it is okay to abuse the other or treat it as less than.

Because people are seen as superior to nature and a part from it
and men are seen as superior to women and a part from them

We’d be hoping to start to see ourselves as equal with nature, because we really are.
When we start to see ourselves as the same as nature, then we’ll stop abusing it, because not many people purposely abuse themselves. This is the ECO

Likewise, we’d be hoping to see women as equal to men, because they really are.
When we start to see women and men as the same thing, then we can rid ourselves of a lot of gendered abuse. This is the FEMINISM

And there you have it: Ecofeminism 

So when I first stumbled upon Lady Darwin I had zero idea what “ecofeminism” meant. I found this to be a pretty helpful explanation. Perhaps this is already on here somewhere, but oh well! :)

1 year ago via soapboxpixie-deactivated2013012 (originally soapboxpixie-deactivated2013012)
12 January 2012 @ 2:25 AM
"Feminists know that our separation from our bodies mirrors patriarchy’s attempt to separate human society from the natural world; as multinational corporations view the earth as an inert source of raw materials, so we are taught to view our bodies as matter that we can shape and change at will."
—

Feminism and the Politics of Appearance

and that’s ecofeminism, ta-da.

(via discosherpa)

1 year ago via discosherpa (originally discosherpa)
12 January 2012 @ 1:55 AM
In the footsteps of Gandhi: an interview with Vandana Shiva: The occupation of America (and Columbus’ arrival quite clearly was an occupation, no one can deny that) meant that the entire history of the Native Americans was rendered invisible. The land could only be occupied if it was first defined as empty. So, it was defined as a wilderness, even though it had been used by native people for millennia. Later, when the wilderness movement emerged, it emerged separate from the issue of social inequality and the economic problems of surivval. it was a preservationist ecology movement created by an occupying culture. Clearly, a wilderness movement started by Native Americans would not have had the same roots. Today, the environmental movement has become opposed to issues of justice. You can see this in the way issues are framed. It’s a permanent replay of jobs-versus-the-environment, in nature-versus-bread. These are extremely artificial dichotomies.

In the footsteps of Gandhi: an interview with Vandana Shiva:

The occupation of America (and Columbus’ arrival quite clearly was an occupation, no one can deny that) meant that the entire history of the Native Americans was rendered invisible. The land could only be occupied if it was first defined as empty. So, it was defined as a wilderness, even though it had been used by native people for millennia.

Later, when the wilderness movement emerged, it emerged separate from the issue of social inequality and the economic problems of surivval. it was a preservationist ecology movement created by an occupying culture. Clearly, a wilderness movement started by Native Americans would not have had the same roots.

Today, the environmental movement has become opposed to issues of justice. You can see this in the way issues are framed. It’s a permanent replay of jobs-versus-the-environment, in nature-versus-bread. These are extremely artificial dichotomies.

1 year ago
12 January 2012 @ 1:52 AM
"I mean all human beings—are connected with this; that the whole world is a work of art; that we are parts of the work of art. We are the words; we are the music; we are the thing itself."
—

Virginia Woolf, A Sketch of the Past

I am always looking for the embodiment of nature and literature and art and queerness in other people or works, and this quote gave me pause, as her words often do. People seem to view ecosystems and ecology as obtuse and incomprehensible except in the way that you care about the forests and the arctic and the oceans because you know that you hurt when you see mountains stripped of trees and aerial shots of oil plumes in the Gulf of Mexico, but you don’t know why, and this quote, this quote by a woman who would die decades before oil crises and climate chaos and hydrofracking, this quote tells you why.

Because we are killing ourselves.

(Source: writing.colostate.edu)

1 year ago