A lot of these readings involve both the oppression of women and the degradation of nature, as well as violence towards women who stand up for the protection of the environment. For example, in the article on The Guardian by Sam Levin, Native American women lead the protests against the Dakota Access pipeline. However, it’s not just the protests that demonstrated these inequalities. “Native tribal leaders have also repeatedly argued that oil booms in states
like North Dakota have had dire consequences for indigenous women.” Highly-paid oil workers live in “so-called man-camps”, and has lead to more “human trafficking, assault, rape and drug crimes”, toward indigenous women. Meanwhile, native American leaders argue that law enforcement has failed at prevented and prosecuting these crimes.1 This is an example of the degradation of nature. Since we know the toll/pollution on the environment from mining/fracking along with the oppression of women who are oppressed by their skin color, class, religion, gender as a community.
Another interesting environmental feminism approach is the Green Belt movement in Africa that was founded on Earth Day in 1977. The woman who started it, Wangari Maathai brings up a good point that women in these African communities are most aware of the environmental degradation from water to food because they are taking care of their children/families. From finding new water sources to growing food. The Green Belt movement taught women how to plant/grow trees and then eventually collecting seeds themselves which helped with the soil erosion, and also provided firewood. This movement was easily accessible/applicable to women to implement and they had planted more than 20 million trees in Kenya alone. This is a deeper problem as well that stems from the government and in this case a dictatorship that controlled information (created inequality in class, education etc..).
On a Facebook post I saw from the Dartmouth Guide, they reposted a photo and caption from someone on Earth Day. They went to Round Hill Beach during low tide to see if they “could find any litter” and ”clean up the beach”. To their “surprise” it was spotless. When I saw this post I had to roll my eyes because Round Hill Beach is in a privileged area.
For context, Round Hill Beach is situated in South Dartmouth (a wealthier area of Dartmouth), and between Salter’s Point and the Round Hill Beach houses/mansion, etc..). It would be like saying ‘let’s go clean up the streets of Nonquit’, another nearby privileged community. Instead, it would have made more sense to drive 5-10 minutes to Clarks Cove in New Bedford on the border of Dartmouth, or even Fort Tabor/New Bedford Harbor where the community is less privileged because of class/wealth/status and clean up the real trash along the beach! You have to ask yourself well why is Round Hill Beach Spotless but Clarks Cove/New Bedford harbor isn’t and the difference is because Round Hill Beach is surrounded by a privileged community (wealth/class/more time). I think time is also a privilege as well. If you don’t have enough time to keep up with just everyday life then why would you consider cleaning up a dirty beach or to notice that it’s dirty in the first place?
I agree that behind the material deprivations/cultural losses of the marginalized and poor lie the deeper issues of disempowerment and/or environmental degradation, for example, an article on Vice.com shows children in Recife swimming in a garbage-filled canal picking cans to sell. Which also highlights not just the issue of environmental pollution but also poverty.
- https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/04/dakota-access-pipeline-protest-standing-rock-women-police-abuse
- https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kwpwja/the-brazilian-slum-children-who-are-literally-swimming-in-garbage-0000197-v21n1
- http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/wangari-maathai/key-speeches-and-articles/speak-truth-to-power