Feminism and Climate Change

[ByGrabtharsHammarWhatASaving]

I've been thinking a lot about climate change recently with all the Xr protests going on. Call me naive but I really didn't realise things were that bad. I mean, I knew they were bad, but I thought we were on track to fix it. I thought we had time to fanny around with recycling and reusable coffee cups. Reading the Xr website and seeing the phrase "mass extinction event" used over and over really got to me. I thought things were going in the right direction, but it turns out we're at ground zero. My own fault for having my head in the sand and not looking deeper into it. Anyway, I was thinking about the ways this all intersects with feminism:

1. Reproductive rights . Clearly over population is a big problem here. On the one hand, increasing access to abortion, contraception, and sex education helps with this. But any attempts to limit population growth in a more active way, such as through legislation, will necessarily infringe on women's rights. China's "single child" policy is an obvious example of this, with it's double effect of not only controlling women's reproduction but also increasing sex selective abortions/ the murder of female infants.

1. Consumerism . Rightly or wrongly, when it comes to things like food shopping, gift buying, and fashion, women have a lot more consumer power than man. Obviously this ties into patriarchal expectations such as women being "just better" at gift buying, women doing the food shop because they're SAHPs, and pressure on women to wear the last fashion which lead to the rise of cheap "fast fashion" like Primark. Under patriarchy we earn less of the money, but in many ways have a lot more say in how it's spent.

1. Unpaid labour . A lot of the stuff we're encouraged to do at an individual level to halt CC comes down to an increase in unpaid labour. Off the top of my head this includes sorting and cleaning things to be recycled, washing reusable nappies, researching and buying eco friendly products, and taking longer over cleaning jobs from using less effective but greener cleaning products. This increase in labour disproportionately affects women.

1. Politics . The main green political party in this country has aligned itself against women and alienated thousands of it's female voters. Women are being excluded from women only short lists. The ability of girls to participate fully in education is being reduced. We are seeing first hand how poorly female activists are treated by the police. In short, climate change activism and feminism have a large cross over, and in many ways a lot of the power for change is in female hands, but women are being excluded at a political and social level, and being discouraged from activism. We need more power but even the small amount we have is being taken from us.

So, those were my thoughts so far. How do we re-engage women in green politics? How do we make the changes that we need to make as a society when many of those changes will disproportionately disadvantage women? How do we balance our fight for women's rights with our desire to not go extinct?

At this point, we need to be looking at consuming a lot less. The packaging problem is then a smaller problem to fix.

hipsterfun Like I said, I knew things were bad but thought we were on track to fix it. I recycle, I use cloth nappies, I buy locally, I don't drive - I thought that was enough and that I was doing my bit. I thought the timeline from here to extinction was long enough that those kinds of things were enough. Part of that was "head in the sand because lifestyle" but part of it was also cognitive dissonance created by reading "scary headline x" and then observing the world continue completely as normal. I mean, there's a reason Xr are demanding governments tell the truth about how bad it is. For most people it's just another headline, often buried underneath the Brexit latest or just generally blending into all the other terrible stuff that's happening globally. This stuff should be front page news every single day/ global panic/ rioting in the street level information. But it isn't. Most people just go "wow, that's shit", resolve to recycle more, and then assume the powers that be are "on it". It's hard to properly internalise a problem like that when nothing around you actually reflects it in a daily way. I guess you could call it "disaster fatigue", a kind of desensitisation to shocking news, in the same way as harrowing news stories about children dying in refugee camps make people go "that's awful! What's for dinner?" I don't know, that's the best way I can explain it.

I mean, look at the CC boards on here - crickets! I really think that most people think "if it was really that bad every one in government would be running around making "day after tomorrow" style emergency broadcasts rather than fucking around with Brexit and the like". I'm not saying that global panic would be helpful, but I think the lack of global panic is definitely contributing to a lack of urgency at an individual level.

I'm afraid I'm depressed about the situation. The mass extinction is well underway. The whole economic system is predicated on growth and GDP. Cutting consumption would wreck it. What about jobs. AI and robots are on target to decimate jobs. Without a complete rethink on economics we're stuffed. It wouldn't surprise me if sex work is going to be the only work.
George Monbiot said the other day the only 2 useful things an individual could do was stop eating meat, and give up flying. I haven't flown in 20 years and have been vegetarian for about 40.
If we can't even get Brexit sorted this is beyond us. We should be bringing together scientists etc as we did in the war.
'Men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives' Abba Eban
Sorry I've depressed myself, am going to bed.

I mean, look at the CC boards on here - crickets!

MN wouldn’t be my go-to place for dark green thought tbf, and self-congratulatory hemp shopping bag/recycling chat wouldn’t do it for me.

I don’t know what to say, really. We’ve had a good thirty years to get a grip on this, even on the basis of the precautionary principle, but pissed it away.

Slow handclap for humankind

I'm pinning my hopes on the next generation. Its much more real to them definitely Day After Tomorrow stuff.
There are loads of people doing stuff, small or big, in their own localities. It's growing.

It's depressing though. I mean it's having a real impact on MH, anecdotally.

But there is still a lot to cherish in this world and life wants to live.

I'm rambling. But we need positivity. Well, I do.

I'm pinning my hopes on the next generation.

Which one?! I’m afraid I see wall-to-wall fully trained consumers who have internalised personal brand as a way of being in the world and question nothing until someone else tells them to.

Great thread and really good thinking OP.

The importance of women in sustainability and conservation has been acknowledged for a long time. It’s why the Jane Goodall foundation emphasises the education of girls.
www.iucn.org/content/women’s-rights-make-difference-environment-and-sustainability

news.janegoodall.org/2017/03/31/believe-in-girls-by-investing-in-girls/

I think so little has been done to mitigate climate change is an expression of rich, male privilege, (and narcissism).

The owners and CEOs of the most damaging corporations are mostly male. The majority of governments are middle-aged men.

They know in 30 or so years they’ll be dead and what they do to the planet won’t impact them, so they’re asset-stripping the planet. Their children will be rich and will probably survive, but I suspect they don’t really care.

They’d rather burn the world behind them, than give up what they have.

There is so much we do, even now, if we could wrench power out of the hands of wealthy men. But I am deeply pessimistic about our chances.

I kinda feel the party is over, and now the women have to step in, be the naggy bitches, and clean up.

But realistically women are not going to clean it up are they? I mean it is women using disposable wipes, disposable cleaning wipes and buying lots of cheap fashion. I don't see women doing better than men on this area.
We are currently going through a mass extinction. It is already happening. And countries that are low level are already being majorly affected by rising sea levels.
People are consuming more and more in the west. I am not that old and have seen an increase in the amount of stuff people consume.

We practice some aspects of frugal living and it is far more eco friendly, and obviously not very middle class at all! You don’t need to spend a lot of money on products whatsoever, that’s an area as you say women have a lot of say on and we can make a huge difference just by buying less and better. I didn’t buy any new clothes for 12 months, last year, as a kick start to much more intentional shopping. So far this year I have bought underwear only. In terms of cleaning it’s really simple stuff: bulk buy vinegar, baking soda, liquid soap, citric acid, tea tree essential oil... to make up a kit that cleans our entire house and costs just pennies. We are fortunate enough to have outside space, although before we did we had lots of pots and our name down for an allotment, so we also grow a lot of our own food and used places like More Veg & Wilko for cheap seeds from 50p ( then save your next lot ). My friends neighbour in their council estate does the same and is actually having trouble getting others to take the mountains of vegetables she’s growing near the entrances to their buildings.

My husband is active in our frugal eco friendly life, he cleans, cooks and gardens, we watch loads of YouTube videos together on how to tweak our lives even more and as we can’t afford a standard house of our own are looking at cob building now. We are also plant based.

I think there is an industry around eco friendly living that is for sure only for middle class, but it’s not essential to buy all those things or spend loads of money in order to be a conscious consumer who shops intentionally and thoughtfully, who consumes less. It’s just an industry trying to make money off this issue. Do we have less options? Yes. I don’t see that as a feminist issue though. The planet is for everyone and if women do spend more on more ‘stuff’, we shouldn’t think of that as a right we are then being denied. Women need to think about consuming less probably more than men do.

Corporations have the power they do because of the stuff consumers spend their money on. The power is actually with all of us, spend your money differently and you’ll deprive them of power. Climate change isn’t something created by men, we all contributed to this. Women need to take responsibility for their part too.

As an ex SGP member I'm struggling to find a female friendly party focussed on the environment. I agree we need to focus on buying less stuff and repairing stuff. This goes against consumerism though. We also need to take up less space with housing commute less and get the population down. Our love of holidays, holiday houses and frequent stays in Air b n b is also bad for the environment. Working out how to protect the planet whilst remaining a prosperous country is hard.

Morning.

I don't think this is about men or women being 'worse' in terms of responsibility for the state of the planet - this is a discussion about the impact on women of the measures to counteract that damage.

I accept that everyone can engage and should, but I am interested in examining how that engagement could negatively affect the rights and protections of women in significant ways - I think the China example was a good one, because you had a legislative restriction on fertility which has led to some awful human rights abuses for pregnant women, plus the targeting of females for abortion and even just the basic totalitarian aspect of control.

I get the clamour for action, genuinely. But we need to be mindful that history shows us governments are lazy and ineffective until pressured into knee jerk action, and those knee jerk acts in a male-biased society are rarely good for women.

I don’t think there’s any chance a similar policy to China’s would be implemented widely. I also don’t think it’s necessary- I also thought we were in population decline now? Not that we aren’t still over populated. There’s so many ways to affect change without even looking at population control. Just look at the biggest contributors and start there. Animal agriculture has a massive impact that is not essential to life, so does the building industry. Incentives to eat more plants and build more out of sustainable resources would have a far more positive impact and neither takes away anyone’s basic rights.

I have been put off both the Green Party by the way it apparently despises women and girls, and the environmental movement in general for being anti-capitalist (not anti-consumerist, specifically hard left, planned economy etc). I prefer going extinct to either of those ideologies getting into power.

I think there are some very valid points here, though, and I do try to make changes in my own life and persuade others to live sustainably.

I have noticed that I do all the eco-brick making, hoofing glass to the recycling station etc. It’s definitely a feminist issue.

I'm not suggesting governments in the West are going to implement a one child policy - I'm using it as an example of action to resolve an issue that affected the environment (overpopulation in that case) that has disproportionately affected women negatively.

And yes, incentives to do the helpful things would be great - is it likely that the government is going to start shelling out out incentives when punitive measures are so much easier?

Some zero waste products are expensive and or labour intensive. Many are not.

Using vinegar and bicarb to clean is actually very cheap and not hard work. A bar of soap costs a fraction of shower gel, and does a better more environmentally efficient job.
Buying cheap local food rather than expensive imported fruit. Buying clothes in charity shops.

The easiest, cheapest difference you can make is just to have less. Stop buying stuff. We have been sold a package of must haves which we managed without perfectly well a generation ago.

Kids toys for example. It's madness.

it is women using disposable wipes, disposable cleaning wipes and buying lots of cheap fashion. I don't see women doing better than men on this area.

This is what I mean about a lot of the potential for change being in the hands of women, especially mothers, and exactly why I think this issue needs to be discussed on places like MN rather than specifically green forums.

I don’t see that as a feminist issue though. The planet is for everyone and if women do spend more on more ‘stuff’, we shouldn’t think of that as a right we are then being denied.

I don't think it's a feminist issue around denying women the right to buy more "stuff" (which I agree isn't a right), more a feminist issue in terms of galvanising women on mass to make different purchasing choices. The fact that these purchasing choices are largely driven by patriarchal values (such as the pressure for women to always look coiffed and in the latest fashion) and that making different purchasing choices will depend on women rejecting these values, is what makes it a feminist issue to me.

Climate change isn’t something created by men, we all contributed to this. Women need to take responsibility for their part too.

I agree. But we can't ignore the fact that women doing their bit to change is going to often involve an increase in personal labour, such as struggling around on public transport with kids rather than taking the car, mending clothes, or washing cloth nappies. That's not to say women shouldn't do it, but the brunt of the "clean up" effort will probably be felt by women (as it always has) and if green strategies aren't mindful of this we'll see a conflict between ecoactivism and feminism emerge, which harms everybody

I don't think this is about men or women being 'worse' in terms of responsibility for the state of the planet - this is a discussion about the impact on women of the measures to counteract that damage.

Thanks Floral that was my point exactly. I'm not trying to place blame anywhere, more just have a conversation around the changes that women can make and the way those changes either align or conflict with feminism.

If everyone made the easy changes- bars of soap, eating much less meat- it would make a huge difference.

Reducing mileage and holidays- fly every other year rather than several times a year (looking at you DSis). Huge impact. Huge.

The easiest, cheapest difference you can make is just to have less. Stop buying stuff. We have been sold a package of must haves which we managed without perfectly well a generation ago.

Absolutely this.

The thing I get irritated by is people waiting for government or powerful companies to ‘do something’. They’re not going to, or when they do it’ll be too little too late. Our consumption is the issue and every single one of us could absolutely make changes, simple cheap changes, that could alter that. Right now. Every time you eat, every time you spend money- or not.

Also if you haven’t discovered freecycle.org yet, it’s amazing. I haven’t bought a household item in so long!

You know what I think has affected things - community breakdown and splintering. A lot of the eco friendly cleaning measures are things which would have been passed down naturally in communities decades ago. Places online like MN are beginning to be effective substitutes for that.

And and and... some green things make life so much easier! Do the washing less often, don't iron. It doesn't need to be washed every time it's worn (although clothes worn on public transport sometimes do). Stop scrubbing ourselves and outer environment several times a day with chemicals. It really isn't necessary!

I'm a lazy housewife, washable nappies were a doddle. (I did have drying space, though)

But we can't ignore the fact that women doing their bit to change is going to often involve an increase in personal labour, such as struggling around on public transport with kids rather than taking the car, mending clothes, or washing cloth nappies. That's not to say women shouldn't do it, but the brunt of the "clean up" effort will probably be felt by women

It’s two issues I guess then. I don’t personally accept doing more chores, my husband and I share them equally so the perceived problems such as this, aren’t mine alone. My husband mended our jeans in the weekend! The issue of women doing more of the unpaid work, is obviously valid and well discussed here. Whether greener choices increases this type of work, is what I’m thinking your main issue is. I did struggle a bit in public transport, but it was always that way for me as we never had a car, many on low income don’t and have to use public transport so I guess that particular issue affects middle class women more. In terms of not buying more stuff, which I see as a major contributor and an easy remedy, I don’t think that contributes to the workload, ditto buying and using basic cheap alternatives for cleaning.
Other than using public transport, I can’t see any change that’s a huge ask or an increase workload for women specifically. I’ll read through the thread again, I’m keen to offer solutions or show that it doesn’t have to be a big burden for women.