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?

Goose makes a good point about reducing the need to travel by working near to home. Travelling to and from work is a big part of the problem.

when I visited London a few weeks back, the transport system was mind blowingly good in comparison to what I am used to, and I rely on public transport a lot.

It really is. Tbh, I think Londoners who say otherwise are full of shit, and just trying to justify irresponsible choices.

And one of the things that drives (ha!) the irresponsible choice is the car as status symbol. Nobody wants to be honest about this but it’s so obvious.

What's wrong with cafetieres?

The taste. The coffee tastes harsher somehow than when you use filter papers. At least the paper filters can be composted (unlike most tea bags).

Where do you buy the small filters, PerkingFaintly? I usually only make one cup at a time, so the large ones are far too big (but all I've been able to find).

I do have a personal issue with never flying. People here mention takinggap years and going lots of places. I spent years holidaying in Britain as I could not afford to go abroad. I know flying is terrible environmentally, but I suspect easier to give up if you have seen lots of places already.

I think it's really easy to understand why people don't take action, it's because we will be making our immediate life harder, more expensive and less enjoyable.

It’s not more expensive! I thoroughly enjoy my life while consuming less, having a few inconvenient aspects to my life such as not owning a car, and if really really isn’t ‘hard’, it’s just forming new habits and adjusting to a lifestyle that’s different. Hard is living in a far higher climate and watching the world die, not having to cycle or do without meat.

The laziness of humans does blow my mind sometimes.

Tbh, I think Londoners who say otherwise are full of shit, and just trying to justify irresponsible choices.

Yes. I’m a Londoner and we’ve lived here 16 years without a car! No problem. We cycle, run or take public transport everywhere- including holidays! It’s really not a big hassle but then I’ve only had a car when younger for a few years so I’ve never created a life that’s reliant on owning a car.

Well Jessica hard is all relative isn't it.
Life in the UK would have to get pretty shit pretty quickly for us to be considered hard up in comparison to other countries, but yes peoples' lives are made slightly harder by making more sustainable choices, and that is enough to put most people off.

I too am frequently bemused, frustrated and disappointed by people, myself included.

Having made those changes myself, I would have to be enormously privileged and frankly very lazy, to refer to the changes as ‘hard’. I find the problem to be more a case of people have just got used to not having to do very much with their spare time, so any effort at all is considered ‘hard’.

No 2 size coffee filter available from Ethical Superstore and Morrisons, OldCrone. Haven't use the Rombouts and don't know if they're unbleached:

www.ethicalsuperstore.com/products/if-you-care/if-you-care-compostable-unbleached-coffee-filters-no-2---100-filters/

groceries.morrisons.com/webshop/product/Rombouts-Coffee-Filter-Papers-No2/431223011?

The tea and coffee disposables thing encompasses many of the issues on this thread. I prefer loose tea, but don't use it or cafetieres because I'm disabled and can no longer manage the labour of cleaning out the pot/mechanism adequately.

To clean a cafetiere I'd put it in the dishwasher – which I only run every second day in order to use less electricity and cleaning chemicals, so I'd need to buy two cafetieres and also take up two spaces in the dishwasher... And there would still be some additional labour – for me a real problem.

So I've made the conscious decision to use unbleached filter papers in the basic coffee machine I already own, thus getting the most out of its embodied energy and materials.

Can you tell I've spent a lot of time thinking about this.

And sorry for dragging the thread off track if it's about higher level issues (still haven't had time to read properly).

Have another all round...

Can you tell I've spent a lot of time thinking about this.

Yeah, actually. Love it!

Giving a lot of thought to things is definitely (part of) the way forward.

Well tea and coffee are interesting elements of this - part of this discussion is looking at consumer choices, but there's a whacking great part of this which is at other points on the production line - things like fair trade, women working to produce tea, coffee etc. in places with very different economic factors than the UK.

(And the Mormon missionary thing made me laugh as I saw two clean cut young men trapped with an elderly woman today who berated them for a good ten minutes for being so tidy and clean cut and not actually doing a job instead of pestering her while she was out with her tartan shopping trolley trying to get her bits for the day.)

This is why it gets overwhelming though - we need to consider everyday impacts from stuff like what we wipe our bums with, all the way through to how our state taxes are invested to prop up global conflict and inequality.
And I'd applaud anyone who starts to make any change in their life - in my experience once you start you can't stop because the guilt becomes overwhelming!

Yes, I agree it's overwhelming. I actually think zeroing in on feminist perspectives is helpful here - when a task is overwhelmingly huge, it's useful to find the personal hook or driver that can spur you on to make the differences that kick start change.

So personally, the things I will be really investing in are ones which I know will prioritize women and girls. It's like we can't all do everything, but using our own passions as motivations is a good kick up the arse.

I just concentrated on one thing at a time, we changed a few things immediately that were easy, and followed certain blogs and YouTube for financial help. Its like any task, you write down things as you go, focus on one thing and fix that before you move on to the next thing. I used the same approach towards my personal health/food etc I tweaked things week by week. Things I hadn’t ever thought out before, we now do as habits without thinking- like why did I take till my 40’s to know about Scrap Stock/Broth!!! Why did no one tell me!!!! It’s sooo cheap and you’re literally using something you would usually throw out. We have an instant pot, as plant eaters we go through lots of beans and soups etc so it’s a good gadget that saves time and money in the long run, so our scrap stock takes 30 minutes and is way better than store bought. I just save all our vege scraps in a container in the freezer, dump it when it’s full into the pot, add herbs and peppercorns, water and that’s it.

Speaking of women’s stuff... I can’t rave about my menstrual cup enough. I have two as I am heavier these days and change it during the day- I sterilise every time I empty it. It is so liberating, so much more comfortable and cheaper besides being way better for the planet! Think of all our sanitary care. Reusable pads are a good option too.

I don't disagree that one step at a time is the only sensibly sustainable way to do it as a family/individual.

But that's not really going to cut it when we have doomsday scenarios talking about action now and rapid extinction stuff.

I guess that's what I meant earlier about not really being sure whether it's a case of harnessing the current system or a total revolution - I change my mind daily on that one.

FloralBunting

I see what you’re saying. I mean one thing at a time, but I don’t mean one thing a year or something like that! I mean, sit at your desk, write a list and work on it. At a reasonable pace! I changed all my cleaning stuff in one shop for instance, and a couple of YouTube videos on how to use the ingredients. Nothing much other than googling the cheapest places to buy baking soda or vinegar in bulk... that was cleaning products ticked off my list. Then I also had my plan of not buying new clothes for a year, which took no time at all! Just decided it. Stuck to it. The following week I thought about something else, like replacing cling film.... and very quickly we got through our list with two of us working on it.

This is the thread for changing one thing at a time. There are some easy wins listed here!

Save the planet!!! What small steps have you taken today? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/ethical_living/3098227-Save-the-planet-What-small-steps-have-you-taken-today

the things I will be really investing in are ones which I know will prioritize women and girls. It's like we can't all do everything, but using our own passions as motivations is a good kick up the arse.

Me too. When the shit hits the fan women are first in line to get covered in it, so I want to focus on initiatives that might mitigate that effect a bit. If we can anticipate the ways that environmental break down will effect women, we can plan for those in advance. And if the People's Assembly that Xr want is ever formed, we need LOTS of feminist voices to be part of it so that women - especially poor WOC - don't get massively thrown under the bus. We need people who have already thought this through to be ready to say "hey, that idea you've just come up with will disproportionately effect women, here are some safeguards we already thought about to reduce that impact".

Thanks, Perking, and apologies to everyone else for the derail.

This is the big chance for feminism to make a difference. For the same reasons that women are left to do a lot of the work around the house, a lot of the environmental work, if you can call it that, falls to women. Partly because they are good at it, partly because they can be bothered to do it. Which is great because we've left things to men for too long and look where that got us!

But it's not just about doing more work, it can also mean doing less. Trying to live more simply. Less washing - do a couple of larger loads per week instead of many small ones, only wash when things are actually dirty rather than chucking everything in the machine by default. Try not to get caught up in "eco-marketing" - buying less is better than buying "eco". Some eco products save on shopping. Solid shampoos and soaps last longer. Reduce shopping by reducing waste. Meal planning takes a bit of effort but it can be easier to do it once a week so you don't have to think what to make every evening. Reheat leftover dinners for lunch, easier, reduces waste and no need for packaging waste. Then teach your children to do the same thing.

Also don't be afraid to try to persuade others. Of course some people will never take the environment seriously, we need some action from governments for that, but anyone who is slightly concerned about the future of the human race has a chance of being persuaded to do their bit. Take inspiration from today's ultimate eco-climate-feminist, Greta Thunberg. Look at all the people queuing up to be told off in an intelligent, specific and uncompromising way by a sixteen year old girl. This young lady is changing the world. Men have been in charge for too long. Let's just hope she's not too late.

Less washing - do a couple of larger loads per week instead of many small ones, only wash when things are actually dirty rather than chucking everything in the machine by default.

99% of MN needs this memo. The number of people here who wash their towels and sheets every day is insane!

For the same reasons that women are left to do a lot of the work around the house, a lot of the environmental work, if you can call it that, falls to women. Partly because they are good at it

It wasn’t going too badly until that last bit.

I prefer loose tea, but don't use it or cafetieres because I'm disabled and can no longer manage the labour of cleaning out the pot/mechanism adequately

Have you tried tea pots with baskets/ infusers? You just empty the infuser into the bin. You can rinse the infuser out under the tap, although I don't usually bother.

I don't think I've ever washed a teapot (except one which I forgot to empty and had mould growing in it the next time I wanted to use it)

Not using so many disposable things would be a start. No disposable cups, wipes, etc.