Climate Chaos: Ecofeminism and the Land Question

Literary Nonfiction. Women's Studies. Environmental Studies. Today's social and ecological crises, which threaten the preservation of life on our planet, require our attention to understand the dynamics of patriarchy and capitalism, as well as to unmask "answers" or false solutions that obscure, perpetuate, and even worsen the current situation. Ecofeminists have critically examined several of the underlying assumptions of the capitalist-patriarchal conceptual framework, such as the promotion of the destructive transformation of nature, hierarchical thinking, the encouragement of dualism, the enforcement of the logic of domination over life, even the hatred for life itself, and speciecism. Yet ecofeminism's attempts to call attention to and stop the destruction of the planet have not yet been able to tackle the growing problem of climate change, which is threatening not only life on earth, but the earth and all her "living systems." Climate change and extreme weather are exacerbating existing social inequalities and political conflicts globally. Climate justice is the starting point from which we can begin to build the kind of local and international solidarity that is needed to address climate change and transform the socio-economic hierarchies that caused it. This volume re-examines existing analyses from this new and much broader point of view in theory and practise, and points to the need for a new concept of nature and the earth as a living being, a cosmic being, so that it is the life of the earth herself that today must be protected.