The Environment, Bell Hooks, and Feminist Spirituality

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The Environment, Bell Hooks, and Feminist Spirituality

The Environment:

The environment is constantly being sacrificed for food production, toxic dumps, wood distribution, military testing, and other things such as these. And as usual, the root lies in profit. The corporations can’t afford to be concerned with the future well being of the earth and it’s dwellers. Also, environmental pollution can be connected to racism and classism because it is the poor communities that are used for toxic dumps and prisons, and it’s the poor people who work in the factories that require having contact with harmful chemicals and technologies, and generally the poor communities consist of people of color.

Many of the readings were interesting, but the most influential for me was “Power, Authority, and Mystery” by Starhawk. She says that the earth is a living being, and she talked about environmental issues being connected with other issues like social justice, international issues, and women’s issues. The poor are the main people who are exposed to harmful chemicals, and they “cannot afford to buy bottled water, organic vegetables or pay for medical care." No matter if we keep harmful chemicals here in the U.S. or export them to other places, we are still harming the earth which means we are harming ourselves. Women die from toxins, become unable to have children, and are expected to care for the sick.

The solutions for these problems seem simple, but would definitely take many lifetimes to enact. First and foremost, peoples definition of success and progress and wealth need to be redefined into something other than tangible items or currency. And Starhawk says, “We must restore control over land and economic resources to those who...

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...s the religion and the people who follow it truly. This is the main problem I have with religion; too many of the followers are not on the same path. However, everything must be pliant in order to keep going. If these religions weren’t resilient to changing views of people and societies, they would’ve ended many centuries ago. So, I think that feminism can be worked into these religions because they are not at complete opposite poles.

In order to make changes in the world, feminists need to journey the long road to consensus about what feminism is, and what it stands for spiritually too. We need to persist and integrate. Feminists should not give up religion just because it is patriarchal and they can’t easily find a place for themselves. We do not abandon families, or business, or all of society because it is patriarchal, and we can not abandon religion either.

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