Mentioning feminism can create a very negative reaction, and has caused many heated debates over the subject. Eco-Feminism looks at the connection between gender, race, socioeconomic status and environmental degradation. Eco-Feminism also examines the impacts environmental racism has on global communities and climate change. Residents living in toxic communities, have higher levels of asthma and cancer at epidemic rates. Women of low-income, color and immigrants in hazardous workplaces. Are also exposed to the same health deteriorating chemicals. When confronting injustice, Martin Luther King’s words still provide a moral compass for current activists. Sara Alcid and Devi K Lockwood, both continue King’s activism. Alcid and Lockwood bring to …show more content…
However it goes widely undiscussed that employees in these professions, are directly exposed to toxins on a daily basis. Sara Alcid, is a writer, eco-feminist and activist. Sara Alcid in her article “What is Eco-Feminism” wrote “Again, it’s not a coincidence that low-income women of color are disproportionately burdened by toxic chemicals through their jobs, and the eco-feminist lens helps illuminate this reality.” In many of these professions that have exposure to toxic chemicals, women of color and immigrants are over represented. Exposure to large amounts of chemicals causes severe health side effects such as infertility, life threatening illness and even cancer. Lower income women particularly, don’t have protection from chemicals while working. Women who work in hazardous jobs are more likely to be immigrants, and less likely to have access to health insurance. Without health insurance, employees are unable to treat an illness that arises as a result of their profession. Consequently this leads to a higher cause of death to employees of low income, who work in these chemically hazardous …show more content…
Devi K Lockwood, is a female poet, activist and writer. Lockwood would agree with Alcid’s statements about Eco-Feminism. Both authors stated they believe that environmental racism is real, harmful and an injustice. In her article “We Can’t Talk Climate Change Without Talking Environmental Racism” Lockwood writes “ Race plays a major role in the purposeful location of polluting industries in the U.S. This is a pattern that stretches deep into U.S. history, and we’re watching it play out right now with the water crisis currently raging in Flint, Michigan.” Environmental racism is a form of structural racism that purposefully harms communities of color, Flint Michigan is a devastating example. In 2014 Flint’s water supply was changed from Detroit's water system to the Flint River, this decision is made by a government official. The official ignored the fact that, the Flint River is contaminated by industrial waste, making the water undrinkable. The industrial waste was improperly disposed of into the river by G.M and Buick City. In 2014 residents had symptoms of skin rashes, hair loss, mood changes, as a result of brown tap water. In September of 2015, blood tests on children revealed high levels of lead, 900 times the EPA limit. Due to the negligent actions of goverenment and city officials, the children tested now live with irreversible brain
In Beyond Nature’s Housekeepers, Nancy Unger synthesizes a trans-historical and cultural synthesis of American women’s experience and their relationship with the environment in her 333 pg book. The language she uses in capable of being grasped by someone from any back ground. Unger text contains thoughtful connections between the exploitations of capitalism, failures of legislation, gender oppression, racism, and environmental justice. Unger's purpose is to show that these connections have been as relevant to U.S. history and how it is still affecting modern environmental relationships. Beyond Nature's Housekeepers is an extensive examination that employs
...d for the general public in order to raise social awareness in preventing polluting the world. It is important to raise social awareness on topics of this nature because it is affecting our world. It is important to consider it as every individual problem and concern rather than see it as an external issue. Saukko chose a whole new approach and technique to get into people’s mind. Usually, authors that want to point out and raise social awareness on issues of this nature, tend to be direct and straightforward about it. However, Saukko has taken it to the next level by approaching the readers in a unique way that will catch more of their attention and hopefully move their emotions on the topic.
This is why the Flint water crisis is so critical today. Because young children are being exposed to lead and they should actually be screened from the lead. The pipelines with lead in the water system and the whole community of Flint, not being able to drink water out of the facet as well as not being able to
No one really knows the long-term effects of these substances, individually or in unpredictable combination, either on human health or on the health of the ecosystems upon which we, and all life, depend. The chemicals are not the same as the ones Carson indicted in Silent Spring, yet they are produced, sold, and used on an unsuspecting public by the same interconnected complex of profit-driven companies and government authorities. Carson’s words in her “Fable for Tomorrow” still apply, as if we lived in the future that she imagined: “No witchcraft, no enemy action” had produced our “stricken world. The people had done it themselves” (Carson, 1962,
One of such being the topic of environmental racism. A sometimes muddled phrase, environmental racism refers to policies and practices that discriminate against people of color (AJ+). A phenomenon evolved from colonialism, environmental racism promotes the reality that our planet and its inhabitants are disposable to the protection of the elite. An obvious example being the constant relocation of indigenous peoples in the American continent. Growing up hearing tales of my grandmother’s life on the Rosebud Lakota tribal lands of South Dakota, I have been instilled from a young age with a deep respect and understanding for the sacred bond between a tribe and its land. This precious land constantly suffers use and abuse by government and private institutions. If one attempts to climb the Vatican or even the Salt Lake City temple, law enforcement swiftly intervenes, yet tourists and outdoorsmen explore sacred lands of the indigenous natives every day of the summer for profit. That profit, monetary gain controls the actions of those with the power to protect communities of color. The pursuit of profit snuffs the importance of protecting equality in our capitalist driven country. The prospect of gaining revenue and resources seems to justify the uprooting or infecting of populations. Just last year, despite heavy pushback from the Sioux, my ancestral nation, the Dakota Access Pipeline runs just a half mile
Shriver, Thomas, and Gary Webb. “Rethinking the Scope of Environmental Injustice: Perceptions of Health Hazards in Rural Native American Community Exposed to Carbon Black.” Rural Sociology 74.2 (2009): 270-292. EBSCO Host. Web. 12 December, 2009.
... water crisis will have a long term affect on those who are consuming this water on a daily basis. Lead attack the brain and can cause coma and possibly death. Children who survive lead poisoning are left with serious health issues such as metal defects and leave a child mentally unstable. Even at lower levels of exposure symptoms such as behavioural changes such as reduced attention span, reduced intelligence quotient (IQ). Children with smaller amount of lead exposure also showed increased anti social behaviour, it also reduces educational attainment. These side effect of high lead exposure can leave children scarred for life. The water crisis in Flint Michigan car scar children for life. This could all be resolved if they could come to an agreement and replace the water pipes, allowing for cleaner and healthier water to be accessible to citizens in Flint Michigan.
... William Keck. "Environmental Health in Public Health." Principles of public health practice. Albany: Delmar Publishers, 1997. 584-588. Print.
Racism is commonly thought of as an act that is synonymous with violence; however, one common form of racism, environmental racism, often takes place without people being aware the events are happening before detrimental activities have been put into action. In Melissa Checker’s book Polluted Promises, she relates that Reverend Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. coined the term environmental racism while stating that there is “deliberate targeting of communities of color for toxic waste disposal and the siting of polluting industries” (Checker 14). This problem is important to discuss, as many groups of people around the United States continue to be impacted by these events every day. Such people include
Among the many subjects covered in this book are the three classes of oppression: gender, race and class in addition to the ways in which they intersect. As well as the importance of the movement being all-inclusive, advocating the idea that feminism is in fact for everybody. The author also touches upon education, parenting and violence. She begins her book with her key argument, stating that feminist theory and the movement are mainly led by high class white women who disregarded the circumstances of underprivileged non-white women.
In the United States and internationally, there is a multitude of indicators that the racial environment is changing. Environmental pollution and racism are connected in more ways than one. The world is unconsciously aware of environmental intolerances, yet continues to expose the poor and minorities to physical hazards. Furthermore, sociologist continue to study “whether racial disparities are largely a function of socioeconomic disparities or whether other factors associated with race are also related to the distribution of environmental hazards” (Mohai and Saha 2007: 345). Many of these factors include economic positions, health disparities, social and political affairs, as well as racial inequalities.
In Pensacola, a superfund site abuts a play area where most of the children are black. Toxic chemicals produced throughout the world are found in extremely high levels in Inuit people’s bodies and in women’s breast milk.
A growing population of women’s activists can be attributed to the growing number of courses being offered and information available. Only a few decades ago this would not have been heard of. It is due to the increasing amount of awareness on the topic of women’s status as second class citizens that activism has increased. Through various media, we have learned of topics such as the “glass ceiling”, the working conditions of women in Third World countries, the current injustices against women being carried out in the First World, reproductive rights, as written about by Angle Davis, and other limitations imposed on women.
Mandell, Nancy (5th ed.). Feminist Issues: Race, Class, and Sexuality (87-109). Toronto: Pearson Canada, Inc. Rice, Carla. The Species of a Species.
Today, we live in a world interwoven with women’s oppression, ecological degradation, and the exploitation of workers, race, and class. In the midst of these troubles, a movement known as ecofeminism appears to be gaining recognition. In the following, I hope to illustrate this revitalization movement . I will begin by characterizing a definition of ecofeminism; I will then bring to the forefront the ethical issues that Ecofeminism is involved with, then distinguish primary ideas and criticisms.