What Is Eco-Feminism

Identity can be a powerful tool by which we see and judge our environment. In many cases, we often remain unaware of how our identity, chosen by us or not, influence how we intersect with our environment, as well as how deeply we analyze it. It is important not only to assess our own identity and how it may change the way we see things, but also to extend our knowledge and perception to work and groups that share our identity and perspective, as well as oppose it, or simply look through a variety of different lenses to examine their environment. Only in this way can we truly decipher who we are, how we identify with the world around us, and how this identity is affecting the way we view things. Both of the chosen works addresses significant

The focus of her piece is on women, their place in helping the environment remain a safe, healthy place to live, and the juxtaposition presented by how many impoverished, disenfranchised, often women of color is forced to live in areas wherein they are, for example, deeply and negatively impacted by waste sites and landfills (Alcid, 2013). On the surface, Alcid acknowledges the deteriorating environment, but goes on to assess who is most impacted, why they are the most impacted, and why we should address how we dispose of waste based on this. Similarly, the piece discussing minority populations living in unsanitary conditions, pollution permeating through land and water is acknowledged, but the real issue is why a disproportionate portion of the minority population live so near these hazardous areas. The deeper issue examined is why such a disproportionate portion of the minority population live near these unsafe areas; eventually the piece credits institutionalized racism, stating for all intents and purposes that it is easy to sequester the disenfranchised into areas nobody else wants to go (Environmental Racism in America: An Overview of the Environmental Justice Movement and the Role of Race in Environmental Policies,

I can see this based simply on the data gathered in the readings. For instance, it was found 39% of the populations living within a 3-mile-radius of coal plants are African American (Environmental Racism in America: An Overview of the Environmental Justice Movement and the Role of Race in Environmental Policies, 2015). They experience a myriad of health issues, typically associated with lung and respiratory health. As a disenfranchised African American it made sense to hear testimonials regarding family members who had passed from lung cancer associated with the plant. However, when one member of the community stated he had accepted his life, knew he could not change it, and was simply trying to make where he lived more inhabitable, it was difficult to understand (Environmental Racism in America: An Overview of the Environmental Justice Movement and the Role of Race in Environmental Policies, 2015). Until that moment I did not realize those communities had received a specific label and as such, hearing positivity or acceptance from them based on that label was inconceivably out of character. It was not the lens he was supposed to examine his environment through, making it difficult to accept his statement and proving society does expect certain things based on