Earthcare: Women and the Environment

Earthcare, Women and the Environment by Carolyn Merchant With the autogenous authority of his sacred texts and the acculturated inclination of his glands, lofty super-natural man has associated Nature and Women: She is an object of the phallic plow, the gun and the fist, the saw and the male gaze. He has bullied and bulldozed Her mountains tops, explored and mined Her secret places, enjoyed Her moist and fertile bounty and, sometimes, protected Her from others who have queued-up to do the same. Carolyn Merchant, Professor of Environmental History, Philosophy and Ethics at the University of California (Berkeley) has long been "deeply engaged with issues concerning the relationship between women and nature" and with "women's labor in the earth and the subsequent efforts to save it from destruction." The book is dedicated to these women. Professor Merchant shows the reader the field of "ecofeminist" movements and effects in 19th and 20th century America, Australia, and Sweden "that deal with the twin oppressions of the domination of woman and nature" as well as promising her own "partnership ethic" approach. She says that while women can do a lot in "mainstream governmental and environmental organizations, such as the Sierra Club, "most do not consider themselves feminists" But mainstream not only generally excludes feminism, it includes capitalism as a given, and "its logic precludes sustainability." Even so, "although . . . rendered all but invisible by conservation historians, women transformed the crusade from an elite male enterprise into a widely based movement," and there were individual achievements as well: Mrs. Lovell White saved the Calaveras Grove of Sequoia gigantea and Seventy years after Ellen Swallow founded the science of ecology, although it was soon squeezed into `home economics', Rachel Carson made the question of the care of the earth a public issue with Silent Spring. Of course there is resistance to an environmentalist/feminist coalition from both sides. The Australians Valerie Brown and Margaret Switzer even "state that the interaction between women and men . . . diverges sufficiently to . . . suggest that, to an ecologist observing the human species, they would represent different habitats, and different uses of the some environmental niche." But men's cooperation is needed "if we are to save the planet." To do this we need a new story. "Ideology is a story told by people in power . . .so . . . by rewriting the story we can challenge the structures of power." This story could hardly do better than to include that of Carolyn Merchant: "My vision entails a partnership ethic between humans (whether male or female), and between humans and non-human nature . . . with other living and non-living things. . . . The new story can be rewritten only through action." I urge you to buy and read this book. As the Pooka said to the recalcitrant Ballor's Son, in Ella Young's magical The Unicorn with the Silver Shoes,

If you are looking for a book that shows the intricate details of nature and the relationship between women and the earth, Earthcare is an excellent choice to buy. You won't be disappointed and you will finish the book with a feeling of enlightenment and joy.