Month: February 2020

I didn’t really grow up around true nature. I say true nature because although I would always play outside as a child I did grow up in the city. The nature I was exposed to were my grandfathers flowers and grape vines in the backyard (which was cement), any grass on the park or the small sections on the sidewalk. I wasn’t able to have a “real” backyard up until i was about eight or nine, real meaning I actually had some grass. I will say that although I didn’t have to what seems to be a luxury of having a green backyard I was exposed to potting and planting with the pots and strip of dirt on the perimeter we had around the grapevine. As a child I could not stand outdoors in the summer because I was petrified of bees. No, I had never been stung by one either, just very afraid of bees and most bugs in general besides butterflies. My parents told me one summer I refused to go outside most days, just because I was afraid of bugs/bees. However in second grade the knowledge being taught of the flowers feeding the bees and they made honey out of it was super cool to me. This may all sound like senseless information, but I’m telling you this so you can get a background of how nature has impacted me over time… which I will bring up throughout the rest of this.

 

When I first saw the Kingslover I had an interesting feeling in my chest, the photo honestly felt breathtaking. It was so beautiful, bright and just so pure. Growing up and living in the city all of my life I’ve never experienced wild nature, like that, “in the middle of nowhere” nature. It is so fascinating and beautiful what is out there to be admired. Kingsolver really makes it known that a place, is the wild, that we need to wild… even if we’re there alone. He mentioned not speaking for periods of time and just being in the presence of himself and the nature surrounding him. Then, it dawned on me. We live in an era where social media is a way of basically knowing everyone’s business if they post enough about it, and that you “need” to be social, or else you’re considered antisocial or a homebody. I personally enjoy my own company maybe a little too much, so I thought and then I read that. It made me feel as though there isn’t anything wrong with being alone and not wanting to speak sometimes. I feel like we as a generation are so caught up in having easy access to communicate with someone at any given moment. Technology, marketing and over population has really gotten in the way which leads me to discuss Williams piece.

 

“Place + people = politics” and just like that it made sense. If you go into the middle of the woods or wherever you may choose where there is not any pavement or a chained business politics only have something to do with it if they can place a building on top of it and if there’s enough people willing to spend their money on it. These days there are more people pitching the next business demolition rather than thinking of other ways to preserve land. Everyone wants their own piece of land, no one is willing to share. I would much rather see highrises and skyscrapers than a bunch of single level buildings taking up space. Williams makes it known that everyone is fighting for a piece or a right to own land or water so they can do as they please with it, not so they can help it prosper. Which leads me back to my last thought, although America is a pretty modernized country there are some areas that aren’t city like, however some Americans couldn’t care less about the amount of land or trees being taken if their favorite restaurant or place to shop or hangout is going to be built there. Unfortunately all multi billion dollar companies have almost all of the power and the money to tear down and build up wherever they may please, because unfortunately the state and city want a way to create more money and foot traffic. As I have gotten older I have become more aware of my surroundings and how sad and blah they may be, because the green is so minimal, and I just live in it.

 

Bell Hooks piece, Touching the Earth, the title instantly made me think of a method called grounding. If you do not know what grounding is, you pretty much expose your bareskin/ bare feet to nature outside (grass/dirt) in order to feel more rooted. While reading all of these pieces I’ve made the connection and the realization that nature is indeed apart of us, even if we don’t realize it which is what Hooks’ reading had transpired to me. Reading all of these pieces really got my mind going, and then I thought we really do need nature. Even if we’ve moved far away from it or don’t have that much surrounding us. Why is it that when we aren’t feeling well we instantly feel better, even if it’s just a little as soon as we step outside and get a breath of fresh air? All of the writers define place in connection to the need and rooting of nature within us. I appreciated reading all of these articles and they have opened my mind up to the bigger picture.

 

Annotations

 

Excerpt from Barabar Kingolver’s SMALL WONDER. Kingolver really set the scene with her words and with my imagination it felt like I had watched a small clip after. Her writing assisted me in writing this peace because of all of the realizations that had come about just from being in the presence of nature and really taking it all in.

 

Bell Hooks, Touching the Earth. Bell hooks had mentioned many things besides nature, but the connection between blacks and nature. Although rooted throguh slavery blacks appreciated nature and had come from natur although their times spent there weren’t always at best. Nature is needed through all times the good, bad and the ugly.

 

Terry Tempest Williams, Home Work (From “Red”). Reminded all that politics have no tie to nature at all unless they are destroying it and building on top of it, and that there is a disconnection between nature, the need for business and humans.

 

Gender and the environment

Women in the south are affected greatly by environmental degradation, in the south women are responsible for all household duties. One of those duties, being able to retrieve water for their children and family, using another water location in order to wash clothing, also another location used for bathing. Although the women face dangers in going to the water and back to their home alone that isn’t the only thing to worry about. The major issue is the quality of the water, without any way of purifying or testing it’s quality. They depend on these water sources to cook, stay hydrated and care for their family. 

 

Although Agarwal and Warren and Hobgood-Oster have their differences, they do have some commonalities. The commonality that stood out the most to me is their importance to let it be known the importance of women in relation to nature. Whether it be women within nature or the effects nature has on women and those around them. The difference is more of the generalization between referring to women as nature and nature having femanine qualities. Also with Warren and Hobgood-Oster having to live within those standards, and how binaries are so common; not only for women, but for everyone. Over time since the beginning of this life, women are meant to be producing and nurturing, caring creatures while men are meant to support and be brave. This is an issue I feel will forever be around unfortunately. Not everyone is raised with optimistic parents or even cultures for that matter and that way of living is instilled in some cultures and is very important in their way of living. I do believe that we as a society can withhold the standards of our culture without projecting them onto anyone else and being sure to have awareness of other lifestyles. It’s all about finding that happy medium and the right people to do it with, nowadays it is impossible to get a large group of people not even to agree, but just to respect the ideas and lifestyles of others! With Agarwal, the main concern is women and their families being affected by nature and the inability to provide them a safe and clean water source in order to maximize efficient health and sustainability in caretaking and living. Many countries simply lack the funds, awareness and resources in order to provide proper and safe living standards for villages, unfortunately it is not their fault. We, as other countries can help by sharing knowledge and awareness in order to carry over our ways of living in order to help other women, and families around the world.

 

As far as having to decide which perspective I find more interesting if difficult. I find both perspectives equally interesting, and I can relate to both of them. With Warren and Hobgood-Oster I can relate to the binaries, I think it would be fair to say at least any woman can agree that they have experienced nature/animal calling once in their lifetime. I do feel like that has been brought to the light and is spoken about more openly and frequently by women across the U.S. Also, the epidemic with the environment has taken a huge toll in the different ways you can choose to live, I say choose because although there are many alternatives and a way to make better choices in your day to day life, recycling, using reusable resources, being more conscious of your waste and how you dispose of it. Not everyone is willing to put in the effort and make that change, although the Earth’s wellbeing is at stake and our ability to live in a clean world, it is still not striking enough or even scary enough for some to care about. I do believe that both of these perspectives are important and should be broadcasted and discussed frequently to all audiences to bring knowledge and awareness across the globe.

 

 

Feminism. Most of us hear or see that word and automatically have flashes of images, scenarios and other things associated with the feminism movement. Mainly, a type of pro woman act. However ecofeminism is not too heavily focused on the female v.s male “issues” some of us fight for today. Ecofeminism does in my opinion, a great job in incorporating us as humans and the derives and effects we have on nature.

In the Hobgood-Oster reading there was a section that touched on binaries, which is a major ordeal for many across the globe, especially when it comes to gender and sexuality. Society, religions and groups have come up with a way to stereo type and/or create an outline for specific binaries. Looking at this in an ecofeministic manner it is best to allow those to be as they want to be, without ties to any pre-existing meaning or assumptions about it. For instance in the Warren reading it mentioned woman being referred to as animals and nature being referred as female and often sexualized. Then it hit me. The number of times I have heard a woman’s vaginal area being referred to as her “flower/petals. The number of times I have heard a woman being referred to as a cat, fox, cougar. In the Warren reading there was the term “fertile soil” and before reading the Warren introduction I had never even realized this tie. The tie between nature, animals and women, the assumption that women are sought out to be delicate, wild and pure all in the same instance. The unfairness that this is the root of how a woman “is” as we know it, the lack of freedom this causes not only to woman, but to men. The idea that a woman has to lie within this flower bedding and a man must remain on the outskirts in the dirt is crucial to how we behave as humans. Male or female choose to display ourselves to the outside world versus how we truly are behind closed doors.

I chose the photos above because although they are just photos there are many ideas, thought and assumptions that can easily be pinned to these photos. The photo of the woman ties into woman and nature, that we are nature and nature is us. Therefore all of the labels follow … of being a flower, delicate, life producing being etc. Then, for the photo of the man I found my search results to be quiet interesting. All I did was type in “man” just a three letter word the pulled up about fifteen to twenty stereotypical photos of a man. The photos consisted of a man and a woman, in the works of being intimate, the posing of the man in a stronger, more powerful position. A man outdoors, at night, by himself. A lot of bravery and strength was portrayed. In hopes not to offend anyone, I chose to not post those images, but instead talk about them so you can get the idea. The more educated I become about feminism and ecofeminism most importantly, the more I come to find out how many pre-molds society has created for us to pick out of and fit into. Also, the more that I am baffled that picking a norm has become a way of living, which causes deeper issues for society and humanity as a whole for everyone. I believe ecofeminsim can bring much awareness to anyone who is optomistic, I feel more aware of this keen predispositioned outline for humans overall.

 

Introduction

M. Haïssinsky-M. Magat – Radiolytic Yields – 1963