PART TWO: Responding to crises. Read before you comment!

Regardless of whether the comments discussed in Part One are technically ecofascist or not, before posting or commenting on these “amazing” environmental flow-on effects that we may be witnessing, I plead you to consider a few things:

Firstly, we must remember that people are dying in order for these events to occur. It may not be your friend, your mother, or your grandmother, but collectively, our loved ones are in danger and our communities are in danger. The loss of human life is a tragedy, and we should still not be comparing deaths related to other causes (ie. air pollution), to COVID-19. Sadly, it seems possible that our Earth is going to suffer worse consequences in the near future, as industries and companies attempt to make up for lost time. As we have seen previously, after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, global CO2 emissions had grown by 5.9% by 2010, due to fossil fuel use and cement production (Mountford 2020).

Secondly, we must acknowledge that no meaningful or positive behavioural change has occurred to create these “positive” environmental occurrences (and this includes social, cultural, political, economic, and/ or environmental change). I am hopeful that slowly, but surely, behavioural change will occur on a global scale and the environment will benefit. Only when this occurs, however, should we celebrate.

Lastly, let us all consider that the effects of crises are experienced differently by different genders, racial groups, and social communities. In Australia, Aboriginal and/ or Torres Strait Islander peoples are three to five times more likely to die from infectious diseases as compared to non-Indigenous Australians (Bodkin- Andrews & Carlson 2016, p. 785; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2011). Within our immediate community, the effects of xenophobia have reached disturbing levels, as personal accounts from University of Queensland’s Chinese international students say they are being discriminated against. One student observed people holding their breath and facing the other way from her, and staring with anger and fear when walking by. The sad reality is that many of us do not acknowledge the privilege we have (in terms of race, gender, age, education level, able-bodied-ness and more), and we must do better to understand and alter our biases. Our individual and collective responses to this crisis should not be racially-charged, and to simultaneously quote any supposed benefits to our “Earth’s healing” come across as ecofascist.

The gendered consequences of pandemics are also quite clear. Women are already expected to bear the burden of domestic work (such as preparing meals, transporting children, and taking care of elderly family members) and these types of informal labour will significantly increase throughout this crisis (UNFPA 2020). Globally, “around 70 per cent of health and social service workers are women”, and as health systems might soon lack the capacity to adequately respond to sexual and reproductive health care services, women and girls will suffer (UNFPA 2020). Sadly, times of crisis, and the stress associated with them, can increase the risk of DV and sexual exploitation against women and children (UNFPA 2020).

Similarly, with various climate change scenarios, women are disadvantaged in a number of ways, including those mentioned above. Yet, when women are included in environmental conservation in meaningful ways (ie. not just included as numbers to fill gender quotas), both the environment and the communities can benefit. Positive changes have been documented and can include: better and more equitable sharing of resources; more fairness in decision-making circles; reduced time constraints on women and girls; more leadership, training, economic, and development opportunities for women and girls; and better forest conservation (see Acharya 2006; Agarwal 2009, 2010; Cook et al. 2019; Tiwari 2015; Westermann et al. 2005).

People want to believe in the restorative powers of nature, and in times of crisis, we seek those stories that bring us joy and reaffirm that our actions might not have caused so much damage to the planet and to each other, after all. We must also be careful, however, to avoid spreading false hope. These are strange times, but we have to collectively make an effort to seek out positive societal and environmental stories that are produced through the determination and change in behaviour of groups of people, rather than those changes caused by our current health crisis.

Hot tips for the meantime: foster a cat; re-watch Sex Education or The Office; share your toilet paper; learn how to make sourdough; call your parents; and don’t be an ecofascist!

If you would like to discuss anything mentioned here please don’t hesitate to send me a message at b.gibbs@onewomanproject.org, or connect with the wonderful OWP Team on Facebook and Instagram (‘One Woman Project’).

For more information check out my reading list!

Acharya, K. (2006) "Improving the effectiveness of collective action: Sharing experiences from community forestry". In International Research Workshop on Gender and Collective Action, Thailand CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi), Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Agarwal, B. (2009) Gender and forest conservation: The impact of women's participation in 330 community forest governance. Ecological Economics, 68, 2785-2799.

Agarwal, B. (2010a) Does women’s proportional strength affect their participation? Governing local forests in South Asia. World Development, 38, 98-112.

Agarwal, B. (2010b) The impact of women in Nepal's community forestry management. ICIMOD, Sustainable Mountain Development, 26-29.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2011) The Health and Welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People an Overview 2011. Cat. No. IHW 42. Canberra: AIHW.

Lubarda, B. (2019) Beyond Ecofascism? Far-Right Ecologism (FRE) as a Framework for Future Inquiries, Central European University, 1.

Tiwari, G. (2015) Role of Women's' in Conservation and Sustainable Natural Resource Management in Chhattisgarh. International Journal of Managerial Studies and Research, 3.

Westermann, O., Ashby, J. & Pretty, J. (2005) Gender and social capital: The importance of gender differences for the maturity and effectiveness of natural resource management groups. World Development, 33, 1783-1799.

Zimmerman, M.E. (2004) Ecofascism: An Enduring Temptation, In Michael E. Zimmerman et al. (ed.) Environmental Philosophy: From Animal Rights to Radical Ecology, 4.

From the Web:

Arré Bench. (2020) Swans Return to Venice’s Canals, China’s Skies Become Clearer: Mother Earth is Making the Most of the Coronavirus Lockdown, Arré, https://www.arre.co.in/earth/venice-canals-china-skies-mother-earth-is-making-the-most-of-the-coronavirus-lockdown/

Happy Eco News. (2020) https://happyeconews.com/

Miller McDonald, S. (2020) ‘It’s Not Ecofascism”- It’s Liberalism’, Current Affairs, https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/03/its-not-ecofascism-its-liberalism

Milner-Barry, S. (2015) The term “Mother Nature” reinforces the idea that both women and nature should be subjugated, Quartz, https://qz.com/562833/the-term-mother-nature-reinforces-the-idea-that-both-women-and-nature-should-be-subjugated/

Mountford, H. (2020) Can low-carbon investments help economies recover from coronavirus? World Economic Forum, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/coronavirus-low-carbon-investments-economies-recovery-climate-change/

Stern, A.M. (2019) White nationalists’ extreme solution to the coming environmental apocalypse, The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/white-nationalists-extreme-solution-to-the-coming-environmental-apocalypse-121532