‘Sexism and speciesism are linked — taking power from animals and women aids injustice’

How do you define ecofeminism?
This is both a theory and a practise, so you could think of it as a ‘praxis’ — this recognises the way different systems of exploitation work together to justify the oppression of the natural world, of animals, women, non-white groups and marginalised people in general. Ecofeminism as an idea helps us uncover the way certain binaries have been constructed to place one group on top and another group down below — these are ‘man-woman’, ‘culture-nature’, ‘human-animal’, ‘black-white’, ‘able-bodied-specially abled’, etc. Ecofeminism tries to deconstruct these binaries.

Its central idea is that when we recognise these notions exist as a type of value dualism, we see there are connections between the dominance of those on top and the exploitation of those at the bottom. The status quo encourages people to think those at the bottom have less value — this perception then grows within a system of thought, practice and institution building and it keeps allowing groups who hold power to continuously disempower beings they think are less valuable. Ecofeminism is a very important way of analysing how such a world operates — and it helps us imagine what might be different by breaking down these binaries.
Would you say there are links between the human treatment of animals — or speciesism — and sexism?
There is a deeply constructed link there to make animals and women ‘others’ — the idea is that the physical bodies of both these beings are ‘resources’ which can be used in different ways by those in power. Sexism and speciesism are intricately connected in this way — observe how people make a distinction between women and men and humans and animals. The value dualism there puts women below men and animals below humans. That logic, of domination and extraction, links the two behaviours together.

There are links between speciesism and other forms of discrimination as well. As long as people hold the view that animals don’t matter or nature can be endlessly extracted from as a free resource, we build up a system of thinking that puts certain groups into categories of use and expropriation. Currently, in the United States, one way that people vilify immigrants is to compare them to animals — this is also a historic occurrence which has happened to many oppressed people over time. When groups in power try to entrench their hold, such linkages become clearly visible.
You connect the destruction of nature with the domination of women in what is termed ‘racial capitalism’ — could you elaborate?
A large part of the system of racial capitalism suggests there are some particularly racialised ‘others’ who exist only to have their labour extracted without any or much fair compensation. That is a key part to understanding how racial capitalism operates, with this extractive taking of value for those in control of capital.

Importantly, in the case of animals, we extract their metabolic labour in all sorts of ways — with gender, we do this and society also extracts women’s reproductive labour.

They’re different species — so, how are feminism, non-human animals and ideas of freedom and justice connected?
The exploitation and devaluing of animals and nature is a foundational logic that then helps justify the domination of women and other groups which appear beyond the normative. These systems need to be challenged — of course, justice and freedom for non-humans will look very different in practice than for women or non-white people, etc. However, the idea is that the value of this should be recognised — the undervaluing and disempowerment which the current structure practices can be eliminated in a more just system.
We live in an era when global warming is threatening the entire world — how is ecofeminism particularly helpful now?
One of the things ecofeminism brings to light in the context of climate change is the idea that we are all inter-connected. We are all in diverse kinds of relationships with one another — and it highlights how the things one does in a certain place have implications across the globe. This is a core idea in ecofeminism while climate change also helps us understand how we can’t simply act in a certain way in one part of the world and have no bearing on another part.
Ecofeminism is thus very clear about interrelations, not just of exploitation and domination, but also the ways in which our activities are related to the rest of the planet in terms of their impacts. This is a very analytical way of looking at modes of thinking, acting and being and helping us envisage new and different routes which can promote more equal and fair relationships among all living beings.
Many people have much to gain from the status quo — what would inspire them to look at the world through an ecofeminist lens?
Part of the reason we are in the dire situation the entire planet faces now is because those who have benefitted from unjust systems are so unwilling to change these. However, I believe change can come from encouraging people to reflect on their relationships more broadly — if people feel they are in a negative relationship with someone in, say, their family, community, office, etc., they usually want to find out what is wrong with this and change that part for the better. If people want to modify an unjust equa tion, thinking like an ecofeminist helps them see how relationships — both those which are near us and those that are far away, such as the alliances we are in economically, socially or ecologically — can also be damaging. If we can see these dynamics in such a way, people can feel inspired to change them — and ecofeminism could be a tool to help replace systems that put one person or group in power and another as those exploited through that power.

Men can also be ecofeminists — this praxis is not gender-specific, Anyone who would like to analyse and change damaging systems of domination can become this. Even someone with a lot of power could become an ecofeminist, perhaps to improve their life’s relationships or simply not want to leave a ravaged planet for the young who will follow them.