TLIE ECOFEMINIST DESIRE FOR NATURE
63
birth to a child in a hospital in an industrialized capitalist society in the U.S.
The trees and plants on the hospital grounds to which she introduced her
child, represented a ‘nature’ that had been carefully crafted to convey culturally
specific understandings of what kinds of plants, grass, flowers, and View5
should represent ‘nature’ within the setting of post-industrial Los Angeles. Yet,
despite the multiple layerings of time, place, and culture that produced the
hospital and its grounds, Spretnak described her surroundings as part of a
universal and essential “there” of the Omaha Indians, to which “she, too,” once
belonged.
I mention this example not to single out Spretnak, nor to construct an
essentialist ‘straw ecofeminist’, but to point to a tendency that emerged as
ecofeminist theory was integrated with particular strands of feminist spirituality
during the late 1980s. Trying to ‘reach’ for the ecological in a well-meaning and
spiritual way, several theorists failed to sufficiently problematize categories of
‘woman’, ‘nature’, and ‘culture’. And, while the early 1990s brought eloquent
anti-essentialist critiques by theorists such as Val Plumwood and Karen Warren,
a popularized version of ecofeminist spirituality endured. Both within the
anti-feminist imaginary of those that wage what Greta Gaard refers to as
ecofeminist backlash, and within real instances of essentialist ecofeminism
outside of the academy, essentialist ecofeminism still flourishes today 35
Although the 1990s have not brought a revival of an autonomous
ecofeminist movement in the U.S., the decade has given rise to a promising
new wave of ecofeminist activism and scholarship. Ecofeminist critiques of
deep ecology, initiated in the late 1980s, raised awareness of sexism within
such organizations as Earth First! and within forest defense work, signaling
increased participation by ecofeminists within such movements. In turn,
ecofeminists such as Greta Gaard and Marti Kheel, engaged in animal rights
activism, broadened the discussion to include crucial insights into the social
and cultural contexts sui rounding issues such as vegetarianism and hunting.3^
Within feminist philosophy, ecofeminists such as Val Plumwood and Karen
Warren made significant strides in addressing and transcending problems of
essentialism within the theory. And quite recently, there have emerged
thoughtful and critical discussions of ecofeminist history by ecofeminists such
as Greta Gaard, Noel Sturgeon, and Chris Cuomo, ushering in a new era of
self-reflexivity by activists and scholars within the movement itself.37
While not all of this activity emerged directly out of ecofeminism’s
originating
tendencies,
the
contributions
of
the
women
involved
in
ecofeminism’s early years are still very much felt today. The ‘desire for nature’
within radical feminism, social ecology, environmental justice, and international
environmental politics gave rise to an ecofeminism that still expresses an
embodied and non-hierarchical approach to the desire for nature that goes