Feminism is not the only worthwhile "ism"

We finally found an apartment in Seattle and will be moving on Friday. Friday--as in the day after tomorrow. Yikes! I am so grateful that we were able to find a place that we like and that feels safe. We are having to downsize our amount of stuff quite a bit but I hink we'll manage. I am also feeling especially thankful for the prayer and fasting efforts of our friends and family. They all have plenty of things that they could have fasted for the past 2 fast Sundays, but they chose us. 

Now that I've relayed that update, I'll move on to something that has been bugging me as of late. I have a lot of close friends that are feminists. We aren't just talking about people that, if asked to choose between a) I am a feminist or b) I am not a feminist, would choose a. We are talking about people that, if asked to choose five descriptors for themselves, would probably list "feminist" as one of them. I love these people, obviously, that's why they're my friends. However, sometimes my particular brand of "ism"--ENVIRONMENTALISM feels a bit shoved to the side and sometimes scoffed at by these feminist friends.

I am a feminist too. In fact, my four years of study has left me surprisingly well rounded. As an environmental studies major I learned all about the inside and outside layers of our planet. I learned about the diverse ecosystems that sit upon it. I learned about weather patterns and global climate change. I learned about Earth's history and the history of the creatures that lived/live upon it. I learned how to be and how to teach other people to be stewards of the earth. All this is to be expected from someone with and ENVS degree, however what I think many people fail to realize is that the most important things I learned in school are about humankind's relationship to the earth. 

I took classes about gender and how gender issues and environment issues are related. I learned about poverty and wealth here, in Europe, in Asia, and in third world countries and how either poverty or wealth can effect one's relationship to the earth. I learned about Native Americans and their relationship to nature. I spent two years studying different religious and spiritual beliefs and how they can effect environmental beliefs. I learned about politics, sociology, and countless other topics as well. 

A common theme that was woven throughout my studies was that of inequality and oppression. The majority of humankind has oppressed all of God's other creations. We have polluted the streams, oceans, air, and soil. We have chopped down forests, mined mountains, and caused inumerable species to become extinct. God gave all of creation the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth. Our job, as humans, was to oversee the fullfillment of this commandment--not thwart it at every turn. Why do we oppress nature? We oppress nature because we view ourselves as far greater than it. We are more important and God loves us more. Wrong. All  living things, even ants and flowers, have spirits. They were made spiritually before they were created physically, and are therefore our brothers and sisters. These forms of inequality and oppression are on a very large scale--they can be found in different levels almost worldwide. 

After that longwinded speech I will now get to my point. As an environmentalist, I am aware of and sympathetic to many kinds of oppression and inequality. Many types of oppression and inequality can be tied to issues of environmental justice. For example, locations for nuclear waste storage are often chosen on Native American sites. Additionally, our great and glorious country pays third world countries to dump all of our garbage on them. And, over and over, parallels can be drawn between how women have been treated and how the earth has been treated throughout the history of Western civilzation. Why then do so many feminists care so little about the oppression of nature? They seek equality with the men of our species, but do they realize that while seeking freedom from inequality they continue to oppress God's other precious souls? Our eyes are so focused at reaching up toward what we want, when will we look down and see who we have trampled on our path?

Rant, rant, rant. That was my airing of grievances for today. Thanks for tuning in, until next time.