Intertwined
Women, Nature, and Climate Justice
Rebecca Kormos’s sociology text focuses on the disparate involvement of women in the climate change movement.
Women bear the global brunt of climate change, from droughts and extreme temperature fluctuations to the ravages of flooding, landslides, wildfires, and earthquakes. The exploitation of natural resources through logging, mining, and the production of palm oil, coffee, and tea also has a greater impact on women. As the search for vital elements becomes more difficult, girls and women travel farther from home and spend excessive time in at-risk environments.
Kormos notes that in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, women are often discouraged from pursuing conservation efforts and are subjected to threats of violence from local adversaries. In North American and European climate change organizations, women are sometimes relegated to administrative positions while men do fieldwork and assume higher levels of responsibility. And despite bygone fundamental reverence for the planet as a feminine entity, the book notes that men have dominated the realm of conservation and climate change, along with publication and funding resources.
Various interviews with change-making women herald recent instances of empowerment. An all-women ranger unit in Zimbabwe provides financial security while allowing women to protect against poaching. And among the National Geographic Society’s concerted efforts to further inclusivity is a childcare allotment on grant applications. Other women-helmed networks, including TreeSisters and Women4Oceans, are championed for their significant successes at reforestation and “protecting ocean ecosystems.”
A passionate sociological survey, Intertwined outlines how addressing the “feminist crisis” within the climate change movement might improve ecocultural balance and planetary well-being.
Reviewed by
Meg Nola
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
