ABSTRACT

Ecofeminism emerged in the 1970s with an increasing consciousness of the connections between women and nature. In 1995, the "Ecofeminist Perspectives" conference was held at Ohio State University and later that year, Irene Diamond and Carolyn Merchant organized an "Ecofeminist Encampment" at Mountain Grove, Oregon. For liberal ecofeminists, environmental problems result from the overly rapid development of natural resources and the failure to regulate environmental pollutants. For radical feminists, human nature is grounded in human biology. Radical feminists object to the dominant society's perception that women are limited by being closer to nature because of their ability to bear children. Like Marxist feminists, socialist feminists see non-human nature as the material basis of human life, supplying the necessities of food, clothing, shelter, and energy. Although the ultimate goals of liberal, radical, social, and socialist feminists may differ as to whether capitalism, women's culture, or socialism should be the ultimate objective of political action, shorter-term objectives overlap.