The Environment Touches Everyone: How Women Have Impacted Overtime -- Marisella

The relationship between humans and the Earth has become strained as more of the species separate further from the natural world. The lack of natural connection has begun to transpire into a hierarchy where humans have created a superiority over the natural world. This separation is mostly universal as there is an emphasis to become civilized and engage with Western modernity. With this modernity there have been negative ramifications that have endangered the physical environment. This has resulted in methods of trying to revive the natural world meanwhile others ignore this impending doom. Though with trailblazing minority women from colonized lands have created movements to counter the ideas of modern artists and environmentalists in addition bringing to light the division between the West’s interpretation of these people and how to maintain the Earth. With the spheres of environmentalism overlapping but in some cases clashing altogether questions the longevity of all the movements and whether the displaced engage in the situation of a sick Earth.

The modern understanding of the natural world is expanding, yet these findings are rooted in unethical practices. The World Fairs of the past were once examples of the greatest showcases of science which created a path for people to care about natural life. Though while there may be a desire to understand and care for wildlife as a whole there was a disconnect with industrialization and urbanization that was still responsible for the death and destruction.

Delia Akeley and Osa Johnson, created the path to further understanding of the natural world in addition to creating a space for women in environmental studies. Unfortunately, Akeley and Johnson were often overshadowed by their husbands despite the both of them having equal partnerships in research. Though these women were able to resist aspects of the confines of womanhood that was created by Western society by creating a line of study for themselves and a way to pursue goals of their own under the guise of their husbands.

Delia Akeley, although struggling to be recognized for her research and actions, was still a pioneer in exploring for women. Her craft of several diarahams in the Field Museum although went minorly unnoticed in favor of her husband’s name, her pioneering in research allowed for greater success of women. Although there are biases and issues with Akeley’s methods, the push for modified women’s clothing and ideas about the professions for women is in part due to the work of Akeley. The balancing act of recognizing the faults of the past but seeing the overall benefits is something that researchers in the environmental field, though all fields, must understand.

Laura Horak shares on the Women Film Pioneers Project, “Osa contributed regularly to Good Housekeeping, describing the challenge of maintaining a cozy home for Martin in the African wilds and telling stories of jungle kittens and baby hippos.” Although Osa is a woman of privilege and is the result of unethical knowledge there is an issue in how she is presented in the media. During the rise of fame for the Johnsons, Osa, still living in a society that heavily emphasized on her role as a wife, carved out an idea of who and how she was going to behave. In industrialized stretches of wildlife there was still a need for Osa to demonstrate her “womanly” qualities by keeping a nice home in a pitched tent and being gentle with the adolescent wildlife. These interviews undercut her ability to be taken seriously, although it said that Martin, her husband, always saw her as an equal contributor; this was not how society perceived her. When Martin would later die, Osa had to backtrack on her remarks on women in production because she wanted to be taken seriously. This videographer had an unethical beginning yet she was a trailblazer for women in the film industry-- because what the Johnsons were creating was not documentary but entertainment films.

The work of the Akeley’s like the Johnson’s reveals the American/Euro-centric ideals that are rooted in the nationalistic and social darwinism that was believed during the early 20th century. The struggle with appreciating these discoveries is that there was suddenly access to further information that could lead to education. These travel and research campaigns encouraged false information and the dramatization of the indegenious peoples of Africa and the wildlife. The Johnsons, specifically, were known to agitate wildlife for a fierce shot. Although Akeley and Johnson were groundbreaking and notable for their own successes, the colonial ideals remain powerful in the discussion of the environment.

The disregard for the environment has transpired in a different manner which has resulted in hazardous and corrosive results on the natural world and the surrounding environment. While industrialization and technology advancements have created medical freedoms and improvements, as well as, some enhanced aspects of standards of living. Though this has come at the cost of the environment. As these discussions about how to care for the environment and the study of nature have become widespread, the choices on how to create a healthier and safer world still latch onto colonial ideals.

Akeley and Johnson are not responsible for racism, orientalism, colonization, or imperialism but their beliefs, culture, and methods of study helped create a standard of how the African environment is shaped. Robert Nixon writes in Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor which highlights the ethics of how the West and wealthier nations handle environmental problems. Nixon reveals the beliefs of the world’s elite ideas to pass off the destruction in the West to then be given to lower income and less developed nations. The current issue is the waste that comes from extensively urbanized places which has prompted America to sell their trash. This is seen as a win for both the U.S. and the underprivileged lands of Africa and Asia because America does not have trash piling up and these nations make money by storing U.S. waste. This modern imperialism allows for the continued economic inequality and this social ideology of superiority over other nations despite the disappearance of colonization.

This imperialization does not stop at trash because alarming enough there is a term such as, “jellyfish babies," which is in reference to the adverse impacts of nuclear testing. Nixon highlights, “the Marshall Islands, subjected between 1948 and 1958 to sixty-seven American atmospheric nuclear tests,” which are responsible for “[the] headless, eyeless, limbless human infants who would live for just a few hours”. The nuclear testing done in foreign nations reflects the disregard for both the environment and the people living in those nations. With power and money these corporations and Western nations are abusing lands regardless if these developing nations are being paid. This neo-colonist/neo imperialism that is being seen in this modern era is alarming especially as these developing nations take on the attitudes of the money hungry West which enhance the lack of care of the environment. These third-world nations though are not necessarily at fault but will face severe ramifications because of the double edge sword of the West relationship and idea of the natural world.

The environmental issues that reside in the United States also have negative racial undertones in the manner of how cities are planned. The urban planning of a city has revealed the biases in where ethnic/racial groups are placed and where factories are built or vice versa. With these unfair placement of lower economic classes and those of minority ethnicities/races have left these groups vulnerable and unsafe in urbanized areas. In “How Environmental Racism Is Fuelling the Coronavirus Pandemic” author Harriet Washington found, “minority ethnic populations are also more likely to live in neighborhoods where they are exposed to high levels of lead and to air pollution. Greater exposure to air pollution has long been tied to shorter life expectancy. It can exacerbate heart diseases, trigger hypertension and compromise immune systems.” In the past few decades asthma has become more common in urban areas. The factory pollution and the weaving in of highways which allow for brake dust to snow onto neighborhoods have created health issues via an unnatural setting. Due to the extreme racial bias of the past this resulted in the creation of ethnic ghettos which were forced into the worst part of urban cities.

The invasion of North America brought on by Western European powers led to the death and devastation of the natural world. John Gast’s American Progress piece conveys the American expansion that resulted in the near genocide of the indegenious peoples and buffalo. The modern American can see that climate change and the declining health of the Earth is prevalent though the methods in which to care for nature varies. The options for these Americans are marketed as solar panels, veganism, and electric cars. Environmentalism often appears exclusive and privileged however the practices of those who are indigenous land have been caring for “America” for far longer. The cultural backing of how the indigenous people operated prior to American settlement and expansion is something that I think is often forgotten in the discussion of environmentalism.

The means of caring for North American land can be found within the indegenious culture and practices. These practices of burnings and hunting were illegalized for centuries but with the severity of the climate crisis has shown that there is a dire need for change. The indigenous people ask for America to rely on them and take their advice because of their ancestral ties though some are forgotten due to American government abuse.

Delia Akeley and Osa Johnson were the first of women to begin to study the environment in a modern manner with conservation in mind. Conservation has a different meaning now because there is a genuine issue in the decline of wildlife populations which is partially in fault to the taxidermy that came from 19th century conservation.

India Logan a Māori activist and Leah Namguera an Ugandan activist have spoken on world stages calling upon the political world powers to create active change. They have called upon these powers that are responsible for the past colonization and modern imperialization that remains partially responsible for the unhealthy environments. India Logan asked in the 2021 COP26 summit for her people to be respected in their practices and for New Zealand as a whole to decolonize the choices that are made which bring harm to the Māori people. Logan revels in the successes of “ keeping fossil fuels in the ground and stopping fossil fuel expansion. We’re halting infrastructure that would increase emissions and saying no to false solutions.” The activist continues, political powers or administrations that get in the way will only be, “complicit in the death and destruction all across the globe”. Namugerwa echoed the same sentiments that the world powers must react to the environmental crisis. In her speech at the UN Climate Change Summit asked the audience, “How are you going to be remembered?”. Namugerwa questions what the world leaders are willing to do to make memorable changes that could save the world. Txai Surui an Amazon rainforest activist claims, “the Earth is speaking: she tells us we have no more time,” which reveals both the cultural tie between respecting the Earth and the reality of how our planet cannot give anymore. The Amazon rainforest is thought to be the lungs of the Earth yet Surui sadly shares that fellow activists and friends have died to protect those lands as the government and private corporations have destroyed these vital natural resources.

The future of environmentalism could go in different directions because of the vast interpretations. For those who are Indegenious in North America versus the Māori in New Zealand there are going to be different manners of stabilizing their cultures and maintaining the land. There is a necessary need for reform in the process of how people think about environmentalism.

The classism that has shaped modern environmentalism often makes people feel not included in the movement to conserve the natural world. The elitist ideas of taking on a vegan diet or making your own home cleaners are not always accessible. The thriftiness of the lower class and/or blue collar people are not seen as elegant environmentalism but their practices of saving bacon fat, not turning on the heat in the house, or using a pair of jeans till they fall apart is beneficial to the environment. Classism and the idea that environmentalism is a gated idea leads to rejection of being an environmentalist. This leads to denial of education regarding climate change and with the sudden threat of jobs concerning mining, fishing, or in factories. With this tension there is a greater divide, so political alliances, environmental understanding, and the impacts on their livelihood are compromised, despite both groups wanting stable incomes and safety for their families. With this disconnect, those willing to preserve the longevity of the natural world must take the high road, grit their teeth with a smile, possibly, then have to use alternative approaches to convey arguments to those who do not care or understand environmental concerns.

Donna Haraway argues that society has forgotten about one another. There is a lack of community at just the bases of the lack of the neighborly nod or the missing public basketball courts that allow children to play or adults to blow off steam after work. Our society, focusing on American society, there is an learned understanding that we are all humans but the idea of a united species is entirely lost. What we do in this modern society is highly self orientated. Though should society use environmentalism as a mobility to promote kinship to think about the unify team of being a human. Rebecca Solnit explains in Grounds For Hope, “ the rise of new forms of resistance, including resistance enabled by an elegant understanding of that ecology and new ways for people to communicate and organize, and new and exhilarating alliances across distance and difference.” Solnit believes there is more opportunity to promote change because society is more connected than ever. While there is not that great social unity that is required for success, the realization of how intersectional these environmental issues are can unite people. Different people of particular interests or forms of social minorities are being impacted across the board in different ways yet these problems often have an environmental aspect. The call to action is that humans need to care about the human ecology, how we impact each other.

The environmental crisis and the impacts of colonization have continually been a hot topic in the media. This conversation is ongoing and has begun to make an impact in how people perceive their nation. There have been slow changes and pledges made by nations to both make internal changes as well as help underprivileged nations. Recently in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever film, the film discusses the impacts of colonization and the desire for the West to do all they can to obtain resources. The film encapsulates how powerful Western nations are making every attempt they can to obtain vibranium even at the cost of people. The recognition that the West will do what they can at the cost of the rest of society takes a highly environmental lens that is repeated by the behaviors of these nations. Though should there be continued dialogue about the faults of the past and a realization that there is only 1 Earth then possibly there can be some unity in how people care about people.