Week 4 Reflection

Week 4: Women and POC in the Environmental Movement

Week 4's readings covered the influence of female people of color in environmental activism. Often times, the voices of women, specifically women of color, are devalued and dismissed. However, women were some of the first advocates for environmental justice in the 1970s. 

Key Terms:

Situated knowledge-The concept of using cultural, social, financial context to influence what we consider "factual" or "scientific"

Silent Spring- Written by Rachel Carson in 1962 warning against the effects of DDT and pesticides, dismissed and deemed non-credible 

Love Canal-A canal project resulting in the ravaging of a neighnorhood called Love Canal in New York. Chemical waste dumping turned the neighnorhood into a toxic landfill, harming the health of nearby residents

Hysterical housewives- A name to describe mothers advocating for their children's environmental safety in the 70s, dismissed as crazy

Superfund- United States program designed to fund waste clean-up

Nancy Unger discusses Latino environmental activism. She focuses on Delores Huertas, coworker of famous Cesar Chavez, in Beyond Nature's Housekeepers. Huertas advocated against the use of pesticides on farms and defied gender norms by adopting a non-materialistic approach to her advocacy. Latina women warned about radioactive poison and hazardous workplace conditions, and were considered crazy, unstable, or dramatic

In Gender and Environmental Justice in Louisiana, Kurtz explores how gender shapes an individual's role in environmental activism specifically in Louisiana. The public sphere is viewed as "masculine", while the private sphere is considered "feminine", which shapes the roles played in any movement.

The state of Louisiana faces a set of unique environmental problems, predominantly effecting African American residents. Kurtz explains that children's safety is a very powerful variable in determining someone's action against pollution, which is part of the reason women have historically been at the forefront of the environmental movements.