Despite the promises of a brave new world, the climate crisis has only worsened recently. Perhaps the question is no longer whether more technology is needed to save the Earth, but whether the Earth is really something we need to “conquer.”
Wildfires have consumed forests across continents, Rivers dried upAnd Rising temperatures broke global records. The human tendency is to measure things in numbers, be it progress or disasters. Attempts have also been made to estimate sea level rise, carbon emissions and the disappearance of species. Renewable energy, carbon neutrality and international climate agreements are often discussed because these conversations are essential. Yet they often overlook the worldview that gave rise to the environmental crisis in the first place.
What if the gendering of nature as “Mother Nature” contributed to this? Because in a patriarchal world, anything perceived as feminine is often subject to extractive logic and mistreatment.
Such phenomena and human reactions to them raise the question of whether environmental damage is not only an ecological failure, but also a cultural one. What if the gendering of nature as “Mother Nature” contributed to this? Because in a patriarchal world, anything perceived as feminine is often subject to extractive logic and mistreatment.
The above question is central to ecofeminism, and the green literature that emerges from it can provide a meaningful solution.
A snapshot of ecofeminism and green literature
Ecofeminismalso called green feminism, is a concept that emerged in the 1970s through the work of French feminist Françoise d’Eaubonne, who argued that patriarchy had both undermined women’s autonomy and facilitated environmental destruction.
Ecofeminism is understood as a movement that argues that the oppression of women and the exploitation of nature arise from the same systems of hierarchy, extraction, abuse, exploitation and control that are embedded in patriarchy.
Ecofeminism is a movement that argues that the oppression of women and the exploitation of nature arise from the same systems of hierarchy, extraction, abuse, exploitation and control rooted in patriarchy that traditional forms of feminism have long fought against. Many visionary women wrote about these topics in novels and also predicted the ecological crisis and its worsening consequences in their books.
Green literature, a product of ecofeminism, is a form of writing that focuses on nature, the environment, ecological crises, and the relationship between humans and nature.
Ecofeminism and green literature represent a step towards the radicalization of the feminist movement. These concepts focus heavily on the interplay between nature and nourishment and examine how the environment and humans influence and influence each other.
‘“The Vegetarian” by Han Kang
“I wish I were a tree” is the line that begins Han Kang’s The Vegetarian.. The novel is about a woman who stops eating meat. Her decision to give up meat becomes an act of resistance and a rejection of family and social violence. Her vegetarianism shocks her family so much that her husband, along with her parents, tries to force-feed her meat.
In the book, abstaining from meat is seen as a substitute for a woman making her own decisions and defying social and familial norms.
The doctors describe her as mentally ill. The protagonist, on the other hand, imagines turning into a plant because she has always felt like she was in a vegetative state anyway. Those around her desperately try to restore their conventional femininity, consistent with the expectations and comforts of family life. In the book, abstaining from meat is seen as a substitute for a woman making her own decisions and defying social and familial norms.
Her desire to be a tree introduces us to the tragic reality that in our patriarchal world, women have virtually no control over their own bodies or their life choices. Just as a tree can be cut down for convenience, women can be subjected to similar forms of violence and control.
“The Island of Missing Trees” by Elif Shafak
In “The Island of Missing Trees” by Shafak, the fig tree is also one of the protagonists, and most of the book is written from his point of view. The fig tree has survived wars between Turks and Greeks and survived fires by being cut down and buried. Shafak imagines trees and nature as living archives that remember what people forget and want to leave behind.
Shafak imagines trees and nature as living archives that remember what people forget and want to leave behind.
Novels like these are often marketed as environmental manifestos while telling stories about something far more troubling. They ask troubling questions, such as whether the ecological catastrophe unfolding around us is closely linked to the way we have organized power.
Historically, wars and conflicts over power and colonialism have led to environmental destruction, but we often fail to recognize this as a form of collective trauma. Shafak rejects this separation. The roots of the fig tree reach down into the ground, which is depicted as an extension of his spirit. The soil absorbs and stores every event, both the good and the bad. Therefore, even after being uprooted, the fig tree remembers what people forget. Perhaps the Earth has always been watching us and documenting our actions.
Gender and nature
Thinkers such as Vandana Shiva, Val Plumwood, Maria Mies, and Carolyn Merchant have expanded and challenged ecofeminist thinking by affirming that environmental justice is intimately linked to issues of gender, caste, colonialism, and economic inequality. At the heart of this argument is a deceptively simple observation.
Patriarchy not only thrives through spectacular acts of destruction, but also sustains itself by transforming living beings into resources and goods. This makes the overlap visible: women’s work disappears into the shadows, indigenous areas become mining sites, forests become furniture, rivers become mining sites and animals become luxurious leather bags. Their value is essentially measured by their usefulness.
Nature – similar to women – is rarely perceived as a “real” structure, but rather as an inanimate object that is only valuable insofar as it is useful. “The Vegetarian” and “The Island of Missing Trees” document this tragic crisis of women and nature, not as parallels but as intersections.
A well-known phenomenon in India
Ecofeminism is often harshly criticized for drawing parallels between the oppression of women and the exploitation of nature. Many feminist scholars have even rejected this idea. However, the interface is very real and very political.
Historically, Dalit women, tribal women, women from fishing communities and women from rural agrarian communities have often experienced environmental degradation firsthand as their livelihoods depended directly on land, forests and water. A glaring example of this is the Chipko movement. The Chipko movement of the 1970s saw village women hugging trees to prevent commercial logging. The movement was a symbol of how deforestation threatens not only forests, but also food security, access to fuel and water, and community survival. The movement became an enduring symbol of grassroots environmental resistance.
Likewise, current environmental conflicts – from mining in tribal regions to battles over rivers, forests and coastal ecosystems – continue to demonstrate that environmental degradation disproportionately affects the most marginalized people. Climate justice is as much about inequality as it is about carbon.
Beyond saving nature
With their stories, Han Kang and Elif Shafak encourage us to think about whether an existence without domination is possible and whether healthy coexistence can be practiced through mutual dependence.
If we continue to tell ourselves that domination is inevitable, environmental collapse will remain inevitable.
Literature cannot change the torment inflicted on nature, but it can change the collective psyche that perceives nature as a commodity to be conquered and monetized. If we continue to tell ourselves that domination is inevitable, environmental collapse will remain inevitable.
Ecofeminism and green literature do not promise an easy solution to the climate crisis. They offer something unconventional and non-conformist: a different way of imagining power itself and then changing the paradigm. And perhaps every revolution begins there.
Ecofeminism and green literature do not promise an easy solution to the climate crisis. Instead, they offer something unconventional and non-conformist: a different way of imagining power itself and subsequently changing the paradigm. And perhaps every revolution begins there.
Apart from being a teacher, reader and storyteller, Disha also writes to quiet the voices in her head. Writing was initially an act of survival for her, but today Disha writes about truth, curiosity and life and its possible meanings.