Let’s Be Catholic EcoFeminists!

“If you’re going to be a feminist on a hot planet, you have to be a climate feminist.”

— Katharine K. Wilkinson, a co-author of the climate anthology “All We Can Save”

The United Nations recent landmark climate report either terrified or inspired or managed to do both to all of us. Writing for the New York Times series “In Her Words”, Lauren Jackson reminded us: “The climate crisis is here, it’s humanity’s fault, and it’s a catastrophic, planet-threatening problem that will only get worse before it gets better — if it gets better.”

She followed up by quoting Katharine K. Wilkinson, who, with co-author, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, wrote the climate anthology All We Can Save: “If you’re going to be a feminist on a hot planet, you have to be a climate feminist.” I would add, “And if you are going to be a Catholic feminist working for leadership and inclusive ordination of all genders (in a cold rather than “hot”) Church, you have to be a climate feminist, too.

Katherine Wilkinson, who has a doctorate in geography and environment from Oxford University and, therefore, knows whereof she speaks, is adamant about the link between climate solutions and gender equality: The climate crisis “is a multiplier of any cracks, imbalances or injustices that are present in current society. It amplifies them.” She and the writers she anthologized agreed that climate change is not gender neutral in either its causes or its effects because it grew mainly out of patriarchy: “It is not gender-neutral in its impacts because women and girls are on the back foot, in various ways. Extreme weather events are being tied to early marriage, to sex trafficking, to domestic violence, all of these things that are already present in society that get turned up a notch or five.”

She explained further:

“The cause of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions. But to me, the question is, well, why do we have such an abundance of these emissions, and why have they been so hard to rein in? And when we start to ask those questions, we find ourselves confronting a system that has been very focused on hierarchy, control, exploitation and, frankly, decision making that has largely sat with a relatively narrow set of folks. And, certainly, women have not been at the table anywhere near equally in shaping the status quo that we find ourselves in. And the same is true for people of color. The same is true for Indigenous peoples.”

(We certainly know such a patriarchal system ourselves and know only to intimately its effects on our spiritual lives and opportunities.)

Confronting sexism and racism is, therefore, a critical part of environmental activism. To accomplish this, she says we must look at our values. “Because we’re not just trying to build a zero-emissions future, right? We’re trying to build a future also in which we can thrive together. And to me, patriarchy is fundamentally predicated on some people thriving at the expense of other people. And of course, the same is true of white supremacy. Addressing both of these things is at the heart of climate work.”

She calls for more “characteristically feminine” leadership which includes all genders. By basing our plans and actions on the premise that all people in all areas of the world must thrive, we will have to employ “collaboration, connection, compassion, creativity, all of these things that fall within this realm of the feminine, regardless of gender identity… Most of the money that’s being invested in the climate movement is going to work that is led by white men. And we want them on the team. They just can’t be the whole team.”

What follows was my favorite part of the article because it applies to us in the movement for inclusion and shared leadership in the Church, too. Lauren Jackson asked Wilkinson what steps she would suggest for all of us determined to do something to reduce climate injustice (and I would say the same injustice anywhere).

She replied:

“I often ask people: What are your superpowers, and how can those be contributed in some way to the work that needs doing on climate? Because we are so much more than our consumer choices, we are so much more even than our voting practices and civic participation. Many of us can find ways to weave climate into our professional lives. And that, for me, is when things start to get powerful.”

I never thought I had any “superpowers” but, of course, we all do. How can I discover mine and use them, combined with yours, to change the planet for the better…and the Church…and, in doing so, ourselves and the world?