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Because Hampshire hosts the ‘From Abortion Rights to Social Justice’ conference I went to a couple of the workshops this weekend. ONe of the ones I went to was called Environmental Activism which ‘addresses the environmental justice issues, including how poor communities of color are disproportionately impacted by pollution and toxic wastes, and how people are organizing to fight back to create cleaner and healthier environments.’

The talk consisted of a panel of three different women talking about their various experiences with environmental justice issues and particular groups they had worked with around this. One Hampshire Alum from Alaska talked about the reproductive implications of the pollutants left on abandoned military bases in Alaska, and how they were causing cancer and miscarriages among the people in those areas. We talked about reproductive rights being about a lot more than just the right to birth control or abortion- it includes the right to fertility, to having a safe and healthy world to bring children into, and the sort of community there is for a child to grow up in.

What ws interesting about the Alaskan example was that the speaker pointed out that a lot of environmental activism that takes place in terms of Alaska has to do with the idea of preserving the wilderness. However such a campaign fails to address the very intense environmental struggles of people (largely indigenous and poor) who live in toxic places. Greenpeace was mentioned as a group that used animals in its campaigns while ignoring the issues of Alaskan people. It did seem that Greenpeace was unintentionally failing to work with the people of Alaska on their environmental problems. The speaker mentioned that some groups do not work together because they see themselves as strictly environmental, versus other groups that deal more with social justice issues (which certainly includes environmental). Speciesism is about drawing connections between movements in some ways- that seem like they would help strengthen protection for the people and land in Alaska, together.

While the topic was not directly addressed it became clear that speciesism was integral to environmental issues in Alaska. THe traditional hunting/fishing practices of indigenous people were skimmed over in the discussion. It was pointed out that when groups like Greenpeace come into a situation and begin talking about ’saving the whales’ or whatever, they are seen as ignoring the social implications of such a campaign. Dialogue between environmental groups and other groups is necessary to make cohesive claims. This is a point that Carol Adams makes- that social justice issues are interconnected and to strengthen one movement often means needed to join with other movements. Greenpeace is likely doing itself a disservice by not listening to the people who hunt those animals. I say this agreeing that hunting whales and seals etc. is not only environmentally detrimental but extremely cruel. I do not ever believe that tradition or culture justify immoral, unjust, or cruel behavior.

An interesting side part of this discussion was also the mentioning that the people who hunt animals in Alaska are consuming the fatty parts of the animals, which are also where a lot of toxic pollutants like to hang out, and thus eating meat and fish causes more disease and death. I can see this being skewed into an argument that pollution is worse for cutlures heavily dependent on fish and meat, but mostly I see it as another connection between all of thses movements. Could the argument be made with a straightface that eating animals should be avoided because it is going to kill you thanks to the pollutants in it? I don’t know that this is a productive path to head down, but I also do not think that the toxic meat issue should be ignored.

SOmething else interesting I noticed during the ‘Women in Prisons’ workshop was that one young woman who had been incarcerated in Ludlow for 2 years described the way the prisoners were treated as being ‘treated like DOGS’. I could not help but thinking how things might be different if it wasn’t even okay to treat dogs in such ways- then maybe prisoners would not be allowed to be treated that way either.