Month: April 2023

I began my water journey on April 11, 2023. I decided to completely cut out all beverages besides water cold turkey. This may not have been the best thing for me to do considering I learn very quickly that I had a caffeine dependency. In result for the first week I was having caffeine withdrawals which resulted in migraine headaches and extreme fatigue. I chose to do it this way, even though it caused myself a lot of physical discomfort, because the women and girls that suffer from water insecurity and lack of clean water do have the luxury of weaning themselves off of water. One week they may have access to water and the next they may not. 

 (This is a map of countries where the CDC has deemed it safe to drink tap water https://www.globehunters.ca/blog/safe-tap-water.htm.) 

 

Water insecurity also results in physical discomfort and dehydration, so I thought to myself “if I am trying to raise awareness and change my mindset on how we take water for granted I should also experience discomfort with completely quitting coffee, sodas, juices, and even water flavoring packets”. During this semester we studied the human rights issues associated with water insecurity and lack of hygienic resources. The United Nations Water and Gender article states that “women and girls are more vulnerable to abuse, attack and ill-health, affecting their ability to study, work and live in dignity.” https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/water-and-gender. As I was going through the physical discomforts of switching to water only was when I really began to ponder on the physical discomforts that women and girls would experience rather than just the physical dangers as they relate to violence. While I believe that the risk of violence upon women and girls should be at the forefront of conversation, we can not forget that they are also personal, physical discomforts associated with water insecurity According to the Cleveland Clinic water insecurity will result in:  Physical Symptoms of: headache, delirium, confusion, tiredness (fatigue), dizziness, weakness, light-headedness, dry mouth and/or a dry cough, high heart rate but low blood pressure, loss of appetite but maybe craving sugar. flushed (red) skin, swollen feet, muscle cramps, heat intolerance, or chills, and constipation. And Mental Issues of: Confusion, crankiness, and anxiousness. With these symptoms also playing a role in the risks of violence and physical illness.  https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/9013-dehydration

Drinking only water also opened up many conversations which I think is key to activism and essential to bringing people awareness of your cause and the change in which you are trying to enact. This opened up many conversations within my workplace because my employees very rarely see me without coffee or an energy drink and when I only had water I was able to tell them about this assignment and why I was doing it. I hope that from those conversations I was able to instill in them that we gave to be conscious of the way that we take advantage of an unrestricted, clean water supply and that they are millions of women and girls that experience water insecurity that lead to infringements on their human rights.

The second part of my Praxis was the hardest for me. I chose to replace my ankle weights with carrying 2 full gallons of water as I walked my dog each day. This was also the part that I was least successful at because my goal was to do this everyday and I did not do that. I walked 3-4 times each week carrying the gallon containers. Also, this was the most eye opening, because personally I am not as physically fit as I should be and carrying water gallons for a mile after a while gets really heavy. I began to experience upper arms and shoulder pain as I would try to carry the jugs different ways to alleviate the discomfort I felt as I was walking. During this time of my assignment I was able to reflect on the privilege that I am afforded because I do not have to fetch and collect and carry my own water home. From this reflection I remembered the image that was shared in the second week of class when we discussed women and water
and how these containers are much bigger than the gallons that I was complaining about and realizing that the water within them may not even be as clean as the water within my “prop” for this Praxis. (I call the gallon jugs props because this is water that I give to my dogs and cats, and again how privileged we are to be able to purchase spring water for our pets)

Overall, I believe that my Praxis assignment was successful. I admit that I hiccups one too many times. I did not walk everyday, and while I was successful at eliminating sodas and juices I was not completely able to eliminate coffee and water enhancers through this project. But I deem it successful because I became more self aware through my failures. When I would drink a cup of coffee or pour a Propel powder into my water bottle I thought about the water crisis and reflected on my privilege and that water is essential to life and that everyone has the RIGHT to clean and safe water no matter what. Through this project I became more mindful. Another way I believe that my assignment was successful is because I was able to have conversations with the people that are around me the most but may not necessarily know me on an in-depth personal level such as my coworkers. The reason I point out the conversations with people who do not know me super personally is because activism is not only about having conversations with those you are close to or the ones that will not judge. Activism is about being able to have hard conversations in vulnerable situations.

Because as activists it is our job to bring awareness to the social injustices in this world in regards to both our fellow women and girls and the environment. Afterall, Hobgood-Oster stated: “Ecofeminism asserts that all forms of oppression are connected and that structures of oppression must be addressed in their totality” (Hopgood-Oster, page 1). According to Hopgood-Oster, we must address the water crisis in its totality to be able to address the effects of the water crisis on women and girls in totality.

Below I am sharing some images of a walk that I took with my children during the Praxis assignment:

 

Throughout this semester we have learned of many different ways environmental degradation and lack of resources has effected women and their advancement in society. For the Praxis Assignment I am choosing to focus on the water crisis that makes being a women in the Global South very difficult. The water crisis does stop at not having access to a clean water supply, but because of the lack of water supply women are oftentimes put in physical danger. Women and girls have the role of fetching water and this can put them in danger by leaving them vulnerable to physical attack, women and girls also have sex specific sanitation needs, and not paying attention to the water crisis is also an equality issue.

With the job of water collection falling mostly on women and girls, and these journeys are oftentimes made on foot, their physical safety is put at risk during these long journeys. But it does not stop there. Many women and girls’ education opportunities are impacted negatively, because of their requirement to collect water they are excluded from earning an income and obtaining an education. Public toilets and restrooms also put women and girls at risk for physical and sexual assault.

“Lack of safely managed water and sanitation is an equality issue. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by poor water, sanitation and hygiene services and facilities. However, their voices and needs are often absent in the design and implementation of improvements, thereby ensuring their continued marginalization.” https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/water-and-gender

The water crisis has also effected the United States, as we can see in Flint, Michigan. According to CBS Detroit, Flint Michigan is still living with the effects of the water crisis nearly 9 years after it began. According to the latest testing Flint’s lead levels in their water has risen since 2021, but still remain under levels that would allow federal government intervention. Courts have ruled in favor of a $626 million civil settlement, but residents want lasting change and be able to trust their water supply that it is safe for drinking, cooking, and bathing.  https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/michigan-still-dealing-with-fallout-from-flint-water-crisis-9-years-later/  

For my Praxis initiative, I am focusing on the water crisis and education of how we take clean water for granted, especially in the United States. For the next two weeks I am going to drink only water and only use sustainable containers and straws. For example, reusable cups and bottles and stainless steel straws. By consuming only water I will be able to see its effects on my body and think about what others make lack due to lack of clean water supply. Also, by eliminating drinks such as soda, juice, tea etc. this will show me just how much I take clean drinking water for granted. I will work to educate myself and others on the value that clean water has on our lives and developing more of an understanding on what it would be like to not have clean water at my disposal.

In addition, to show more of a physical commitment,  I will replace my ankle weights that I use when walking by dog with carrying two gallon jugs of water. While this action may seem small, I will focus on creating a mindset of solidarity. Through this action, I will create conversation with my neighbors on the physical and mental effects the water crisis within the Global South has on women and girls. As our introduction to this assignment stated, “for feminists, the personal is political” – I take activism very personally, because I believe that if we can place ourselves personally in the injustices, to the best of our ability, that is where lasting change begins.

Action begin with conversation and conversation begins with identifying the injustices on the world. 

 

In this blog post I will be comparing how the degradation of the environment and ecofeminism, as seen in the article Speak Truth to Power, are related to the redaction of reproductive rights in the United States and the reproductive justice movement.

This week’s reading brings us to Africa, particularly Nairobi, Kenya, to examine Wangari Maathai’s Green Belt Movement. The Green Belt Movement is a movement to “encourage farmers to plant ‘green belts’ to stop erosion, provide shade, and to create a source of income and firewood.” (Maathai, page 1). The movement also states that up to seventy percent of these farmers were women and to date fifteen million trees have been planted. Maathai is a true pioneer for ecofeminism in that she has championed these movements for farmers and has done extensive work on hunger prevention, for which she won the Africa Prize.

Maathai’s work in developing the Green Belt Movement and the fight for Reproductive Justice are uniquely related because of her metaphor of the  “wrong bus syndrome”. And this is where I will tie together the fight for reproductive freedom and the fight to end environmental degradation.  Maathai states that, “The other thing is that a lot of people do not see that there are no trees until they their eyes and realize that the land is naked.” (Maathai, page 2). Maathai makes this claim to emphasize that people begin to see the need for trees when they cultivate a tree of their own and begin to realize how quickly they are taken advantage of and how quick we are to degrade the environment under the guise of advancement for selfish reasons (President Moi’s desire to build a skyscraper and monument himself). This can be tied together with reproductive rights because the right to an abortion was legislated in 1972 and it can be argued that we became accustomed to having this resource available and we may have never realized that a world without Roe was possible until the 2016 election.  Maathai moves on to say that “they begin to see that while the rain can be a blessing, it can also be a curse, because when it comes and you have not protected your soil, it carries the soil away with it” (Maathai, page 2). Another parallel is drawn here because while Maathai is talking about how if we allow environmental degradation to continue necessary, oftentimes seen as unimportant, resources as soil are ignored until they no longer there are due to rain or damage done by pesticides and herbicides. In the case of reproductive justice, the rain can be seen as the Supreme Court. It can, and has been a blessing and course. The court was a blessing in Obergefell v Hodges, and it was a curse in the wake of the Dobbs decision last summer. Rain is necessary for both environmental survival but it can also be an asset to environmental degradation if the earth is not taken care of. In the same instance that SCOTUS can work for the people but also against the people if the people in power act on the their own accord rather than what society is telling them we want. While the feminist movement warned about a post Roe world, the general society did not wake up and realize the “land was naked” until June of 2022 when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. And now we are in the fight of our lives because doctors, such as in Idaho, are fleeing the state and hospitals are shutting down Labor and Delivery Departments  because anti abortion laws are blurring the lines between the law and the Hippocratic Oath.

Throughout this course, we have repeatedly discussed the oppressive analogy of “mother Earth” and how this has a fluid definition across all areas of  female oppression. Maathai talks about that throughout her work with the Green Belt Movement that a lot of the mobilization, activism and work was done by women. Especially when she talks about standing up to the Kenyan government to stop the construction of the skyscraper and the president’s monument. She talks about how she and other women were beaten so badly that they ended up in the hospital. She stated that women were the ones that primarily were doing the nurturing of the seedlings, much like they are the ones that nurture the growing of a fetus into a baby during pregnancy. This metaphor of “mother earth” works with the both this account of ecofeminism and the fight for reproductive justice, because women are the ones that were nurturing the trees to better the environment, economy and food supply with the Green Belt Movement, while women are the ones fighting for their rights of whether or not to carry (“nurture”) a pregnancy. Women are the ones generally effected most by degradation of the environment, especially in the Global South, because their jobs are related to the environment. For example, without clean and adequate water supply women and girls are left to use shared baths and restrooms putting them at risk for unsanitary environments and sexual assault; and also due to environmental degradation and lack of resources women and girls in the Global South are less likely to have a adequate and constant supply of period products. When comparing it to reproductive rights women and girls, and people with uteruses, are among the most oppressed because forced pregnancy is a violation of their human rights.

Maathai states that “everyone needs to work together and to protect the environment” – just like everyone needs to work together to protect reproductive rights. The fight for the environment and the fight for reproductive are also similar in how they are retaliated against. During the campaign for the Green Belt Movement, Maathai says that “They did a lot of dirty campaigning to discredit us, including dismissing us as, ‘a bunch of divorcees and irresponsible women'” (Maathai page 4). Not only is this sexist and makes aim at discrediting the women of the Green Belt Movement’s integrity, this is very similar to how women in the fight for reproductive justice are treated. After the overturning of Roe v Wade, commentary from “news outlets” stated that the women who you protesting the decision were “crazy” or had guests that made claims that women were only mad because no one wanted to have children with them. This dismissal of women as second class citizens, or making stances that they are here to birth children, is very similar to environmental degradation because the environment is declines due to exploited it for profit and not investing in it, the same way women are being exploited for our capability to have children instead of our society investing in women’s livelihood by working towards reproductive choice and closing the wage gap for instance.

Maathai closes this article by saying that “Courage. I guess that the nearest it means is not having fear. Fear is the biggest enemy you have. I think you can overcome your fear when you no longer see the consequences” (Maathai page, 4). While I agree that you lose fear by when you no longer see the consequences, but I also think that in terms of the environment and reproductive rights fear can be used as a catalyst for change. If we fear what the planet will be like without clean and renewable resources, water, clean air etc we will be motivated to change. In the same way the fear of a society without basic reproductive healthcare and freedoms, should make women and people with uteruses fearful of our future, and we should use that fear to go to the ballot box and rally for change.