Green feminists

Today, I'm giving away Gender Lens' first ever GREEN AWARD to myself for carpooling and taking public transportation to work. (Ok, so it's not exactly ethical for the judge to choose herself for an award, but hey, somebody's gotta get things started here.)

Last year, because of Joe's job, I had to drive 2 1/2 hours each way to work. Yuck. Now, I feel like this carpooling/train-riding is a bit of my penance for the havoc I reaked on the environment (and myself) for being in the car so long.

It's also quite fun. Talking to my carpooling buddy on the way to work at 6 AM makes me a little less bleary-eyed when I face a classroom full of students. And riding the train in the afternoon allows me to hop off at the Reading Terminal Market for some fresh produce or a canoli. All without the burden of contributing (as heavily) to greenhouse gases. Really, what could be better than that?

I will be accepting nominations for future green awards via email and/or Facebook, so feel free to drop me a line. Sharing your green ideas can help others envision new ways to be green. (Which means, ahem, that helping others is the only real "reward" at this time. Maybe one day I will have million dollar greenly sponsors on this blog and can actually give you a cool gift certificate. Until now, deal.)

So what does joining this new fad of greening have to do with feminism? Well, feminists have been saying for years that injustices are inextricably linked. For instance, consider the startling statistic that 2/3 of the world's poor are women. This injustice is due to multiple factors, including gender oppression, class and race inequality, economic factors, and, yes, the environment too.

Consider, for instance, the ways that global warming has affected a country like Bangladesh. The change in climate patterns has caused excess flooding, taking out homes and crops, and making fresh water ponds unfit to drink.

This burden of poverty typically falls on women, who are in many cases the primary caretakers of the family. Sometimes it's hard to see how our individual actions here in the U.S. have much consequence for women abroad, but consider this:
"Although Americans represent 5 percent of the world's population, U.S. transportation sources contribute 45 percent of the world's emission of carbon dioxide, according to a report by the nonprofit group Environmental Defense."

So GO GREEN and share your GREEN ideas with the rest of us.