Single use plastics are a huge issue in our society today and many people are trying to fight against these plastic bags and water bottles by using reusable products. However, we are not making the progress that we should be making in order to make substantial changes in our oceans. We need the help of all these big corporations like Coke, Pepsi and so on, in order to change our lives and eliminate single use plastics for good. If we get the help of these big corporations to change their products to more sustainable options, it would help tremendously in our quest to ending single use plastics. For example, I would like to see brands like Coke and Pepsi eliminate their plastic soda bottles and resort back to their glass bottles they used to use when they first started their business. I would also like to see more retail outlets eliminate their plastic bags and make people bring their own reusable bags, which is already happening here in Dartmouth and in other places such as Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Cape Cod. I’ve learned this from experience as I traveled quite a bit over summer vacation with my boyfriend. I also experienced that in Cape Cod they have started to eliminate plastic straws in their restaurants and now use paper straws, and they also eliminated plastic utensils and now use wooden ones which is an incredible step in the right direction! However, the places I saw these changes in were small family owned businesses except Ben and Jerry’s. If we could get more large corporations to make these leaps, it would be tremendous progress for our oceans.
According to Hobgood-Oster, ecofeminsim is a way of life that “acts in both and neither of these broad movements, simultaneously serving as an environmental critique of feminism and a feminist critique of environmentalism. Ecofeminism asserts that all forms of oppression are connected and that structures of oppression must be addressed in their totality. Oppression of the natural world and of women by
patriarchal power structures must be examined together or neither can be confronted fully.” That being said, my interpretation of ecofeminism is that it is a way of life and a way to view the world that allows us to analyze issues in our environment as well as political issues that involve oppression of any party of people(s).
Connecting to our reading from Warren, in her seventh connection between women and nature labeled Ethical Connections she mentions that “the goal of ecofeminist environmental ethics is to develop theories and practices concerning humans and the natural environment that are not male-biased and provide a guide to action in the prefeminist present (Warren 1990). This may involve developing an ecofeminist ethic of care and appropriate reciprocity (Cheney 1987, 1989; Curtin 1991, Warren 1988, 1990, this section), ecofeminist kinship ethics (Plumwood 1991, this section), ecofeminist animal rights positions (Adams 1991; Slicer 1991), an ecofeminist social ecology (Y. King 1981,1983,1989, 1990) or ecofeminist bioregionalism (Plant 1990).” She is saying that in order to connect humans and nature in an eco-friendly way, and essentially be one with nature, we must allow ourselves to follow a feminist point of view.
I think your quote from Hobgood-Oster is very important point to understand the important parts of ecofeminism that are being addressed by your topic, single use plastics. Big corporations like Coke or Pepsi, like you mentioned, are owned and run by men, or predominantly male stockholders. So now you’ve got these single use plastics completely destroying our planet, and a bunch of white guys who already have piles of money, are getting more piles. Single use plastics are easily some of the most problematic huge profit commodities that have come out of the last decade, and anyone with any sort of power in these companies should be able to see that. The quote you give from Warren shows this idea simply, as there is a clear lack of ethics in the development of single use plastics.