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Greta Gaard is an ecofeminist writer, scholar, activist, and documentary filmmaker. Gaard's academic work in the realms of ecocriticism and ecocomposition is widely cited by scholars in the disciplines of composition and literary criticism. Her theoretical work extending ecofeminist thought into queer theory, queer ecology, vegetarianism, and animal rights has been influential within women's studies. A cofounder of the Minnesota Green Party, Gaard documented the transition of the U.S. Green movement into the Green Party of the United States in her book, Ecological Politics. She is currently a professor of English at University of Wisconsin-River Falls and a community faculty member in Women's Studies at Metropolitan State University, Twin Cities.
Ecofeminist Literary Criticism: Theory, Interpretation, Pedagogy, edited by Gaard and Patrick D. Murphy, was the first anthology to examine not only how ecofeminist theory might enhance literary criticism but also how close reading of texts might inform ecofeminist theory and activist practice. This development in ecocriticism was welcomed by scholars who, along with Simon C. Estok, believe that "if ecocriticism is to have any effect outside of the narrow confines of academia, then it must not only define itself but also address the issue of values in ways that connect meaningfully with the non-academic world."Estok, Simon C. "Bridging the Great Divide: Ecocritical Theory and the Great Unwashed." ESC: English Studies in Canada 31:4 (December 2005), p. 197. Full text available (here [1])
Gaard's International Perspectives in Feminist Ecocriticism, co-edited by Gaard, Simon Estok, and Serpil Oppermann, updates the U.S.-based anthology, offering an international collection of scholarship that includes ecocritical theory, literary criticism, and ecocultural analyses, bringing a diversity of perspectives in terms of gender, sexuality, and race. Reconnecting with the histories of feminist and ecofeminist literary criticism, and utilizing new developments in postcolonial ecocriticism, animal studies, queer theory, feminist and gender studies, cross-cultural and international ecocriticism, this volume develops a continuing and international feminist ecocritical perspective on literature, language, and culture.
Gaard's widely cited contribution to Ecocomposition: Theoretical and Practical Approaches similarly argues for the activist applications of scholarly theory, asserting that "at its most inclusive, ecocomposition has the potential to address social issues such as feminism, environmental ethics, multiculturalism, politics, and economics, all by examining matters of form and style, audience and argumentation, and reliable sources and documentation."Gaard, Greta. "Ecofeminism and EcoComposition." In Ecocomposition: Theoretical and Practical Approaches. Ed. Sid Dobrin and Christian Weisser. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001, p. 163.
Prior to Gaard's germinal 1997 article, "Toward a Queer Ecofeminism," published first in the scholarly journal Hypatia and then anthologized in Perspectives on Environmental Justice, Gender, Sexuality, and Activism, ecofeminism and queer theory were separate realms within feminism. As Gaard writes in her introduction to that piece,
Although many ecofeminists acknowledge heterosexism as a problem, a systematic exploration of the potential intersections of ecofeminist and queer theories has yet to be made. By interrogating social constructions of the "natural," the various uses of Christianity as a logic of domination, and the rhetoric of colonialism, this essay finds those intersections and argues for the importance of developing a queer ecofeminism.Gaard, Greta. "Toward a Queer Ecofeminism." Hypatia12:1(Winter 1997), p. 114. Full text available ( here.)
Numerous scholars have since drawn upon that essay in formulating their theories.See, e.g., these books and articles citing that essay Gaard's 1993 anthology, Ecofeminism: Women, Animals, Nature also introduced new theoretical intersections. As Gaard noted in her introduction to the pieces collected in that work, "in the three anthologies published at the time of this writing, ecofeminism has failed to locate animals as central to any discussion of ethics involving women and nature."Gaard, Greta. "Living Interconnections with Animals and Nature." In Ecofeminism: Women, Animals, Nature Ed. Greta Gaard. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993. (Full text available here). Gaard followed up that anthology with a 2003 review of vegetarian ecofeminist thought.Gaard, Greta. "Vegetarian Ecofeminism: A Review Essay." Frontiers 23:3(2003):117-146. (Full text available here.)
Gaard's more recent scholarship has addressed "Literary Milk: Breastfeeding Across Race, Class, and Species" (2013) and "Postcolonial Milk Studies" (2013), "Indigenous Women and the Environmental Humanities" (2014), "Ecofeminism and Climate Change" (2015), "Feminism and Environmental Justice" (2017), "Ecofeminist Aesthetics"(2018), "Out of the Closets and Into the Climate! Queer Feminist Climate Justice" (2019) and a "Just Ecofeminist Sustainability" (2017). (Full texts available here.) As of 2017, her most recent monograph was Critical Ecofeminism, a volume rooted in and advancing articulations of Australian philosopher Val Plumwood's ecological feminism.
Ecofeminists can learn from the Greens and from the work of ecofeminists in the Greens. A radically democratic movement for social and environmental justice will be larger than ecofeminism and larger than the Greens. Yet we can only bring about that movement by working with and through our communities--and our communities will always be partial, unrepresentative, incomplete. Only the coalition of a variety of progressive communities will bring about the transformations needed to articulate a radical democracy, and in that coalition, an ecofeminist vision will find expression.Gaard, Greta. Ecological Politics: Ecofeminists and the Greens. Temple University Press, 1998, p. 269.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, Gaard launched an "Open Letter to the Environmental Humanities" inviting scholars to commit to aligning their environmental scholarship with their behaviors and commit to limit flying, limit driving, and choosing to eat ethically, ecologically, and locally-sourced foods. The letter was signed and augmented by over 40 international scholars and is still open to signatures. The letter and a special cluster focusing on COVID-19 & Climate appeared in BifrostOnline's Spring 2020 issue here.
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