Author: jennynazak

Not just any women though. Black women and indigenous women. We need to listen to them; boost their signal.

Also: Men aren’t the problem; patriarchy and misogyny are. Including the internalized patriarchy, internalized misogyny that we all — including women — carry.

Recommended reading for all feminists: Hood Feminism — book by Mikki Kendall.

Recommended reading for all white women who aspire to be truly feminist and anti-racist: They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South — book by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers.

intersectionalfeminism
decolonization
dismantlewhitesupremacyculture

Well sure it is if we seek out the biggest throwback, hatebag wackadoodles we can find, and follow them down the rabbit-hole! Don’t do this.

We know there are whole groups of people who regret the outcome of the Civil War etc. We don’t have to follow Homophobic Daughters of the Confederate Republic of Caucasia or whatever to know this.

Same goes for environmental stuff.

The thing to do on TikTok (as in all of life) is follow topics that we ourselves love and are passionate about, and/or want to see more of in the world. I follow a lot of decolonization, anti-racism, Degrowth, ecosystems restoration, as well as my personal enjoyments such as reading, sewing and beading, DIY upcycle, earth-based spirituality.

My TikTok Tip for ecosocial activists: Type any of the following, or similar, into the search field of the app:

antiracism
antiracismtiktok
decolonize, decolonization
intersectionalfeminism
transactivists
indigenoustok
nativetiktok

Also, follow these creators:

Portia Noir
Desiree B Stephens
White Woman Whisperer

… and as many other Black, intersectional activist women as possible. My TikTok feed is a constant wealth of learning & activism.

Hang out there and listen! So much learning, and you’ll get lots of talking-points for addressing the fellow white people, homophobic/anti-trans people in your circles.

Glad you asked!

We can change the ratio of pavement to greenery in cities. By becoming active citizen-participants in our city governments and other local governments. Many cities are reducing their road/parking area and increasing food-growing area, forest parks etc. We can reduce automobile dependency while at the same time bringing more food into cities.

Also: we can get excessively restrictive zoning and building codes changed in order to promote more sustainable housing in cities.

Another idea: we can amplify anti-consumerist fads such as the DIY clothing movement. The clothing industry has a huge footprint; although they are working on making some changes we every day people can do a lot to move the needle.

In one of my businesses, landscaping, I am working to normalize the use of quiet hand- tools and the planting of native vegetation and trees rather than huge expanses of turf grass that require machinery to maintain. The landscaping industry has a huge footprint but we can spark a beneficial shift. Actually that is already happening with things such as the rewilding movement, pollinator yards, and so on.

We can pledge to no longer own a motor vehicle. We can pledge to no longer fly in airplanes. I have done both.

We can radically reduce our electricity consumption. In our household we basically only need electricity for our phones. Although we do use it for convenience to cook, and one housemate has a TV, we do not use air conditioning or water-heater or clothes dryer or any other major energy hogs.

We can choose to share living quarters instead of living alone. We can share tools and resources instead of each of them to have our own.

We can strive to eat a more local and plant centered diet. Where I live it’s a little bit challenging but not impossible, and I am always working on it: increasing my repertoire of vegan meals, growing at least a few greens at home, etc.

Money: We can refuse to participate in the stock market, and keep as little money as possible in banks, instead investing in our homes, supporting local businesses, reskilling education, our own physical and mental wellness, mutual aid, neighborhood toolsheds, community gardens…

Work: We can limit our working hours and income to some basic minimum level needed to get our needs met. We can transition away from extractive “jobs” into regenerative occupations. I have done this for a while.

We can give indigenous people their land back. They are the best caretakers of ecosystems worldwide.

This is just a couple of things off the top of my head. None of these will by itself make a huge shift. But millions of other people all over the world are doing what I do and doing similar. Other millions and millions of people are doing other beneficial things. It all adds up and it is contagious.

UPDATE 6/19/23: Also: We can engage in visual storytelling. The power of story and image is immense. I have written about this on many occasions, and am sharing here today something wonderful that came across my feed (thanks Laura L Z!).

From The Nature Of Cities, one of my favorite organizations, this roundtable about the power of visual storytelling to address ecological crisis, social injustice:

“Although the comics landscape is dominated by superheroes doing classic superhero things, there is a growing movement of comics that have environmental and social justice aims. The Nature of Cities has launched a comic series called NBSComics — Nature to Save the World, a collaboration funded by NetworkNature and the European Commission on nature-based solutions for environmental challenges. Rewriting Extinction (with almost 2M readers on webtoon) is a remarkable series of comics with a community of over 300 artists, scientists, and storytellers. Le Monde Sans Fin (World Without End), by artist Christophe Blain and scientist Jean-Marc Jancovici, is a best-selling graphic novel exploring energy and climate change. As José Alaniz discusses in this round table, even Superman, in Superman for Earth, struggled against ecological degradation. There are an increasing number of examples.”

Here’s the link to the whole roundtable – 23 comic creators, scientists, & practitioners share their thoughts. “Visual storytelling: Can comics help us advance solutions to our social and environmental challenges? Yes.”

Another one from the “It’s not gonna work” files. (I know I bring this up a lot, but we’re all working with a lot of pushback even from our in-groups. So we need all the inspiration, encouragement, and practical talking points we can get.) This came up in one of the collapse-focused groups:

Unless you can find some large changes, or can collectivize a society into making lots of small changes, I don’t think the answers you get are going to matter.

My response:

Great, then we ARE going to find some large changes, and we ARE going to collectivize the society into making lots of small changes. Good answer!! And I love your wording.

Large changes: Pick a big sector. Food, water, shelter (include both buildings and clothing), transportation, energy, and community. And set about being a mini trim tab. Even if you only influence one or two other people, they will go on to influence others. Some of you might remember that shampoo commercial from the 1970s. “They told two friends and they told two friends and so on and so on …”

If you prefer to go to a larger stage, easy peasy! Start communicating with your local government and corporations. If you feel so inclined move on up to higher levels of government and bigger corporations. Or you could become a social media mega influencer if you are so inclined to try.

One of my big sectors where I choose to work is landscaping. It has a huge footprint the way we’re doing it right now. Although I am only a micro influencer at best, I have still made some inroads in my community.

Collectivize the society into making lots of small changes: that’s even easier! It’s actually happening right now. It happens 24 seven all around us. Just jump in anywhere you feel drawn.

Keep going! We in the rich industrialized nations, particularly those of us who are in the Boomer generation and older, have a lot of catching up to do, to set things right.

By the way, we’re allowed to have fun! In fact, I would say we have to have fun. If we’re not having fun, we won’t motivate anyone to make any changes.

Speaking of fun, one of the best ways to be a force for social change is through art and story. Go get ’em! Write that book, paint that painting, stage that play … even if it’s just for an audience of one or two or seven at first.

PS. I’m not saying it’s all of us, but it’s definitely some of us who are pretending to ask one question when we actually mean something else.

So when we ask that question, “Is it really going to work?” What we’re really saying is, “I want some assurance that it’s going to work, or else I see no point in struggling against the mainstream current.

“If it’s not going to work, I want to know, so I can take it as permission to just hang out in the cushy, consumerist, paycheck-and-401k-job, business-as-usual economy.”

But I think we all know the real answer to that, or else we wouldn’t be in these groups.

Whether it’s going to “work” or not should not be our criterion for doing the right thing.

Also “works” and “doesn’t work” is not a black-and-white thing. There’s a whole continuum. Everything you do works. Any little thing we do to dismantle the extractive consumerist economy helps reduce suffering in the world, even by a little bit.

Cool beans! The Seaside She-Shed (AKA my studio/”urban offgrid cabin”) now officially has electricity! It’s plenty to power all the essentials: phone, laptop, LED light … and of course a tiny blender (smile).

It’s great when a garage doesn’t have to be taken up by a car, and can be used for all sorts of fun and creativity. I could totally live in this garage.

The off-grid rig is a small foldable solar panel, paired with a battery unit that has multiple plugs including USB and 110v. It’s the Sidekick mini solar generator from 4Patriots. Yes, a significant investment at $500, but I had been considering it for quite some time and it’ll help with hurricane preparedness too.

The Sidekick is very convenient, weighing only 8 pounds and about the size of a small toaster.

They do have a couple of larger models, and an expansion kit as well. The big rig can even power a fridge and freezer.

If you’re not already familiar with this toxic subculture, here’s a heads-up. The following very apt description is from someone in my online circles, who gave me permission to use it without attribution:

The “trad wife” movement is deeply rooted in misogyny. It is a regressive movement that aims to dial back women’s rights.

This is just a small part of a larger movement to dial back the rights of all marginalized peoples. The “trad wife” movement is primarily aimed at white women. It offers a position of relative power within the established white supremacist and patriarchal hierarchy as help meets and brood mares to men. Not an equal, but a highly valued servant.

There is a link here with the crunchy mom to right wing pipeline. There is a lot of emphasis on “the natural way” and focus on women as primarily mothers and nurturers. These women have blogs and tiktok accounts that make it all look beautiful and wholesome. The projection of an image of a simpler time can be very appealing. It’s a slippery slope.

There is no room given in this definition of womanhood for independence, career, innovation, free thought, leadership, autonomy or true power. We are all the lesser for that.

Worse still, white women in these marriages become complicit in the furthering of bigotry and discrimination by bolstering and profiting from the established power structures.

This is dangerous stuff cloaked in a thin layer of homemade bread and wooden toys propaganda.

Further reading:

• Mothers for Germany: A look at the ideal woman in Nazi propaganda (graduate thesis by Karin Lynn Brashler).

For any of us who have ever tried to articulate the dynamics of climate change to our public officials, circles of acquaintances, relatives, neighbors and so on… or even just to understand it ourselves … New York Times offers this useful FAQ.

“The Science of Climate Change explained. Facts, Evidence, and Proof.”

#climate #FAQ