Papers by Chris Cuomo
In this essay I make a basic argument for our global universal and particular responsibilities to... more In this essay I make a basic argument for our global universal and particular responsibilities to acknowledge and address climate change. I argue that a nation state, government, corporation or industry should embrace its responsibility for causing or contributing to climate change and other pollution. However I also investigate the moral quandaries that result for "the rest of us" when those collective or higher-order entities do not accept and act on their responsibilities. In this essay I also pay special attention to issues of interest to feminists, such as the differential responsibilities of nations and the disproportionate “vulnerabilities” of females, people of color, and the economically disadvantaged in relation to climate change. I agree with others that justice requires governments, corporations, and individuals to take full responsibility for histories of pollution, and for present and future greenhouse gas emissions. Nonetheless I worry that an overemphasis on household and personal-sphere fossil fuel emissions distracts from attention to higher-level corporate and governmental responsibilities for addressing the problem of climate change. I argue that more attention should be placed on the higher-level responsibilities of corporations and governments, and I discuss how individuals might more effectively take responsibility for addressing global climate change, especially when corporations and governments refuse to do so.
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Biogeosystem Technique, 2017
Although the drive to formally declare a new Anthropocene epoch has gained traction in a number o... more Although the drive to formally declare a new Anthropocene epoch has gained traction in a number of circles, there are serious questions that need to be raised about the wisdom and accuracy of formalizing the " signals of the anthropocene " as the definitive signs of a new geological epoch. There are important differences between noticing and publicizing a geological signal, and interpreting or defining that signal as the sign of an inevitable 'new normal'. Rather than interpreting troubling signals such as nuclear fallout, changes in the nitrogen cycle and mining tailings as marking the death of the Holocene, I argue that they should be understood and engaged as dire warning signs, demonstrating beyond a doubt the perilous legacies of highly invasive industries, and signaling the unprecedentedly urgent need to terminate and transform harmful practices, and to move our cultures and economies in decidedly Earth-friendly directions.
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Indigenous ethics and feminist care ethics offer a range of related ideas and tools for environme... more Indigenous ethics and feminist care ethics offer a range of related ideas and tools for environmental ethics. These ethics delve into deep connections and moral commitments between nonhumans and humans to guide ethical forms of environmental decision making and environmental science. Indigenous and feminist movements such as the Mother Earth Water Walk and the Green Belt Movement are ongoing examples of the effectiveness of on-the-ground environmental care ethics. Indigenous ethics highlight attentive caring for the intertwined needs of humans and nonhumans within interdependent communities. Feminist environmental care ethics emphasize the importance of empowering communities to care for themselves and the social and ecological communities in which their lives and interests are interwoven. The gendered, feminist, historical, and anticolonial dimensions of care ethics, indigenous ethics, and other related approaches provide rich ground for rethinking and reclaiming the nature and depth of diverse relationships as the fabric of social and ecological being.
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Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change, 2nd edition, 2012
Although gender norms vary historically and geographically, sex categories are used to organize ... more Although gender norms vary historically and geographically, sex categories are used to organize societies, economies and everyday practices in many ways and at many levels of scale. Any phenomenon with social causes and effects is likely to have dimensions that are best understood by taking gendered ideals, behaviors, and effects into account, and global climate change is no exception. “Gender” refers to cultural norms and realities regarding sexual difference, such as culturally specific meanings of masculinity and femininity, which are shaped through sexualized patterns of work, responsibility, and power, and the values and laws that maintain them. The fact that sexual divisions of labor typically include specific roles and gendered values concerning resource and energy use is enough to make the question of the relationships of gender to climate change a compelling one.
For example, in many dominant ideologies, women and femininity have been strongly associated with nature as opposed to human-made culture, and this association has been used to justify women’s relegation to domestic and care-taking work, and their lack of presence and decision-making power in public spheres. Such gendered divisions of work and responsibility, and their resulting psychological and behavioral tendencies, have created sex-differential patterns of relationships to resources, transportation and energy use, and therefore to climate change. According to Australian political theorist Ariel Salleh, women (in most contexts) may have a smaller carbon footprint than their male peers. In many places, women and girls are also disproportionately impacted by negative effects of global warming, such as environmental changes, challenges and disasters. It follows that gender-specific approaches to mitigation and adaptation are called for, but in developing such approaches, there is a danger of reinforcing the divisions, stereotypes, and systems of disempowerment that keep women and girls in subordinate and vulnerable positions.
For several reasons, there have been calls for analyses and strategies that take seriously the gendered dimensions of climate change. These include epistemic reasons, because they contribute to understanding the causes of the problem; pragmatic reasons, as they point to more effective strategies for dealing with current and future climate changes and reducing or preventing harms; and ethical reasons, because strategies that address climate change can foster justice and structural equality, rather than exacerbate existing inequalities. But there is uncertainty concerning where the analyses of gender and climate change should begin.
Because high levels of greenhouse gas emissions produced by industrialized and industrializing nations are primary reasons for Earth’s current climate change, the gendered dimensions of the economic and political cultures of those nations (and hence the global economy) demand critical attention. Specific gender norms, such as the view that dominant masculinity includes aspirations of mastery over nature, and ideal femininity implies complicity with those aspirations, have informed the global histories of economic development, consumerism, and energy use that have led to climate change— and that continue to make it a seemingly intractable problem.
Thus far in policy negotiations, economic analyses, and international development projects, attention to the gendered dimensions of climate change has focused on the unequal and disparate negative impacts of climate change-related hardships and disasters on women and girls, especially those subject to class, race, and other forms of oppression, and the resulting need for gender-specific and empowering policies and approaches to adaptation and planning. Because the negative impacts of climate change (such as food shortages, displacement, drought, flooding, and illness) often most directly and dramatically affect those with the least material security, climate change has disproportionately negative impacts on those who are poor and lack economic economic flexibility, autonomy and freedom of mobility....[For complete article, please see The Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change, 2nd ed., 2012, Sage Publications]
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(1994) from Ecological Feminism, Warren, ed. (NY: Routledge)
Given the complexities of an ecofeminist analysis of the "problem" of human population, the forma... more Given the complexities of an ecofeminist analysis of the "problem" of human population, the formation of practical solutions and ethics that address the many facets of the problem should be equally complex and multifaceted. One imperative that emerges is the recognition of the ethical necessity of women's empowerment. Such an imperative cannot emerge from a one-dimensional Deep Ecological analysis which views anthropocentrism as the sole root of environmental destruction and which posits humans as an undifferentiated species. Other crucial dimensions include the need for women's empowerment with regard to their own bodies, their roles as creators of culture, their power in sexuality, and their self-creation of identities other than mother or servant. An ethic that addresses the complexities of the human population problem will include an acknowledgment and analysis of the empowerment of women and the need for economic empowerment of the poor, and will offer a thorough critique of genocidal and racist programs and policies. A medical ethic which addresses the need for safe, practical, nonpaternalistic health care options for women and the poor is a necessary aspect of any theory which addresses the issue of human population.
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Earth: The Science Behind the Headlines, 2017
Examining the horrifying ethical implications of declaring a new epoch
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“Ethics and the Eco/Feminist Self" (2003) published in Environmental Philosophy: From Animal Rights to Radical Ecology (4th edition), eds. Michael E. Zimmerman, J. Baird Callicott, et al, Prentice Hall, 2003., 2003
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Philosophical Studies, 2007
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The term " anthropocene " has gained enormous popularity among scientists who believe that we are... more The term " anthropocene " has gained enormous popularity among scientists who believe that we are currently in a global geological era that is distinguished by the extensive and lasting impacts that " human " activities (i.e. fossil fuel combustion, deforestation, pollution, etc.) are having on all of Earth's vital systems. But should the practices, institutions and decisions that have led to the current global ecological crisis be identified as human activities? Or is it more appropriate to label these activities as Western, modern, or produced by particular value systems? Does the entire human species deserve the " blame " for the problems of current " man-made " global changes, or should scholars and scientists have more specific analyses of the historical causes of present geological trends? Relatedly, what are the implications for environmental ethics and our relationships with the nonhuman species and the natural world if influential scientific communities declare that we are at the end of the Holocene era? This lecture and discussion will focus on the ethical and political dimensions of these questions, as well as their relevance for current and future research and policy-making in the sciences.
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Hypatia, 2004
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Environmental Ethics Volume 14, Issue 4, Pages 351-363, 1992
Karen Warren has argued that environmental ethics must be feminist and that feminist ethics must ... more Karen Warren has argued that environmental ethics must be feminist and that feminist ethics must be ecological. Hence, she endorses ecofeminism as an environmental ethic with power and promise. Recent ecofeminist theory, however, is not as powerful as one might hope. In fact, I argue, much of this theory is based on values that are potentially damaging to moral agents, and that are not in accord with feminist goals. My intent is not to dismantle ecofeminism, but to analyze and clarify some of the philosophical problems with recent ecofeminist work and to point out a more promising direction for ecofeminist ethics.
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Ethics and the Environment, 2003
The term "eco-art" is used to describe art that expresses an environmentalist spirit, but art is ... more The term "eco-art" is used to describe art that expresses an environmentalist spirit, but art is always a nexus of nature and culture. Through artful manipulations of matter and ideas, the human animal develops, investigates, and questions itself, in complex relation to social and nonhuman realms. Artists motivated by ecological values create work that challenges assumptions about those realms, and enact new forms of being, engagement, and restoration.
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Based on case studies from Georgia and Tennessee, several recommendations are made for improving ... more Based on case studies from Georgia and Tennessee, several recommendations are made for improving access to affordable, quality child care and improving the programs’ effectiveness in the U.S., based on surveys, focus groups, interviews and economic analyses employed by the study’s authors. Recommendations are made regarding the potential for increased public funding to positively impact eligibility, access, and most importantly, quality:
Eligibility:
1. Raise income caps to allow more low-income working parents to receive benefits.
2. Reduce the work-hour requirement so that part-time employment is sufficient to qualify for child care subsidies.
3. Allow eligibility for people in job training and for all students pursuing a post-secondary education.
4. Provide child care subsidies that are not linked to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
Access:
1. Improve communication to families about the application process.
2. Make provisions for children with special needs, and improve the flexibility of care coverage to support parents who work non-traditional hours.
3. Ensure safe transportation for children to and from their care providers.
4. Develop guidelines for pricing so that centers that receive assistance to improve quality do not raise their fees, effec- tively pricing out the lowest income consumers.
Quality:
1. Develop national guidelines on minimum safety requirements.
2. Invest in the training of the child care workforce.
3. Identify and disseminate best practices for improving the quality of child care.
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Indigenous knowledge is a valuable but under-used source of information relevant to landscape cha... more Indigenous knowledge is a valuable but under-used source of information relevant to landscape change research. We interviewed Iñupiat elders, hunters, and other knowledge-holders in the villages of Barrow and Atqasuk on the western Arctic Coastal Plain of northern Alaska to gain further insight into the processes governing the ubiquitous lakes and the dynamics of landscape change in this region of continuous permafrost. The interviews provided a suite of information related to lakes and associated drained lake basins, as well as knowledge on landforms, environmental change, human events, and other phenomena. We were able to corroborate many observations independently and verify the timing of several large and significant lake drainage events using either aerial photography or remotely sensed time series. Data collected have been incorporated into a geodatabase to develop a multi-layer Geographic Information System that will be useful for local and scientific communities. This research demonstrates that indigenous knowledge can reveal a new understanding of landscape changes on the Arctic Coastal Plain in general and on lake processes in particular. We advocate ongoing, community-oriented research throughout the Arctic as a means of assessing and responding to the consequences of rapid environmental change.
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Daring to be Good, 1997
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Books by Chris Cuomo
FEMINISM AND ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES: AN ETHIC OF FLOURISHING, 1998
Feminism and Ecological Communities: An Ethic of Flourishing is one of the first books radically ... more Feminism and Ecological Communities: An Ethic of Flourishing is one of the first books radically to take stock of the ecofeminist movement. Acknowledging and addressing as important the arguments against ecofeminism that have been made by postmodern and other anti-essentialist wings, Chris J. Cuomo nevertheless argues that much of the recent work on
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Edited Journals by Chris Cuomo
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Book Reviews by Chris Cuomo
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Papers by Chris Cuomo
For example, in many dominant ideologies, women and femininity have been strongly associated with nature as opposed to human-made culture, and this association has been used to justify women’s relegation to domestic and care-taking work, and their lack of presence and decision-making power in public spheres. Such gendered divisions of work and responsibility, and their resulting psychological and behavioral tendencies, have created sex-differential patterns of relationships to resources, transportation and energy use, and therefore to climate change. According to Australian political theorist Ariel Salleh, women (in most contexts) may have a smaller carbon footprint than their male peers. In many places, women and girls are also disproportionately impacted by negative effects of global warming, such as environmental changes, challenges and disasters. It follows that gender-specific approaches to mitigation and adaptation are called for, but in developing such approaches, there is a danger of reinforcing the divisions, stereotypes, and systems of disempowerment that keep women and girls in subordinate and vulnerable positions.
For several reasons, there have been calls for analyses and strategies that take seriously the gendered dimensions of climate change. These include epistemic reasons, because they contribute to understanding the causes of the problem; pragmatic reasons, as they point to more effective strategies for dealing with current and future climate changes and reducing or preventing harms; and ethical reasons, because strategies that address climate change can foster justice and structural equality, rather than exacerbate existing inequalities. But there is uncertainty concerning where the analyses of gender and climate change should begin.
Because high levels of greenhouse gas emissions produced by industrialized and industrializing nations are primary reasons for Earth’s current climate change, the gendered dimensions of the economic and political cultures of those nations (and hence the global economy) demand critical attention. Specific gender norms, such as the view that dominant masculinity includes aspirations of mastery over nature, and ideal femininity implies complicity with those aspirations, have informed the global histories of economic development, consumerism, and energy use that have led to climate change— and that continue to make it a seemingly intractable problem.
Thus far in policy negotiations, economic analyses, and international development projects, attention to the gendered dimensions of climate change has focused on the unequal and disparate negative impacts of climate change-related hardships and disasters on women and girls, especially those subject to class, race, and other forms of oppression, and the resulting need for gender-specific and empowering policies and approaches to adaptation and planning. Because the negative impacts of climate change (such as food shortages, displacement, drought, flooding, and illness) often most directly and dramatically affect those with the least material security, climate change has disproportionately negative impacts on those who are poor and lack economic economic flexibility, autonomy and freedom of mobility....[For complete article, please see The Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change, 2nd ed., 2012, Sage Publications]
Eligibility:
1. Raise income caps to allow more low-income working parents to receive benefits.
2. Reduce the work-hour requirement so that part-time employment is sufficient to qualify for child care subsidies.
3. Allow eligibility for people in job training and for all students pursuing a post-secondary education.
4. Provide child care subsidies that are not linked to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
Access:
1. Improve communication to families about the application process.
2. Make provisions for children with special needs, and improve the flexibility of care coverage to support parents who work non-traditional hours.
3. Ensure safe transportation for children to and from their care providers.
4. Develop guidelines for pricing so that centers that receive assistance to improve quality do not raise their fees, effec- tively pricing out the lowest income consumers.
Quality:
1. Develop national guidelines on minimum safety requirements.
2. Invest in the training of the child care workforce.
3. Identify and disseminate best practices for improving the quality of child care.
Books by Chris Cuomo
Edited Journals by Chris Cuomo
Book Reviews by Chris Cuomo
For example, in many dominant ideologies, women and femininity have been strongly associated with nature as opposed to human-made culture, and this association has been used to justify women’s relegation to domestic and care-taking work, and their lack of presence and decision-making power in public spheres. Such gendered divisions of work and responsibility, and their resulting psychological and behavioral tendencies, have created sex-differential patterns of relationships to resources, transportation and energy use, and therefore to climate change. According to Australian political theorist Ariel Salleh, women (in most contexts) may have a smaller carbon footprint than their male peers. In many places, women and girls are also disproportionately impacted by negative effects of global warming, such as environmental changes, challenges and disasters. It follows that gender-specific approaches to mitigation and adaptation are called for, but in developing such approaches, there is a danger of reinforcing the divisions, stereotypes, and systems of disempowerment that keep women and girls in subordinate and vulnerable positions.
For several reasons, there have been calls for analyses and strategies that take seriously the gendered dimensions of climate change. These include epistemic reasons, because they contribute to understanding the causes of the problem; pragmatic reasons, as they point to more effective strategies for dealing with current and future climate changes and reducing or preventing harms; and ethical reasons, because strategies that address climate change can foster justice and structural equality, rather than exacerbate existing inequalities. But there is uncertainty concerning where the analyses of gender and climate change should begin.
Because high levels of greenhouse gas emissions produced by industrialized and industrializing nations are primary reasons for Earth’s current climate change, the gendered dimensions of the economic and political cultures of those nations (and hence the global economy) demand critical attention. Specific gender norms, such as the view that dominant masculinity includes aspirations of mastery over nature, and ideal femininity implies complicity with those aspirations, have informed the global histories of economic development, consumerism, and energy use that have led to climate change— and that continue to make it a seemingly intractable problem.
Thus far in policy negotiations, economic analyses, and international development projects, attention to the gendered dimensions of climate change has focused on the unequal and disparate negative impacts of climate change-related hardships and disasters on women and girls, especially those subject to class, race, and other forms of oppression, and the resulting need for gender-specific and empowering policies and approaches to adaptation and planning. Because the negative impacts of climate change (such as food shortages, displacement, drought, flooding, and illness) often most directly and dramatically affect those with the least material security, climate change has disproportionately negative impacts on those who are poor and lack economic economic flexibility, autonomy and freedom of mobility....[For complete article, please see The Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change, 2nd ed., 2012, Sage Publications]
Eligibility:
1. Raise income caps to allow more low-income working parents to receive benefits.
2. Reduce the work-hour requirement so that part-time employment is sufficient to qualify for child care subsidies.
3. Allow eligibility for people in job training and for all students pursuing a post-secondary education.
4. Provide child care subsidies that are not linked to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
Access:
1. Improve communication to families about the application process.
2. Make provisions for children with special needs, and improve the flexibility of care coverage to support parents who work non-traditional hours.
3. Ensure safe transportation for children to and from their care providers.
4. Develop guidelines for pricing so that centers that receive assistance to improve quality do not raise their fees, effec- tively pricing out the lowest income consumers.
Quality:
1. Develop national guidelines on minimum safety requirements.
2. Invest in the training of the child care workforce.
3. Identify and disseminate best practices for improving the quality of child care.