Book review: Contemporary perspectives on ecofeminism

Both within the introductory essay and elsewhere in this new collection Karen Warren’s (2000) metaphor of a patchwork quilt, ‘made up of different “patches”, constructed by different quilters in particular social, historical and materialist contexts’, is introduced to describe ecofeminism and the metaphor is extended to suggest that the collection itself can be thought of as ‘a selection of “patches” that represent contemporary thinking in ecofeminism’ (1-2). If ecofeminism is indeed best represented by the motif of a patchwork then this collection is a fitting contribution, since it brings together a range of very different voices, discursive styles, critical approaches, topics, and perspectives. As in a patchwork, the coherence of the piece is reliant primarily on the linking threads rather than on any innate patterning or similarity of approach within the various ‘patches’. What might be perceived as the threads stitching the various elements together are the urgency of climate change (what one contributor refers to as ‘climate chaos’, 114) and the need to find ways of challenging the mind set of global capitalism, the dualistic Western worldview, and the inertia of governments in finding effective ways of responding to the current crisis