-We must elect more women – yes. But we must
transform those structures to which we elect women to accomplish
our goals, because present institutions will not do … In my heart
I believe that women will change the nature of power rather than
power change the nature of women.”
* Bella
Abzug,
quoted in
Women Pioneers
for the Environment
Some say
the Clinton scandal could have at least one positive outcome:
Voters will be more than ready to put a woman in the White House.
If the 42 profiles in Women Pioneers for the Environment are any
indication, Al Gore and the Bush brothers could face some serious
competition.
The women Mary Joy Breton describes
– professors, politicians, journalists, grassroots activists and
many others – employ strategies as wide-ranging as the
environmental movement itself. We get to know the late Judi Bari of
Earth First!’s Redwood Summer, Environmental Protection Agency
chief Carol Browner, Love Canal activist Lois Gibbs, and pioneering
water-quality scientist Ellen Swallow, the first woman to attend
the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
Particularly welcome are profiles of
women from developing countries, such as Indian forest defender
Amrita Devi and Dai Qing, a journalist jailed for her criticism of
the Three Gorges Dam on China’s Yangtze
River.
The book has its shortcomings: The pieces
are not always gracefully written, and personal interviews are in
short supply. The profiles are also frustratingly brief, although a
few longer chapters provide more detail about better-known figures.
Still, Women Pioneers for the Environment is an inspiring read, and
it reminds us that environmental “housework” needs everyone –
including, of course, Madam President.
*
Michelle Nijhuis
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Women pioneers.
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