Hello all,
My name is Piper, and I use she/they pronouns. I am a Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies major at UMass-Dartmouth. I reside in Minnesota with my parents. Beyond my classwork, I have two part-time jobs: I am a music lesson teacher, and a cashier.
After some exploration, I chose to reflect on the feminist blog, Women’s Media Center (WMC). One particular page of this blog was entitled, “WMC FBomb,” and is described as “an intersectional teen feminist media platform created by and for socially conscious youth” (WMC). On the surface, the greatest reason this blog would not model my own work is that multiple authors curate the blog, whereas my work would solely reflect my views. Diving deeper, this blog contains posts on a variety of themes (ranging from gender-based violence, to gender identity, to poetry.) My blog, on the other hand, would have a significant focus on the relationship between women and the environment (hence, ecofeminism) and the work I wish to do in furthering an inclusive/diverse society, while also respecting the environment which supports us all.
As a side note: I was intrigued by a post from Jessica Sennett, in which she relayed the impact writing poetry had on her. Sennett engaged in a slam poetry night, and in her words, “I picked poems that I was yearning for the world to hear (topics included gun control and the patriarchy, of course)” (Sennett). Having studied intersectionality and standpoint theory in previous classes, I believe there are many issues which overlap in people’s lives, and we all interact with them differently. Given this focus, I believe my blog will act, for me, as poetry does for Sennett: to provide an outlet where I may share my perspective on prominent issues to begin making a change.
One such issue relevant to where I live is the presence of harmful Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs), long-lasting materials resistant to “heat, water, and oil” which “harm human health,” and “are linked to a variety of adverse health conditions and illnesses” (Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, MCEA). While these chemicals were used to enhance consumer products, they are linked to conditions such as cancer and infant mortality. As these chemicals do not break down over time, and cause harm, “even at extremely low concentrations,” their continued use (and careless disposal) shows a lack of regard for human and environmental health (MCEA). As examples, “St. Louis and Olmsted counties have fish consumption advisories due to PFAS contamination” (MCEA). But this issue is not limited to Minnesota, nor is it new. As a matter of fact, as I learned in a previous class, “though the
U.S. government didn’t recognize PFOA as a dangerous chemical, both DuPont and 3M knew it was potentially toxic” (Tran 8:48). DuPont had even “classified PFOA as a confirmed animal carcinogen, possible human carcinogen” (Soechtig 45:42). As my blog expands, with the inclusion of further ecofeminist concepts, I will analyze how systems of oppression are furthered by the cultural norm of devaluing nature. And, I hope the written expression of my ideas and learning will encourage and guide me to the activism I want to partake of in the future. Further, I hope my work will encourage others so we may work together to improve this world for everyone. I hope to develop an informative and influential place where my desire for both environmental balance and social diversity encourage real change, as I learn to put theory into practice.
Image by Eva Michálková from Pixabay
Work Cited
Sennett, Jessica. “The Power of Poetry for Teenage Girls.” WMC FBOMB: Arts and Culture, Women’s Media Center (WMC). 12 December 2023. Web. womensmediacenter.com/fbomb/the-power-of-poetry-for-teenage-girls. Accessed 24 January 2025.
The Devil We Know. Directed by Stephanie Soechtig, Atlas Films, 2018. Web.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJFbsWX4MJM. Accessed 24 January 2025.
Tran, Jake. “DuPont: The Most Evil Business in the World.” YouTube, uploaded by Jake Tran, 22 November 2021. Web. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pW2ATrDnA8. Accessed 24 January 2025.
n.a.1 “WMC FBOMB.” Women’s Media Center (WMC). 5 October 2023, 2025. Web. womensmediacenter.com/fbomb/. Accessed 24 January 2025.
n.a.2 “Toxic Chemicals: Defending Minnesotans’ Health from ‘Forever Chemicals’.” Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA). n.d. Web. www.mncenter.org/defending-minnesotans-health-forever-chemicals. Accessed 24 January 2025.
Hi, this is a comment.
To get started with moderating, editing, and deleting comments, please visit the Comments screen in the dashboard.
Commenter avatars come from Gravatar.
Hey Piper! Great post! PFAS should be everyone’s concern, so I’m glad you’re talking about it! Just recently a water delivery company in my area (the kind that delivers the 5-gallon jugs for water coolers) just had to recall their water and stop operations for a few weeks because “too high” levels of PFAS were found in their water. I wonder how many people drank this drinking water before it was caught? I know for me personally, this is the water in the water coolers in my town’s public buildings. I also work as a firefighter/EMT and a study recently came out showing that there are PFAS in firefighting gear and some equipment, such as fire suppression foam. It makes me think of how many times this “safe” firefighting foam was sprayed onto a boat or vehicle fire, polluting bodies of water or storm runoff in the process. I know there has been some work done to switch to a foam that does not contain PFAS, which is promising, but I do wonder how much harm has already been done and if there are chemicals in the new product that we will discover are toxic in a few years.
Hi, Piper –
Great intro and thanks for putting PFAs forward as a topic of concern & conversation. You’re right when you say that the consequences of these forever chemicals aren’t limited to Minnesota (or any state); a quick Google search about PFAs in Montana returns a public news article stating that according to Montana’s Dept. of Environmental Quality, “A new study of industrial “forever” chemicals found in products from firefighting foam to nonstick cookware discovered contamination in more than half of the sites tested.” (Desroches, K.)
The article also states “The biggest potential risk to human health is fish consumption in certain areas of the state, and so that is our first next step in monitoring PFAS in our aquatic systems,” [Ebert] said.
While we can all clearly see the potential human health consequences of the PFAs in our bodies of water, there is also an economic consequence. You can check out this Pew article (https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-sheets/2018/10/montana-the-economic-contributions-of-hunting-fishing-and-wildlife-watching-on-blm-lands) and see just how big of a role fishing plays for the economy of states like Montana. With Minnesota being “the land of 10,000 lakes,” you’re state is clearly in the same boat, no pun intended.
Clearly, while this is a health issue that has been gaining more attention in recent years, there is still a ton of work to do on limiting the negative consequences of these chemicals on humans and wildlife.
Sources:
Desroches, Kayla. “Montana DEQ Finds “Forever” Chemicals in More than Half of Sites Tested.” YPR, KEMC, 18 Oct. 2022, http://www.ypradio.org/environment-science/2022-10-18/montana-deq-finds-forever-chemicals-in-more-than-half-of-sites-tested. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
“Montana: The Economic Contributions of Hunting, Fishing, and Wildlife-Watching on BLM Lands.” Pew.org, 4 Oct. 2018, http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-sheets/2018/10/montana-the-economic-contributions-of-hunting-fishing-and-wildlife-watching-on-blm-lands.
Hello and welcome from your ecofeminism professor!