An Unfamiliar Outlook: The Partnership of Ecofeminism and Daoism

It’s not clear how many Daoist ecofeminists are in the world, but I think I may be one of them. Though I was raised as a Baptist Christian, I have found the insights of Daoism, the predominant religion of the homeland of my family, and ecofeminism, the perspective that centers women’s relationship to nature, as complementary to my Christian faith and concern for the environment. I have been able to incorporate this philosophy into my life and found that they are interrelated. My interest in these thoughts was partly sparked by applying to the China Program summer internship with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), which piqued my interest in learning more about Chinese cultural beliefs. Daoism has played a huge role as a philosophy within Chinese culture for thousands of years, and I am interested in ecofeminism because it is a topic that strongly resonates with me being a woman and its relation to the earth. As someone who grew up having a spiritual and personal relationship with the natural world, I find that many of my values align with the Daoist ecofeminist perspective.

As it turns out, I got the position at EDF, and perhaps not surprisingly, Daoist Ecofeminism was not a focus of the program or of my work, but I remained intrigued. Notably, my research led me to get in contact with several ecofeminist Daoist scholars who shared their personal perspectives of integrating Daoist and ecofeminist practices into their own lives…

Find the rest of this chapter in Emerging Perspectives on Religion and Environmental Values in America HERE.