Commodified Nature: Intertwined Threads of Identification

Abstract

ABSTRACT Environmentalist concerns have been consistently dismissed and disputed by conservative right-wing actors. In this article, I argue that anti-environmentalism, with its persistent links to anti-genderist, racist and classist discourses, is best understood through an ecofeminist lens. Within hegemonic development discourse, nature is routinely apprehended as a commodity to be used. I argue that the conceptual framework which rationalises an unsustainable use of nonhuman nature is aligned to that which maintains unequal human relations, and that recognition of this alignment is vital to fighting the environmental crisis we all face today. Indeed, such recognition may foster more unified rather than fragmented efforts in this fight. In this article, I offer a thematic analysis of the discourses of the current far-right authoritarian Brazilian government and demonstrate how concepts of gender, race and class are intertwined with those of nature, development and sustainability, all contributing to the perpetuation of hegemonic identities which foster environmental exploitation. I conclude that to move forward we should turn instead to a reappraisal of what it means to be human and of what truly constitutes our self-interest as such.