Although environmental injustices are deeply embedded in the histories of peoples and environments throughout the world (e.g., Agyeman, 2004; Cronon, 1997; Pulido, 1996, 2000; Williams, 1980), our current political climate has brought the spectre of American injustice more explicitly into the public eye, including the complicated ways in which humans, nonhuman nature, and justice/equality are linked. Now, then, is a critical moment for the environmental studies and sciences (ESS) to evaluate how we “look outward” at the topics we study and “look inward” at the way we do research. The papers in this session collectively suggest that feminist theories might provide some conceptual, analytic, and empirical tools to look “inward” and “outward” and address the complexities of global environmental change, especially issues of injustice.

The first paper in the session, “Looking outward and inward: What feminist theory offers the environmental studies and sciences,” sets the stage for the other papers by positing that feminist theory, and especially theories of intersectionality, can critique and strengthen the ESS agenda through reframing both how we ask research questions about our objects of study and how we organize our projects. The next three papers all provide empirical examples of projects framed by feminist theories. The second paper, “The intersectional challenges of researching and implementing water empowerment in Swaziland’s Hhohho region” explores two overlapping experiences with intersectionality: that of the research subjects (looking outward) and that of the researcher herself (looking inward). The third paper, “Reframing the population connection: Intersectionality and critical demography in the environmental movement” draws on an empirical analysis of population and environmental organizations policy positions as well as interviews with activists to suggest a reframing of population policy that incorporates critical demographic perspectives, including intersectionality and social justice. The fourth paper, “Empowerment and clean energy: The gendered impacts of solar technology in Tanzania” draws on empirical research to explore the gendered impacts of solar technology. The author critically engages with the concept of empowerment, contending that it is a multidimensional concept influenced by the intersections of gender, agency, resource control, and social setting. The final paper, “Jock capital and white savior syndrome - How to be a part without getting in the way” is conceptual in nature, much like the opening paper, but takes an intersectional approach to consider how people from non-oppressed groups can be part of movements that advocate for justice and equality without undermining the efforts of those who are oppressed.