Towards an Ecofeminist Ethic in Education to Address the Socio-Environmental Crisis
Abstract
The aim of the article is to rethink eco-education from an ecofeminist ethical perspective capable of responding critically to the current socio-environmental crisis and of overcoming the subordination of certain forms of environmental education to the neoliberal paradigm of sustainable development, reorienting it toward ecosocial justice and degrowth. The methodology employed is hermeneutic and is based on the critical analysis of philosophical, pedagogical, and ecofeminist contributions, particularly those of authors such as Lucie Sauvé, Anne Stephens, Annette Gough, and Lisa Siegel. Among the main findings, the study shows that part of traditional environmental education has lost its emancipatory potential by becoming trapped in technocratic and productivist logics. In response, the article proposes a degrowth-oriented eco-education centered on an ethics of care, interdependence, reciprocity with nature, and relational autonomy. Furthermore, it puts forward the idea of a fifth stage of ecofeminism, interseccional and intraconnective in character, which grounds a pedagogy of interdependence and a critical and sensitive ecological rationality. As its main conclusion, the article argues that ecofeminist eco-education, grounded in care and socio-environmental justice, can effectively contribute to a civilizational transition toward more just, solidaristic, and ecologically responsible ways of life.
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Adams, D., & Beauchamp, G. (2021). A study of the experiences of children aged 7–11 taking part in mindful approaches in local nature reserves. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 21(2), 129-138. https://doi.org/10.1080/14729679.2020.1736110
Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv12101zq
Berryman, T. (2003). L’éco-ontogenèse: les relations à l’environnement dans le développement humain – d’autres rapports au monde pour d’autres développements. Éducation relative à l’environnement. Regards – Recherches – Réflexions, 4, 207–228. https://journals.openedition.org/ere/5129?lang=en
Bourg, D., & Whiteside, K. (2010). Vers une démocratie écologique: Le citoyen, le savant et le politique. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
Caride, J. A., & Meira, P. A. (2018). Del ecologismo como movimiento social a la educación ambiental como construcción histórica. Historia De La Educación, 37, 165–197. https://doi.org/10.14201/hedu201837165197
Caride, J. A., & Meira, P. A. (2020). La educación ambiental en los límites, o la necesidad cívica y pedagógica de respuestas a una civilización que colapsa. Pedagogía Social. Revista Interuniversitaria, 36, 21–34. https://doi.org/10.7179/PSRI_2020.36.01
Carvalho, A. E., Blanc, S., Aguiar, M., & Torres, A. C. (2024). Fostering diversity and participation with school gardens: Examining possibilities and challenges under different national educational policies. Educational Process: International Journal, 13(2), 122–138. https://doi.org/10.22521/edupij.2024.132.8
Cottereau, D. (1999). Chemins de l’imaginaire. Pédagogie de l’imaginaire et éducation à l’environnement. La Caunette: Babio.
Daly, M. (1978). Gyn/ecology: The metaethics of radical feminism. Beacon Press.
Davies, B. (2021). Entanglement in the World’s Becoming and the Doing of New Materialist Inquiry. Routledge.
d’Eaubonne, F. (1974). Le féminisme ou la mort. Pierre Horay.
Fraser, N. (2023). Capitalismo caníbal. Siglo XXI.
Gaard, G. (2011). Ecofeminism Revisited: Rejecting Essentialism and re-placing Species in a Material Feminist Environmentalism. Feminist Formations, 23(2), 26–53. https://doi.org/10.1353/ff.2011.0017.
Gaard, G. (2015). Ecofeminism and Climate Change. Women’s Studies International Forum, 49, 20–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2015.02.004
Garden, A. (2025). Challenging gender and power dynamics in Forest Schools: an ecofeminist perspective. Education, 3-13, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2025.2483327
Garden, A., & Downes, G. (2024). New boundaries, undecided roles: Towards and understanding of Forest Schools as constructed spaces. Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education.
González Gaudiano, E. (2024). Cincuenta años de educación ambiental. ¿Cómo estamos en la debacle neoliberal? En E. González Gaudiano (Ed.), La formación de sujetos ecológicos en la universidad (pp. 107–130). Universidad Veracruzana.
González Gaudiano, E., Meira, P. A., & Gutiérrez Pérez, J. (2020). ¿Cómo educar hacia la complejidad de la crisis climática? Hacia un currículum de emergencia. Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa, 25(87), 843–872.
Gough, A., & Whitehouse, H. (2018). New vintages and new bottles: The “Nature” of Environmental Education from new Material Feminist and Ecofeminist Viewpoints. The Journal of Environmental Education, 49(4), 336–349. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2017.1409186
Gough, A., & Whitehouse, H. (2021). “How Did Australia End Up in This Mess?: Don’t Blame Women! Ecofeminism and Internationalism”. Redress, 30(1), 14–21.
Gough, A., Ho, Y. C. J., Lloro, T., Russell, C., Walters, S., & Whitehouse, H. (2024). Ecofeminisms and education: repositioning gender and environment in education. Gender and Education, 36(4), 299–311. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2024.2329289
Gracia Calandín, J. (2020). El desafío ético de la educación. Dykinson.
Gracia Calandín, J. (2023). Educación ética y filosófica en contextos de conflicto, heridas y vulnerabilidad. Dykinson.
Gutiérrez-Pérez, B. M., Ruedas-Caletrio, J., Caballero Franco, D., & Murciano-Hueso, A. (2024). La conexión con la naturaleza como factor clave en la formación de las identidades infantiles: una revisión sistemática. Teoría de la Educación. Revista Interuniversitaria, 36(1), 31–52. https://doi.org/10.14201/teri.31397
Hatten-Flisher, J., & Martusewicz, R. A. (2018). Ecofeminism and Education. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. Oxford University Press.
Nagl-Docekal, H. (1994). Feministische Philosophie: Ergebnisse, Probleme, Perspektiven. Wien: Böhlau.
Hickel, J. (2023). Menos es más: cómo el decrecimiento salvará el mundo. Capitán Swing.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2023). Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC. https://doi.org/10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647
Kim, H. (2023). Living as waste-bodies in a dump: feral sociality and ecofeminist education of ecotone. Gender and Education, 36(4), 312–327. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2023.2284792
Latour, B. (2021). Où suis-je? Leçons du confinement à l’usage des terrestres. Éditions La Découverte.
Louv, R. (2005). Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Algonquin Books.
Macy, J., & Brown, M. Y. (2014). Coming back to life: The updated guide to the Work That Reconnects. New Society Publishers.
Martín Sosa, N. (1997). Perspectiva ética. Fundación Universidad-Empresa.
Mellor, M. (2007). “Mujer, naturaleza y construcción social del ‘hombre económico’”. En C. Velayos, O. Barrios, Á. Figueruelo y T. López (Eds.), Feminismo ecológico. Estudios multidisciplinares de género. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, pp. 31–52.
Mycock, K. (2018). Playing with mud- becoming stuck, becoming free? The negotiation of gendered/class identities when learning outdoors. Children’s Geographies, 17(4), 454–466. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2018.1546379
Noske, B. (1989). Humans and Other Animals: Beyond the Boundaries of Anthropology. Pluto Press.
Orr, D. W. (1990). What Is Education For? Annals of Earth, 8(2), 5–8.
Orr, D. W. (1994). Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Piersol, L., & Timmerman. N. (2017). Reimagining Environmental Education Within Academia: Storytelling and Dialogue as Lived Ecofeminist Politics. The Journal of Environmental Education, 48(1), 10–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2016.1249329
Plumwood, V. (1993). Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. Routledge.
Plumwood, V. (2002). Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason. Routledge.
Puleo, A. H. (2011). Ecofeminismo para otro mundo posible. Cátedra.
Puleo, A. H. (2019). Claves ecofeministas. Plaza y Valdés.
Pulkki, J., & Keto, S. (2022). Ecosocial autonomy as an educational ideal. Relations Beyond Anthropocentrism, 10(2), 75–90. https://doi.org/10.7358/RELA-2022-02-PUKE
Pulkki, J, Varpanen, J., & Mullen. J. (2020). “Ecosocial Philosophy of Education: Ecologizing the Opinionated Self”. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 40, 347–364. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-020-09748-3
Rosa, H. (2016). Alienación y aceleración social. Hacia una teoría crítica de la temporalidad en la modernidad tardía. Katz.
Rosa, H. (2019). Resonancia. Una sociología de la relación con el mundo. Katz.
Sauvé, L. (2005). Uma cartografia das corrientes em educaçao ambiental. En M. Sato & I. Carvalho (Dir.), Educação ambiental - Pesquisa e desafios. Artmed, 17–46.
Sauvé, L. (2015). L’éducation relative à l’environnement. En D. Bourg & A. Papaux, Dictionnaire de la pensée écologique. Presses Universitaires de France, pp. 376-379.
Sauvé, L. (2017). Educación ambiental y ecociudadanía. Un proyecto ontogenético y político. Rev. Eletrônica Mestr. Educ. Ambient. Rio Grande, Edição especial: XVI Encontro Paranaense de Educação Ambiental, p. 261–278. E-ISSN 1517-1256.
Sauvé, L. (2024). El campo de la educación ambiental: Camino histórico y retos actuales. En E. González Gaudiano (Ed.), La formación de sujetos ecológicos en la universidad. Universidad Veracruzana, pp. 107–130.
Schwai, J. E. (2024). Forest Schools, Ecofeminism, the Gender Binary, and Androcentrism (Publication No. 3518) [Master’s thesis, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee]. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/3518
Shiva, V. (2024). El retorno a la Tierra. Regeneración del cuidado. Icaria.
Siegel, L. (2024). Ecofeminism ↔ Intraconnectivism: working beyond binaries in environmental education. Gender and Education, 36(4), 328–344. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2024.2327429
Starhawk. (1979). The spiral dance: A rebirth of the ancient religion of the Great Goddess. Harper & Row.
Stephens, A. (2013). Ecofeminism and Systems Theory. In Ecofeminism and Systems Thinking (pp. 15–27). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203767283-11
Sturgeon, N. (2009). Environmentalism in Popular Culture. University of Arizona Press.
Suárez Montoya, L., Orts García, M., & Fernández, M. (2024). Educación ética y filosofía para el desarrollo de hábitos sostenibles. Dykinson.
Tapia González, G. A. (2018). Mujeres indígenas en defensa de la Tierra. Cátedra.
Thornton, S. (2023). Eco-rational education: An educational response to environmental crisis. Routledge.
UNESCO. (1977). Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education, Tbilisi: Final Report. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0003/000327/032763eo.pdf
Warren, K. J. (1987). “Feminism and Ecology: Making Connections”. Environmental Ethics, 9(1), 3–20.
Warren, K. J. (2000). Ecofeminist Philosophy: A Western Perspective on what it is and why it Matters. Rowman & Littlefield.
Warren, K. J. (2015). Feminist Environmental Philosophy. En E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2015/entries/feminism-environmental/
Wiyatmi, W. Suryaman, M., Sari, E. S., & Dewi, N. (2023). Ecofeminist pedagogy in literary learning to cultivate environmental ethics awareness. Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry/Turkish Studies in Educational Sciences (TUSED), 14(1), 241-252. https://doi.org/10.36681/tused.2023.014
Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv12101zq
Berryman, T. (2003). L’éco-ontogenèse: les relations à l’environnement dans le développement humain – d’autres rapports au monde pour d’autres développements. Éducation relative à l’environnement. Regards – Recherches – Réflexions, 4, 207–228. https://journals.openedition.org/ere/5129?lang=en
Bourg, D., & Whiteside, K. (2010). Vers une démocratie écologique: Le citoyen, le savant et le politique. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
Caride, J. A., & Meira, P. A. (2018). Del ecologismo como movimiento social a la educación ambiental como construcción histórica. Historia De La Educación, 37, 165–197. https://doi.org/10.14201/hedu201837165197
Caride, J. A., & Meira, P. A. (2020). La educación ambiental en los límites, o la necesidad cívica y pedagógica de respuestas a una civilización que colapsa. Pedagogía Social. Revista Interuniversitaria, 36, 21–34. https://doi.org/10.7179/PSRI_2020.36.01
Carvalho, A. E., Blanc, S., Aguiar, M., & Torres, A. C. (2024). Fostering diversity and participation with school gardens: Examining possibilities and challenges under different national educational policies. Educational Process: International Journal, 13(2), 122–138. https://doi.org/10.22521/edupij.2024.132.8
Cottereau, D. (1999). Chemins de l’imaginaire. Pédagogie de l’imaginaire et éducation à l’environnement. La Caunette: Babio.
Daly, M. (1978). Gyn/ecology: The metaethics of radical feminism. Beacon Press.
Davies, B. (2021). Entanglement in the World’s Becoming and the Doing of New Materialist Inquiry. Routledge.
d’Eaubonne, F. (1974). Le féminisme ou la mort. Pierre Horay.
Fraser, N. (2023). Capitalismo caníbal. Siglo XXI.
Gaard, G. (2011). Ecofeminism Revisited: Rejecting Essentialism and re-placing Species in a Material Feminist Environmentalism. Feminist Formations, 23(2), 26–53. https://doi.org/10.1353/ff.2011.0017.
Gaard, G. (2015). Ecofeminism and Climate Change. Women’s Studies International Forum, 49, 20–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2015.02.004
Garden, A. (2025). Challenging gender and power dynamics in Forest Schools: an ecofeminist perspective. Education, 3-13, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2025.2483327
Garden, A., & Downes, G. (2024). New boundaries, undecided roles: Towards and understanding of Forest Schools as constructed spaces. Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education.
González Gaudiano, E. (2024). Cincuenta años de educación ambiental. ¿Cómo estamos en la debacle neoliberal? En E. González Gaudiano (Ed.), La formación de sujetos ecológicos en la universidad (pp. 107–130). Universidad Veracruzana.
González Gaudiano, E., Meira, P. A., & Gutiérrez Pérez, J. (2020). ¿Cómo educar hacia la complejidad de la crisis climática? Hacia un currículum de emergencia. Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa, 25(87), 843–872.
Gough, A., & Whitehouse, H. (2018). New vintages and new bottles: The “Nature” of Environmental Education from new Material Feminist and Ecofeminist Viewpoints. The Journal of Environmental Education, 49(4), 336–349. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2017.1409186
Gough, A., & Whitehouse, H. (2021). “How Did Australia End Up in This Mess?: Don’t Blame Women! Ecofeminism and Internationalism”. Redress, 30(1), 14–21.
Gough, A., Ho, Y. C. J., Lloro, T., Russell, C., Walters, S., & Whitehouse, H. (2024). Ecofeminisms and education: repositioning gender and environment in education. Gender and Education, 36(4), 299–311. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2024.2329289
Gracia Calandín, J. (2020). El desafío ético de la educación. Dykinson.
Gracia Calandín, J. (2023). Educación ética y filosófica en contextos de conflicto, heridas y vulnerabilidad. Dykinson.
Gutiérrez-Pérez, B. M., Ruedas-Caletrio, J., Caballero Franco, D., & Murciano-Hueso, A. (2024). La conexión con la naturaleza como factor clave en la formación de las identidades infantiles: una revisión sistemática. Teoría de la Educación. Revista Interuniversitaria, 36(1), 31–52. https://doi.org/10.14201/teri.31397
Hatten-Flisher, J., & Martusewicz, R. A. (2018). Ecofeminism and Education. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. Oxford University Press.
Nagl-Docekal, H. (1994). Feministische Philosophie: Ergebnisse, Probleme, Perspektiven. Wien: Böhlau.
Hickel, J. (2023). Menos es más: cómo el decrecimiento salvará el mundo. Capitán Swing.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2023). Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC. https://doi.org/10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647
Kim, H. (2023). Living as waste-bodies in a dump: feral sociality and ecofeminist education of ecotone. Gender and Education, 36(4), 312–327. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2023.2284792
Latour, B. (2021). Où suis-je? Leçons du confinement à l’usage des terrestres. Éditions La Découverte.
Louv, R. (2005). Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Algonquin Books.
Macy, J., & Brown, M. Y. (2014). Coming back to life: The updated guide to the Work That Reconnects. New Society Publishers.
Martín Sosa, N. (1997). Perspectiva ética. Fundación Universidad-Empresa.
Mellor, M. (2007). “Mujer, naturaleza y construcción social del ‘hombre económico’”. En C. Velayos, O. Barrios, Á. Figueruelo y T. López (Eds.), Feminismo ecológico. Estudios multidisciplinares de género. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, pp. 31–52.
Mycock, K. (2018). Playing with mud- becoming stuck, becoming free? The negotiation of gendered/class identities when learning outdoors. Children’s Geographies, 17(4), 454–466. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2018.1546379
Noske, B. (1989). Humans and Other Animals: Beyond the Boundaries of Anthropology. Pluto Press.
Orr, D. W. (1990). What Is Education For? Annals of Earth, 8(2), 5–8.
Orr, D. W. (1994). Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Piersol, L., & Timmerman. N. (2017). Reimagining Environmental Education Within Academia: Storytelling and Dialogue as Lived Ecofeminist Politics. The Journal of Environmental Education, 48(1), 10–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2016.1249329
Plumwood, V. (1993). Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. Routledge.
Plumwood, V. (2002). Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason. Routledge.
Puleo, A. H. (2011). Ecofeminismo para otro mundo posible. Cátedra.
Puleo, A. H. (2019). Claves ecofeministas. Plaza y Valdés.
Pulkki, J., & Keto, S. (2022). Ecosocial autonomy as an educational ideal. Relations Beyond Anthropocentrism, 10(2), 75–90. https://doi.org/10.7358/RELA-2022-02-PUKE
Pulkki, J, Varpanen, J., & Mullen. J. (2020). “Ecosocial Philosophy of Education: Ecologizing the Opinionated Self”. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 40, 347–364. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-020-09748-3
Rosa, H. (2016). Alienación y aceleración social. Hacia una teoría crítica de la temporalidad en la modernidad tardía. Katz.
Rosa, H. (2019). Resonancia. Una sociología de la relación con el mundo. Katz.
Sauvé, L. (2005). Uma cartografia das corrientes em educaçao ambiental. En M. Sato & I. Carvalho (Dir.), Educação ambiental - Pesquisa e desafios. Artmed, 17–46.
Sauvé, L. (2015). L’éducation relative à l’environnement. En D. Bourg & A. Papaux, Dictionnaire de la pensée écologique. Presses Universitaires de France, pp. 376-379.
Sauvé, L. (2017). Educación ambiental y ecociudadanía. Un proyecto ontogenético y político. Rev. Eletrônica Mestr. Educ. Ambient. Rio Grande, Edição especial: XVI Encontro Paranaense de Educação Ambiental, p. 261–278. E-ISSN 1517-1256.
Sauvé, L. (2024). El campo de la educación ambiental: Camino histórico y retos actuales. En E. González Gaudiano (Ed.), La formación de sujetos ecológicos en la universidad. Universidad Veracruzana, pp. 107–130.
Schwai, J. E. (2024). Forest Schools, Ecofeminism, the Gender Binary, and Androcentrism (Publication No. 3518) [Master’s thesis, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee]. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/3518
Shiva, V. (2024). El retorno a la Tierra. Regeneración del cuidado. Icaria.
Siegel, L. (2024). Ecofeminism ↔ Intraconnectivism: working beyond binaries in environmental education. Gender and Education, 36(4), 328–344. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2024.2327429
Starhawk. (1979). The spiral dance: A rebirth of the ancient religion of the Great Goddess. Harper & Row.
Stephens, A. (2013). Ecofeminism and Systems Theory. In Ecofeminism and Systems Thinking (pp. 15–27). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203767283-11
Sturgeon, N. (2009). Environmentalism in Popular Culture. University of Arizona Press.
Suárez Montoya, L., Orts García, M., & Fernández, M. (2024). Educación ética y filosofía para el desarrollo de hábitos sostenibles. Dykinson.
Tapia González, G. A. (2018). Mujeres indígenas en defensa de la Tierra. Cátedra.
Thornton, S. (2023). Eco-rational education: An educational response to environmental crisis. Routledge.
UNESCO. (1977). Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education, Tbilisi: Final Report. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0003/000327/032763eo.pdf
Warren, K. J. (1987). “Feminism and Ecology: Making Connections”. Environmental Ethics, 9(1), 3–20.
Warren, K. J. (2000). Ecofeminist Philosophy: A Western Perspective on what it is and why it Matters. Rowman & Littlefield.
Warren, K. J. (2015). Feminist Environmental Philosophy. En E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2015/entries/feminism-environmental/
Wiyatmi, W. Suryaman, M., Sari, E. S., & Dewi, N. (2023). Ecofeminist pedagogy in literary learning to cultivate environmental ethics awareness. Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry/Turkish Studies in Educational Sciences (TUSED), 14(1), 241-252. https://doi.org/10.36681/tused.2023.014
Gracia Calandín, J., & Fernández, M. (2026). Towards an Ecofeminist Ethic in Education to Address the Socio-Environmental Crisis. Teoría De La Educación. Revista Interuniversitaria, 38(2), 127–145. https://doi.org/10.14201/teri.32957
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