Domestic Environmental Labour: An Ecofeminist Perspective on Making Homes Greener (Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies)

This book addresses the question of domestic environmental labour from an ecofeminist perspective. A work of cultural geography, it explores the proposition that the practice and politics of domestic labour being undertaken in the name of ‘the environment’ needs to be better recognized, understood and accounted for as a phenomenon shaped by, and shaping of, gender, class and spatial relations. The book argues that a significant yet neglected phenomenon worthy of research attention is the upsurge in voluntary, and yet mostly unrecognized, domestic environmental labour in high-consuming households in late modernity, with the burden often falling on women seeking to green their lives and homes in aid of a sustainable planet. Further, because domestic environmental labour is undervalued in governance and the formal economy, much like other types of domestic labour, householders have become an unrecognized and unaccounted-for supply of labour for the greening of capitalism. Situated within broad global debates on links between ecological and social change, the book has relevance in the many jurisdictions around the world in which households are positioned as sites of environmental protection through green consumption. The volume engages existing interest in household environmental behaviour and practice, advancing understanding of these topics in new ways. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction The mysterious absence of domestic environmental labour Scope of the book Chapter outline Notes References Chapter 2: The green home imperative Homemaking Green capitalism – setting the scene Domesticating greening: the home as site of environmental concern The promise of reduced labour: the dominant greening agenda Green consumption work Idealized domestic greener Summary Notes References Chapter 3: Privatizing greening and the work of green technology Working to green the home Standalone houses versus apartments Off-gridding Suburban water tanks Recycling Outsourcing domestic environmental labour Summary References Chapter 4: Reclaiming domestic environmental labour: Alternative domestic green politics Refashioning domestic green politics withcreative labour: sewing and blogging Summary Chapter 5: Conclusion: Nature, work, home The labour of domestic greening: what to do whenthe work is too hard and technology fails References Index This book addresses the question of domestic ecological labour from an ecofeminist perspective, creating new ground at the intersection of critical labour, environmental, and gender studies.