Ecowomanist method is rooted in the belief that those most affected by environmental injustice hold the wisdom, resilience, and vision needed to create lasting change. We employ an intersectional, holistic, spiritually-grounded approach that honors the interconnectedness of ecological health, community wellbeing, and social justice.
Our Core Practices
Cultivating Critical Ecological Literacies
We develop deep, multidimensional understandings of environmental and climate systems that go beyond Western scientific frameworks. Our educational approach:
- Integrates multiple ways of knowing: We weave together scientific knowledge, Indigenous and spiritual wisdom, experiential and contemplative learning, and community-based observation
- Centers environmental justice analysis: Participants learn to identify and articulate the root causes of environmental racism, extractive capitalism, and climate inequity
- Builds capacity for systems thinking: We explore the connections between environmental degradation, colonialism, patriarchy, racism, and economic exploitation
- Empowers community expertise: We honor and amplify the ecological knowledge that already exists within marginalized communities who have been stewarding land and resources for generations
Reclaiming the Sacredness of Earth and Community
We reject the commodification of nature and the fragmentation of communities; we instead nurturing relationships of reciprocity, reverence, and responsibility:
- Reconnecting with land as kin: Through ceremony, storytelling, and place-based learning, we restore understanding of ourselves as part of—not separate from—the natural world
- Building beloved community: We create spaces where authentic relationships flourish, where differences are honored, and where collective care and compassion become the foundation for collective action
- Honoring ancestral wisdom: We lift up the spiritual and ecological teachings passed down through generations, particularly those that have been suppressed or erased
- Celebrating the sacred in the everyday: We recognize environmental work as spiritual practice and community organizing as holy work
Engaging in Prophetic Action and Resistance
Our work speaks truth to power and actively challenges systems of oppression and extraction:
- Naming injustice boldly: We create spaces where communities can articulate their experiences of environmental harm and demand accountability
- Supporting frontline resistance: We stand in solidarity with communities fighting pipelines, polluters, land grabs, and climate destruction
- Mobilizing for policy change: We equip communities with tools to advocate for equitable environmental regulations, climate policy, and justice
- Disrupting harmful narratives: We challenge mainstream environmentalism that excludes marginalized voices and offer alternative visions rooted in compassion and justice
- Centering moral urgency: We frame environmental action as a spiritual and ethical imperative, not merely a technical or political challenge
Practicing Healing Justice
We recognize that communities facing environmental violence also carry deep historical and ongoing trauma. Healing is essential to sustainable activism:
- Creating spaces for collective healing: Our programs integrate practices that address the emotional, physical, psychological, and spiritual impacts of environmental racism and climate anxiety
- Addressing activist burnout: We provide resources and practices for sustainable engagement, recognizing that we cannot pour from empty vessels
- Honoring grief and joy: We make room for the full range of emotions that arise when confronting environmental crisis, and celebrate resilience and resistance
- Building trauma-informed movements: We teach leaders to recognize and respond to trauma within and beyond their communities and organizations by teaching trauma-informed methods
- Emphasizing rest as resistance: We challenge the productivity culture that often pervades activism and affirm that rest, pleasure, and community care are revolutionary acts
Teaching and Embracing Transformative Indigenous Spiritual Practices
We center Indigenous and spiritual cosmologies and practices that have sustained right relationships with the earth for millennia:
- Learning from Indigenous leaders: We create platforms for Indigenous teachers and knowledge-keepers to share wisdom on their own terms
- Practicing land-based spirituality: We engage in ceremonies, seasonal celebrations, and practices that deepen our connection to place and planet
- Honoring diverse spiritual traditions: We welcome the sacred practices of various cultural and spiritual backgrounds while being mindful of appropriation
- Integrating spirituality and activism: We demonstrate how spiritual practice can fuel and sustain environmental justice work
- Embracing interconnection: We live into the understanding that personal wellbeing, community health, and ecological balance are inseparable
The Result
Through these integrated practices, we empower communities to become confident agents of change. Participants don’t just learn about environmental justice—they embody it, practice it, and lead it. They develop the critical analysis to understand root causes, the spiritual grounding to sustain long-term commitment, the healing practices to care for themselves and others, and the organizing skills to build powerful movements.
Together, we are cultivating inclusive and equitable models of environmental and climate justice that are rooted in the wisdom of those most impacted, sustained by spiritual practice and healing, and oriented toward collective liberation.