Degrowth, ecofeminism, environmental crisis, animal liberation

Contribution to the special session on “Degrowth and Animal Liberation”
Keywords: Degrowth, ecofeminism, environmental crisis, animal liberation
Abstract: The so-called “livestock” industry is not only a tragedy of tremendous extent for the animals themselves, but has wider consequences, affecting the Global South first and foremost. The animal industry amounts to the waste of natural resources and environmental degradation and emits more greenhouse gases than the global transport sector. Moreover, almost one billion human beings concur in the demand for food with the animal industry’s use of grain for fodder–facts that have led to the concept of “environmental racism.” For ecofeminism, these global effects of the “livestock” industry are an example for the interconnected exploitation of women, nature, and other animals. Degrowth has integrated feminist demands such as valuing reproductive labor, care, and difference. In the age of the Anthropocene and ecological overshoot, it is about time that it acknowledges the interdependency of all beings by adopting animal liberation.