Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

We are at a precipitous time in the geological history of the planet. The relatively stable climate of the planet’s recent history is coming to a premature end and this is directly caused by human activity on the planet. This paper seeks to explain the social drivers of climate change by exploring the structures of our political, economic, and social systems that concurrently drive environmental degradation and social inequality. This paper focuses on these issues from both an ecofeminist and indigenous lens, to highlight the similarities of struggles, and the unique positionalities that offer a different perspective about the relationship between humans with one another and with nature. This paper begins by defining the crises and root causes at large, and then focuses on the crises of food insecurity and land management as a driver of climate change and injustice. It then explores current land management practices, agricultural practices, and the existing frameworks for laws and policies that create and reinforce these systems. This paper then explains what the International response has been to these crises and critically examines the effectiveness of the current and prospective solutions. The findings of this paper are that responses to ecological crises regarding land management and food insecurity have been negligent and are seeking cheap answers to quickly remedy the surface level of these problems, while ignoring the root causes and actively suppressing movements of resistance and alternative ideas and pathways. This paper then moves into an analysis of the prevailing paradigms of capitalism, colonialism, and neoliberalism and seeks to critically examine the narrative-building capacities around these institutions and then offers differing paradigms that directly challenge them. Eco- feminism, Food Sovereignty, and Agroecology are all movements centered around re-imagining what the social structure of the world could look like in a post-carbon, post-capitalist world that seeks to shift values in ways which re-prioritize the veneration of nature, respect for all forms of labor, the power of collective identity, and creating networks of shared resources and knowledges that are re-localized to be people and place specific. Finally, this paper concludes with policy recommendations to eliminate existing policies, to localize our food systems, to protect the rights of marginalized communities, and to shift investment into solutions that will create resilience in the face of climate change.