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PHENOMENOLOGY AND ECOFEMINISM 195

outlines of courses in environmental ethics taught from a feminist
perspective. Articles on this aspect of environmentalism will probably
continue in the philosophical and feminist journals. We may expect
anthologies of papers on ecological feminism to be forthcoming.
Environmentalists will find feminists at the forefront of the movement
to save the earth. Environmentalists are discovering that a crucial feature
of environmental action is economic. This concern for economic realities
has been called the "fourth stage of environmentalism,'' following the first
stage of resource conservation led by Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford
Pinchot, the second stage of concern over pollution which followed
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, and the third stage of recognition of moral
obligation to the natural environment itself. The fourth stage does not
displace the concerns of the first three stages, but it recognizes that
environmental preservation is not unrelated to the economic realities of
the world's nations. It involves the economies of the developed nations
which use most of the worlds irreplaceable resources and cause most of
the pollution. It also involves the economies of the poorer so-called third
world nations, whose people destroy the forests in a desperate search for
fuel and space for agriculture and livestock. The concerns expressed by
women at the Rio Summit and at the World Women's Congress show
that they have been pioneers in the fourth stage of environmentalism as
they joined efforts on behalf of the natural environment to their social
agenda.
It is imperative that humans achieve a sustainable society on this
planet. If we fail to do this, we will destroy the most highly developed
life forms, if not all life. Achieving a world society which can last into
the foreseeable future will not be easy. The greatest difficulty is not
technological. It is the problem of human motivation. Life in a sus-
tainable economy will require more frugality, more simplicity, than people
in the developed countries are accustomed to. For people in the less
developed countries, it will mean forgoing the dream of hving like
affluent Americans.
It seems obvious that the "macho" ways of thinking and acting which
lead to plundering and polluting the planet cannot motivate acceptance
of the ways of life which wiU be necessary in a sustainable society.
A deeper look at the "macho" attitudes will be insightful. The
attitudes and approaches which led to wasteful use of natural resources
and despoliation of the natural environment include the excessive use of
force in undertaking very large projects and completing them in a short