About the "Climate in Crisis" Issue

Welcome to the Spring 2021 issue of Rejoinder, an online journal published by the Institute for Research on Women (IRW) at Rutgers University in partnership with The Feminist Art Project.

This issue of Rejoinder explores the climate crisis in our midst. The climate breakdown is causing rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and the circulation of new pathogens. Women and children, the majority of the world’s poor, are already disproportionately burdened by its effects. “Climate change,” as former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson so astutely notes, “requires a feminist solution.” As the essays, poetry, and art in this issue of Rejoinder show, feminists are at the forefront of documenting the intensifying climate catastrophe and acting in creative ways to avert its worst effects. Whether through recognizing the links between environmental and other forms of degradation, championing a moral imperative to redress climate wrongs, or advancing activist struggles, feminists are leading efforts to protect the planet and foster climate justice. But this path is not straightforward, as many of our contributors illustrate. Even climate science, which seeks to explain anthropogenic shifts, is a profoundly complex undertaking. As Stephanie Jordan and Amanda Thackray ask in the final essay of this collection: “How can we acknowledge that privilege, intersectional oppression, white supremacy, and gendered harassment underlie the doing of climate science while holding that climate science is built for interspecies survival?”

We hope that you enjoy the thought-provoking collection of articles, poetry, and art in the sixth issue of Rejoinder. We extend deep thanks to all our contributors. We particularly thank Ameena Qobrtay, Nik Ianuzelli, Moazima Ahmed, and Eddie Konczal for their help with this issue. Please subscribe to Rejoinder to receive future issues and join our email list to learn more about IRW.

Sarah Tobias
Editor

Andrea Zerpa
Art Editor