Eco-Grief and Ecofeminism | Heidi Hutner | TEDxSBU

Heidi Hutner's talk on "Eco-Grief and Ecofeminism", is the story her journey into environmental teaching and activism, after her cancer diagnosis at 35, and after the loss of her parents. Both parents had cancer. This inspiring talk moves from grief to hope, and calls on each of us to act. She draws on a history of women scientists and environmentalists for her inspiration. If we do act, as Heidi says, "we can fix this thing."
Dr. Heidi Hutner is the director of the Sustainability Studies Program at Stony Brook University. She teaches and writes about environmental literature and film, environmental justice, ecofeminism, ecocriticism, and media. Shewrites for magazines and literary journals such as Ms. Magazine, Yes!, Spirituality and Health, Tikkun, American Society for Literature and the Environment, Proximity, Florida Journal Studies, and more, and she has contributed articles to environmental anthologies published by Oxford University Press, Palgrave, and others.
Currently, she is working on two environmental memoirs entitled Inspiring Green Minds: Memoirs of An Eco Professor and Nowhere: Memoirs of an Atomic Family.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@zoex7993]

Hands down this is the most underrated ted talk of all time. Such an important message here, & stated so eloquently.

[@heidihutner9861]

Thank you so much!

[@mollymcmullen1943]

I love how she opens her arms at the end - very powerful. The love of the mother earth.

[@hudakilci49]

Calling earth, ''mother'' earth is a bit of problematic when you are looking at it from an eco-feminst point of view. You can not expect earth to be loving and caressing like a ''mother'', when we are exploiting it without even thinking about what is going to be happening to earth.

[@clairecharron2258]

THANK YOU Heidi Hutner. I LOVE YOU!

[@brainwizard8915]

The story gave me chills too.

[@KL2013Teach]

Professor Hutner is my colleague and she is always so inspiring. This video, though, is just off the charts!

[@nancyvann9462]

Yes - we will fix this thing!!!

[@gusserks5609]

Beautiful and so inspiring

[@keerthilanka22]

INCREDIBLE

[@futuroesindigena7430]

¡Muchas gracias Doctora Heidi Hutner por una charla tan asombrosa!. "Antes de la década de los 50 el cáncer en niños era prácticamente inexistente". Lo dice todo acerca de la industrialización... ¡Muchas gracias de nuevo!. Thank you Doctor Heidi Hutner for such an amazing talk!. "Before the 1950s cáncer in children was practically nonexistent...". It says it all about industrialisation... ¡Thank you so much again!.

[@kallijayasuriya7025]

I'm going through eco grief right now

[@janicedubroff3711]

Eco-Grief. THank you, Heidi for giving this deep, too frequent feeling a name. I am glad you are speaking out about the destruction we humans are wreaking upon our precious green and blue spaceship. It effects us all, even the deniers, who may see fewer healthy days. Some of us can do a little and some of us can do a lot to try to turn things around. Something, I believe, all of us can and should do is communicate to our elected representatives whether by signing a petition or crafting our own letters or phone communications. I let mine know that the topics of food source purity and superfund clean-ups are top priority issues for me. If they vote along corporate funding lines as opposed to listening to the majority of voters, I let them know I will do my best to vote them out. And I do vote my conscience. As a large group we do have clout; they are our representatives, but grief needs to find its response in activism as you say, whether it be voting, writing a letter to the editor, or very importantly, putting your politics into your purchases. Or nothing will change.

[@terradouglas5072]

Thank you Heidi. I belong to the West Lake Landfill fb page and Just Moms STL and am reaching out to other groups so thamk you for sharing the names of other groupsI can contact. i am also going to your website for more info.

[@heidihutner9861]

I admire you so much for the work you all are doing!

[@terradouglas5072]

So here I am. What can I do? I am involved in the battle of removing nuclear waste at the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, MO. A bi-partisan bill was just introduced to turn this superfund Site over to USACE FUSRAP program from the EPA who has done nothing for over 20 years. I know we will win this fight. If you want to help, call your Senator and Representatives and them to pass S 2306 and HR 4100. This is just the beginning. I believe we all need to join together and stop the production of Nuclear power. No one in the world knows what to do with the waste and in the meantime people are getting sick and dying. And these contaminates will be around for generations and generations. We are the victims of World War II. I am ready to be a part of this change. We need to join together around the world and say NO MORE. Just tell me where I can be the most help.

[@oceanceaser44]

Jesus christ you are not an environmentalist if you are against nuclear power

[@ashethrashproduction]

What? How can an environmentalist be pro nuclear power given we know what nuclear energy does to people and the environment

[@joshuadominic2116]

Actually, nuclear power isn't harmful if it is contained and used safely. It is actually a source of renewable energy. What Terra Douglas is saying are the nuclear WASTE which is obviously bad.

[@heidihutner9861]

@@oceanceaser44 if you knew what you were talking about.... read up on the landfill. It has nothing to do with nuclear power....

[@CoolBreezeAnthony]

Now we are having to deal with micro-plastics. June 22, 2019. We do need to at least try to fix it.

[@darty18]

Growing population + better diagnosis. Yes, of course, it's rising!

[@bobleonard7122]

wonder how Rachel Carson would feel about this presentation, maybe I'm not being fair but in her era of action focus was on action not PBS Health Help style, polished for TED presentations that will likely prompt few in the audience to take action. The bell was rung decades ago by the people she mentioned. I want to hear from the people answering the bell, the bell on the Titanic rang until it sunk, everyone knew it was going down. At some point the sound of the bell serves little purpose but to satisfy the bell ringer that they are doing their job. Bad title, I was looking for more EF content and less personally focused story telling.

[@michaelwatts5481]

We need to spread awareness of how eating animal products is the number one contributer to climate change.

[@alysonbardsley3553]

There are objections to make to this talk, but the hurt bros in the comments are laughable.

[@oceanceaser44]

Eco-grief: removing science and facts and replacing them with emotions

[@jenniferjennifer9612]

oceanceaser that’s a good thing!

[@dariand356]

What is illogical about looking at the scientific data about the direction our world is headed towards, mass extinction, environmental destruction, water scarcity, and feeling grief towards that impending loss? It is a natural process for humans to feel grief over the loss of things important to them.

[@melusine826]

I have science and facts, which creates my grief. We need both. We are feeling beings that just happen to be able to think. 💚

[@MediaSock]

Who would've guessed the answer to climate change was feminism? if only we all just converted to feminism the weather would just fix itself.

[@ieatmylice4798]

clearly you don't understand what ecofeminism is

[@egg4489]

@@ieatmylice4798 in a nutshell It means the entire earth and nature belongs to women

[@zoinksscoobdoob]

@@egg4489 clearly you don't understand what ecofeminism is

[@AudioPervert1]

How many flights does she take a year? What is her net carbon emission in tons? Lets ask some real questions, instead of this historicism and theoretic verbose.

[@waaromnietEmma]

This is an odd question for someone with an XR logo profile picture. No blaming and shaming, hello?

[@wrestle4life234]

I don’t think she has ever heard of a liver

[@myleskroll6820]

This is the worst media I consumed in probably 5 years

[@nortonwedge]

"I ate only organic..." Well, there's the level of scientific knowledge she has, not much at all.

[@melindacarrhemmelgarn1879]

Dan, I realize you posted this comment two years ago, so likely you have seen additional research and have changed your thinking. But as a Registered Dietitian who has an understanding of the connections between food, health and agriculture, and has served on multiple organic farming boards and the Beyond Pesticide Board, I can assure you that organic farming makes a positive difference to both the eater, and the farm worker families, plus water quality and soil integrity/health. I advise consumers and clients to make the organic food choices whenever possible, err on the side of caution, and think beyond ourselves to consider the impact of our food and farming choices on the planet and public health. If interested, you might enjoy the interviews I've archived on Food Sleuth Radio - a Pacifica network program and podcast. All my best.

[@nortonwedge]

@@melindacarrhemmelgarn1879 I'm sorry Melinda, but as a Greenhouse Technician, I'm more of an expert on this topic. There have been endless studies comparing the chemical make ups of regular vs organic foods, which have found no difference, all things being equal. That's because plants don't care where or how they get nutrients, only that they get the proper amounts. So no, organic food isn't better for consumers, it's a marketing tactic. As for soil health, yes, organic can be very beneficial, for certain soil types. Sandy soils however actually need synthetic, as everything washes away. This means organic applications won't create the proper biodiversity need to break down the nutrients. Beyond soil types, the scale of land that we need to use prohibits the use of organics, as it's hard to achieve the proper biodiversity, therefore leading to crop failures. As for organic pesticides, I use many, as I grow cannabis in Canada and must confirm to Health Canada's strict guidelines. Many can be more harmful than synthetics. Synthetic pesticides work so much better, I miss the days of using them on floral crops. There is a reason we had a "green revolution" in the 50s when we started using synthetic nutrients and pesticides, they work. So while I do applaud your attempts, you seem to be lacking quite a bit of information outside of your expertise. Have a nice day.

[@tiaeshanicole6735]

Is she serious? I am here for a class project, but this seems pretty "out there to me". There are toxins everywhere, how she thinks she can avoid them is a mystery to me.

[@_yuxuanzoeee4070]

same, it's the year of 9102....

[@melindacarrhemmelgarn1879]

The idea is to stop the toxin production at the tap to improve environmental quality for future generations.

[@heidihutner9861]

hmmm I make this same point. Maybe listen again?

[@MiMmusic0414]

Someone please remind me by MEN are in charge of most political regimes when it's WOMEN FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT? Who are the DRIVEN and MOTIVATED ones recognizing and validating scientific, political, and economic issues???