Dr. Vandana Shiva draws attention to the artificial conflict between “economic growth” and “environmental sustainability” that dominates commodity-based economies. Wealth generated by destroying the carrying capacity of the planet is in fact impoverishment:

“We  are living in a global economy of genocide, and it is rooted in these decisions because of the destruction of democracy… One of the costs that this genocidal economics has had is that it has robbed us of our very humanity. It has killed our humanity both by making us so scared all the time of the future by leaving us no public system, no public security, but also by telling us ‘‘all you are are just shoppers in the global marketplace. Someone has to produce cheap goods somewhere, all you have to do is buy.’’ (Shiva 2010).

Simply put, ecofeminists seek to overcome the false separation of “man” from “nature”.We recognize our interrelatedness with each other and all Creation. Due to this interrelatedness, we have an ethical duty to those with whom we are interdependent.

The notion that the western scientific view of separation of (hu)Man from Nature at the root of exploitative relationships like deforestation is not a neutral view, nor is it based in science as it is understood today by the disciplines within that same western scientific paradigm.