Intersectional Justice and Ecological Harm

Sor Juana's lived experience of multiple marginalized identities—woman, Indigenous-descended, intellectual outsider in patriarchal systems—illuminates how oppression operates simultaneously across dimensions. Applied to climate justice, intersectionality reveals that environmental harm never falls equally: Indigenous lands hold 80% of Earth's biodiversity yet their stewards face dispossession; women in the Global South bear disproportionate burdens of water scarcity and agricultural collapse; communities of color suffer proximity to pollution and toxic industries. Sor Juana's writings interrogated how systems reinforce one another to silence certain voices and elevate others. Climate justice must similarly refuse singular narratives and instead trace how colonialism, capitalism, racism, and patriarchy combine to create ecological crises while protecting wealthy polluters. Solutions rooted in intersectionality center frontline communities' knowledge and leadership, redistribute resources equitably, and dismantle the interlocking systems that permit some to externalize environmental costs onto others. This approach rejects technocratic fixes that ignore power relations and human dignity.