Against Conservation of the Norm

Abstract How do we voice legitimate concerns about pollution and toxic exposure without resorting to gender panic? This article analyzes several examples of trans ecologies that are alternatives to the eco-heteronormativity and purity logic found in much environmentalism. In Eli Clare's “Meditations on Natural Worlds, Disabled Politics, and a Politics of Cure,” the author elucidates parallels and divergences between environmental restoration and health restoration/cure culture. In Land (2011), an animated film created by Puerto Rican artist Lares Feliciano, genderqueer and trans characters inherit a postapocalyptic world brought about by imperialism, environmental degradation, and queer- and transphobia. Lastly, Francesca Lia Block's young adult novel Love in the Time of Global Warming (2013) follows a band of queer and trans teens as they navigate a dystopian wasteland. These examples of trans ecologies illuminate links between queer, trans, and disabled flourishing and environmental regeneration that challenge the normative and curative tendencies in contemporary environmental discourse. They are also models of world building amid contamination, ruin, and transition.