Women, Climate Crisis, And Sustainable Futures: An Ecofeminist Reading of Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior and Octavia E. Butler's Parable Of The Sower

Abstract Contemporary American literature increasingly responds to the ecological crises generated by climate change, environmental degradation, resource depletion, social inequality, and unsustainable human practices. Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior (2012) and Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower (1993) offer powerful literary representations of societies confronting environmental instability and its social consequences. Although the novels differ significantly in genre, historical context, and narrative form, both place women at the centre of ecological and social transformation. This paper examines the representation of women, nature, climate crisis, environmental justice, and sustainable futures in the two novels through an ecofeminist framework. It focuses particularly on Dellarobia Turnbow in Flight Behavior and Lauren Olamina in Parable of the Sower, arguing that their experiences reveal the interconnectedness of environmental exploitation, patriarchal structures, economic inequality, and social vulnerability. In Kingsolver’s novel, the unexpected arrival of monarch butterflies in rural Appalachia becomes a visible manifestation of climate disruption and a catalyst for Dellarobia’s intellectual and personal awakening. In Butler’s dystopian narrative, climate change, drought, water scarcity, violence, economic collapse, and displacement create a world in which Lauren must develop new forms of survival and community. The paper further argues that both novels move beyond representations of ecological catastrophe by imagining possibilities for resilience, ecological consciousness, collective responsibility, and sustainable futures. Their concerns correspond particularly with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including gender equality, reduced inequalities, sustainable communities, responsible consumption, and climate action. Through a comparative ecofeminist reading, this study demonstrates that contemporary American literature can function as an important cultural space for interrogating environmental injustice and imagining alternative relationships between women, society, and the natural world.