Along with Carol J. Adams and Batya Bauman, Marti Kheel in the 1990s and thereafter made a tremendous impact on my thinking about our relationship with animals.

They introduced me to ecofeminism and my understanding of what animal rights meant to me deepened both professionally and personally.

It is with this is in mind that it is with great sorrow that I note here Marti’s recent death from leukaemia.

If there is one thing that I think we can to do to remember Marti it is to read her excellent book, Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective. Here’s one of my favourite insights:

Outside the field of ecofeminism most nature philosophers continue to ignore the relevance of gender to destructive practices toward nature. A holistic ecofeminist philosophy, in contrast, begins by naming this reality. It seeks to identify not only the dualistic ideologies that perpetuate the abuse of nature, women, and marginalized others, but the ways in which those ideologies are intertwined with psychosocial identities. Ecofeminists must also turn their critical analysis to the field of nature ethics, remaining alert to residues of masculinism within other nature philosophies. Although identifying the influence of gender on moral conduct and thought will not eliminate masculinism, it can provide a first step toward destablizing its influence. (p.218)