nature is a
feminist issue
seed is a women-led ecofeminist organization that recognizes the entanglement of human and non-human life, working to advance a political ecology and multispecies justice centered on
women, nature, and animals
in the future
we envision
differences don't produce inequities; women are truly emancipated, indigenous peoples respected, animals liberated, and nature preserved. our food system is plant-based, equitable, sustainable, and healthy, nurturing human, non-human communities and the planet. forests, oceans, soils, all other ecosystems are restored. society has transcended the current utilitarian view of the environment and animals in favor of a non-anthropocentric and non-speciesist perspective, which positions humans as part of nature, not superior to it. people understand the interdependence of all living beings and that, in order for humans to thrive, nature and animals need to be able to flourish
we are women on a mission
to actively create that future, by promoting a just transition to a truly sustainable way of being together on the planet we all share, and expanding the notion of justice to include more than human subjects. we strive to bring together social, animal, environmental, and climate justice movements and to mobilize Western science, technology, and innovation to work alongside ancestral knowledge. informed by decolonial approaches and in allyship with traditional communities, we prioritize solutions focused on some of the most systemically oppressed humans and non-humans: people of global majority (Black and indigenous), from the global South, female smallholder farmers, endangered ecosystems and species, and farmed animals
our guiding
principles
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ecofeminisma branch of feminist theory which considers the entanglements between women, nonhuman animals, and nature, maintaining that women's oppression is linked to the domination of animals and the exploitation of nature. For instance, data shows that women disproportionately suffer the negative impacts of climate change, deforestation, water pollution, and environmental waste; especially poor, rural, and indigenous women in less developed countries. Thus, ecofeminists advocate for alternative ways of living together which overcome patriarchal, anthropocentric, and ethnocentric systems of oppression, domination, and exploitation, positioning humans as a part of nature, dependent on it and responsible for its care.
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multispecies justicea theoretical framework which seeks to reconceptualise the notion of justice by extending it beyond human beings. It challenges the human supremacy and exceptionalism upheld by Western thought by rejecting the idea that humans are separate or separable from nature and non human animals, the only beneficiaries of legal rights and remedies, and the sole species deserving moral and political consideration. Inspired by Indigenous thinking (which does not conceive of humans as ontologically distinct from nature and often recognizes the agency of non humans) MSJ challenges us to imagine the ways in which we can access and take into account the interests of animals and nature, striving to achieve the most just arrangement for all parties - human and nonhuman - when pursuing social and environmental justice solutions.
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political ecologyan interdisciplinary field which focuses on the relationships between political, economic, and social factors with environmental changes. It is a departure from apolitical ecology and environmentalism as it politicizes ecological issues, taking into account geopolitics and analysing how power relations and economic interests increasingly drive environmental exploitation, especially in less developed countries of the Global South. It thus exposes the unequal distribution of both the costs of environmental destruction and the conflicts over access and control of natural resources, putting in perspective, degradation and marginalization, conservation and control, and environmental conflict and environmental identities
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decolonisationoriginated in Latin America, it seeks to undo colonialist legacies in the economic, political and cultural spheres. It affirms that the colonisation of societies in the Global South was the condition of possibility for the European Modernity, the exploitation of its natural resources being the material basis of Europe’s industrial revolution and the consolidation of capitalism. Its humanist philosophy and its anthropological machine, construed an idea of "otherness" which allowed for the enslavement of indigenous and African people. The end of colonial rule did not put an end to "coloniality of power", but merely rearranged power relations in different terms, maintaining Latin American countries in subalternity, as resources exporting countries to this day. Decolonial thinking recognises that culture and political economy are deeply intertwined and that the binary oppositions which structure Eurocentric thought (developed/non-developed, barbarian/civilized, modern/archaic, subject/structure, discourse/economy, etc) need to be overcome through new epistemologies from the South.
the lives of
women and animals
are deeply connected
where we do our work
we are based in the United States and Brazil, and partner with local groups for specific interventions in other countries in South America and Southeast Asia. rather than following the traditional headquarters-affiliate structure, both of our offices are equally empowered entities with equivalent decision-making and control. despite working on global market issues, such as international trade, we prioritize systemic changes at the local and community levels, based on solutions which can then be extrapolated and scaled beyond those territories
which issues
we prioritize
+ climate and food justice: prioritizing land and nature-based solutions that protect the human and non human communities most affected by the climate crisis. on one hand, we focus on dismantling capital-intensive animal agriculture, feed monoculture industries, and their corporate concentration of food production. while on the other, we promote a shift to equitable land issue and a just transition to plant based, climate-resilient, regenerative, equitable agri-food systems that respect food sovereignty, the diversity of local and ancestral food cultures, while promoting the decommodification of food
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+ multispecies justice: expanding the notion of justice to include more than humans beings and striving to achieve the most equitable outcomes for both human and nonhuman communities when pursuing social and environmental justice. we seek to establish the inalienable rights of nature and animals, as beneficiaries of legal protection and remedies, and challenge the notion that nature and animals are property to be exploited for profit by industrial animal farming and other extractive industries
which tactics
we use
we prioritize interventions that lead to systemic change. as a multi-issue and allyship organization, we seek to work in cooperation through coalitions, collective impact frameworks, and partnerships with local groups, especially those led by women and indigenous people. we take a holistic approach to our programs, which combine a wide variety of tactics, including but not restricted to:
+ research and investigations: scientific research, investigative journalism, undercover and open source investigations;
+ awareness and pressure campaigns: targeting corporations and governments, and/or mobilizing civic engagement;
+ policy and legal advocacy: legislation and strategic litigation;

+ community-based projects developed with affected communities
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