Terry Tempest Williams: Ecofeminist, storyteller, activist

This study elucidates the role of Terry Tempest Williams as an ecofeminist and activist through her growing body of written work, interviews, and environmental activities. This examination centers Williams as a voice speaking against pollution that threatens lives and disrupts ecosystems, denouncing destruction of wild life, working to preserve wilderness, taking a position against business and governmental programs that endanger the natural environment, and involving herself in critical health issues created by humankind's imprudent actions.;Williams's environmental philosophy has been shaped and defined by her background as a Mormon. Mormonism has contributed to Williams's sense of place, and her concept of the spiritual nature of the earth. Williams, however, struggles with the contradiction of blending an individual philosophy built around Mormonism with its strong patriarchal organization and the ecofeminist philosophy that calls for removing power and potency from the patriarchy. Resolving this conundrum has created in Williams a unique spirituality, sometimes at odds with orthodox Mormonism, but vigilant in environmental matters.;Williams is connected to a complex web of human lives, a genealogical landscape, as well as to the physical landscape. Williams's mother is one of seven female family members who has died of cancer seemingly related to downwind radiation exposure from nuclear testing by the United States Government in the Nevada Desert. This personal tragedy, along with Williams's scientific background as an environmental educator and. director of Utah's Museum of Natural History, explains Williams's passionate pleas for protection against those human forces that pollute the earth and destroy its life forms.;Williams has used several forms of media through which to express her support for the environment, her primary vehicle being authorship. in addition Williams speaks in the public forum, lobbies for environmental protection legislation, participates in civil protest, and works wherever necessary to shape and secure earth's future. This critical analysis clarifies what is valuable within Williams's work and analyzes its implications on society.