The Hidden Labor of Mothers in Climate Movements: Why We Must Reclaim Maternal Wisdom

Mothers have always been stewards of life—not just of their children but of their communities, ecosystems, and the future itself. For decades, maternal-led movements have tackled critical environmental issues, grounding their activism in the ethics of care, interdependence, and place-based wisdom. Yet, despite their pivotal role, mothers’ labor and wisdom are often invisibilized, unvalued, and erased—particularly in mainstream environmental organizations.

A recent article in Nature, “The Rise of Parent-Led Climate Movements,” highlights the growing role of caregivers in climate advocacy but positions this as a “new” narrative that moves away from maternal archetypes. This framing not only erases the long and storied history of maternal activism but also dismisses the feminist care ethics that underpin it. By shifting toward a gender-neutral “caregiver” framing, the article perpetuates the invisibility of maternal labor and wisdom, ignoring the very foundation upon which much of environmental care work rests.

This blog critiques that erasure while also examining the developmental risks of green motherhood and the systemic sidelining of maternal efforts in broader environmental movements. It is both a critique of this systemic invisibility and a call to reclaim the power and presence of maternal care in shaping the world we need.

Mothers: The Invisible Backbone of Environmental Care Work

Across the globe, mothers are the overwhelming majority of people performing environmental care work—often unpaid and unseen. They plant trees, lead community clean-ups, pressure local governments, and raise awareness about climate and ecological threats. Yet, in mainstream environmental organizations, paid leadership roles are dominated by men, while women—especially mothers—are relegated to unpaid grassroots organizing.

The Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering notes that mothers often form their own grassroots groups because larger environmental organizations fail to prioritize their place-based concerns . Issues like playground pollution, water toxins, and air quality—directly impacting children’s health—are dismissed as insignificant. This systemic dismissal reflects a broader pattern: maternal wisdom and care ethics are devalued within the professionalized environmental movement, even as they remain central to the work that sustains it.

The Nature article perpetuates this invisibility by shifting from a maternal framework to a generalized “caregiver” narrative without acknowledging that mothers have long been the heart of environmental care and have developed this approach. Far from being “new,” this ethic of care has driven maternal activism for decades, and its erasure risks eroding the relational, place-based advocacy that has always been foundational to environmental justice.

The Green Motherhood Trap: Burden Without Power

The cultural phenomenon of “green motherhood” deepens this erasure. Framed as the moral keepers of sustainability, mothers are expected to lead the charge in eco-conscious living—recycling, composting, reducing energy use, and educating their children about climate change. This “third shift” of environmental care work comes on top of traditional caregiving and professional responsibilities, leaving mothers isolated in cycles of guilt and exhaustion.

As I explain in my article Untangling the Double Bind of Carework in Green Motherhood: An Ecofeminist Developmental Path Forward, green motherhood may appear empowering, but it serves as a developmental trap . It shifts responsibility for systemic ecological harm onto individual mothers while absolving corporations and governments of accountability. Worse, it reinforces patriarchal norms, treating women’s unpaid labor as an endless resource for solving the world’s problems.

The Nature article fails to interrogate this dynamic, celebrating the rise of caregiver-led movements without addressing how they often rely on unpaid maternal labor. By framing environmental advocacy as a moral imperative for caregivers without challenging systemic inequities, the article risks perpetuating the very exploitation it seeks to address.

Matrescence and the Transformative Potential of Maternal Activism

The erasure of maternal wisdom also overlooks the transformative potential of matrescence—the psycho-spiritual transition into motherhood. Matrescence often awakens a deep ecological consciousness, connecting mothers to the interdependence of all life. However, this awakening is frequently co-opted by green motherhood narratives, which confine ecological growth to consumer-driven acts of “goodness” rather than systemic change.

What the Nature article misses is that maternal activism is not just about care for the next generation—it is a radical challenge to anthropocentric and patriarchal systems. When rooted in feminist care ethics and supported by ecofeminist frameworks, matrescence becomes a pathway to collective transformation. It invites mothers to move beyond individual responsibility into the relational and systemic dimensions of environmental justice.

Reclaiming Maternal Wisdom in Climate Movements

To truly address the climate crisis, we must recognize and center the labor, wisdom, and leadership of mothers. This means:

• Valuing Maternal Labor: Mothers’ contributions to environmental care work should be made visible, honored, and funded. Their grassroots efforts are not “small-scale” but foundational to environmental justice.

• Challenging Systemic Inequities: The gendered division of labor in environmental organizations must be dismantled. Paid leadership roles should reflect the realities of who is doing the work on the ground.

• Moving Beyond Green Motherhood: Mothers deserve more than guilt and endless labor. We must shift the focus from individual responsibility to systemic accountability, demanding action from corporations, governments, and institutions.

• Honoring Place-Based Wisdom: Maternal-led movements grounded in local, place-based concerns are vital. These are not side issues—they are the heart of ecological resilience and justice.

A New Narrative: Mothers as Architects of Change

By framing the “caregiver narrative” as new and post-maternal, the Nature article overlooks the long-standing contributions of maternal activism and the ethics of care. Historically, mothers have been forced to create their own movements to address place-based risks dismissed by larger organizations. These efforts, deeply relational and rooted in care for the most vulnerable, challenge the disconnect between professionalized environmentalism and lived ecological realities.

The future demands that we honor maternal wisdom—not as a burden placed on mothers, but as a guiding light for transformative change. When we support mothers as leaders, value their labor, and amplify their voices, we create movements that are grounded, relational, and powerful enough to address the scale of the crises we face.

Mothers have always been the heart of environmental care. It’s time we recognized their labor and wisdom for what it is: the roots of a livable future.