A stretch too far?
Discussing climate change alongside The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu 2017-) is unorthodox but offers an alternative and marginalised perspective. Typically, when thinking of climate change, David Attenborough, Britain’s national treasure, comes to mind. But while attending the 2024 online CST Conference: Sustainability and Television, which ran from 24th June to the 4th of July, that all changed. Hulu’s adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale aligns with the discussion in several papers within the 2024 CST online conference. Particularly, it speaks to the discussion on “Mental Health in Unliveable Times: Screenings of Undone.”
The Handmaid’s Tale on its own stands as a gruesome narrative about the consequences of unchecked power and theocracy (DiPaolo, 2018:100). The discussion at the conference of the viewing of Undone (2019-2022) sparked my questioning on The Handmaid’s Tale as a climate narrative.
For me, The Handmaid’s Tale is unique in its deliberate, understated approach to the climate crisis. It blurs the lines of fiction and reality using historical tales and scientific fact (Atwood, 2015). Margaret Atwood, the novelist, herself declared The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) novel a piece of climate fiction through speculative storytelling (Louisiana channel, 2015). This is reinforced by the show’s deliberate dialogue, such as the creation of Gilead and subtle use of natural and artificial setting.
Bun in the oven?
The Handmaid’s Tale, while an excellent climate narrative, is not immune to criticism. When critically engaging with the show and novel it cannot be ignored that the Handmaid’s Tale is ‘white focused.’ Offred, the main character is a white woman. Therefore, the climate crisis and suffering within Gilead are from her perspective. Historically, many punishments that happen to the white Handmaids like Offred, in reality happened to Black and Brown women (Neville-Shepard, 2023). For example, the character of Emily undergoes Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and the wider sexual enslavement of women. The horror of the Handmaids’ continuous punishments is explored through a focus on white characters like Offred by Atwood, with the TV audience identifying with this narrative as opposed to being exposed to the reality of women of all colours suffering (Neville-Shepard, 2023).
As previously stated, the climate narratives within the conference highlighted the importance of marginalised voices. These findings directly correlate with my understanding of The Handmaid’s Tale: they are climate narratives that are the stories of women. Typically, women are marginalised within climate narratives and are not fully developed characters. Furthermore, ecologically feminist shows often dilute the intersectionality necessary for meaningful discussions about the role of all women in the climate crisis.
The Handmaid’s Tale centres the climate crisis-induced struggles of women. All women in the Handmaid’s Tale are stripped of their identity and individuality because of the ongoing climate crisis. This shows that womanhood is reduced to a fruitful womb under Gilead’s climate change response. Therefore, this intersection of women and climate change reinforces Dinnerstein’s (in Tong, 2017) point that woman and the natural world collectively suffer under the patriarchy.
Fertility is the main thing that The Handmaid’s Tale focuses on as a climate narrative because it is an active consequence that is caused by the climate crisis and global warming (Holte, 2022:117). Studies (Chen et al., 2021) see a correlation with the decline of fertility and ongoing climate crisis (Cuhan, 2020:27). Suddenly, to me, this television show and novel do not appear to be as fictitious anymore. In fact, The Handmaid’s Tale is a doubly dystopian prophecy that fulfils itself.
But it’s in the Bible?
To many people, The Handmaid’s Tale is merely a criticism of the treatment of women in organised religions and the patriarchy. However, biblical tales of Noah’s Ark, the importance of the family and stewardship brings forth the issues of global warming too. The idea behind stewardship is that the earth is awarded to humans to care for after the Fall. Within God’s divine order, humans have dominion over nature and have a responsibility for the natural world (Hart, 2017:432). Therefore, many Christians align with climate activists’ groups to do God’s work. This is the same logic that is weaponised by the Gilead government to justify their theocracy; they are saving the world. In addition, the maternal figure Mary is a beloved character for her chastity and lack of sin. Her defining traits are her virginity, and that she gave birth to Jesus (Tumanov, 2011:514). Atwood’s critique of theocracy in the Handmaid’s Tale presents a dichotomy of the role of women in religion and the interconnection of women’s suffering with that of the planet as Dinnerstein’s (in Tong, 2017) theories suggest.
The themes of reproductive injustice and climate crisis are discussed within the first episode. This is illustrated through the experiences of the main character Offred, including through the flashbacks to the development of Gilead, where Aunt Lydia says infertility is a plague from God, for the poor treatment of the planet (Jaisy, 2018). This connects to central themes of ecofeminism a term coined by Françoise d’Eaubonne in 1974, “argu[ing] for critical deconstructions of historical, cultural, and social dominions of women and nature in favour of a more complex, diversified, and hybrid bridging of the relationship between women and nature.” (Vakoch and Mickey, 2017:3)
Dinnerstein (in Tong, 2017) reinforces this religious and ecofeminist argument that the Handmaid’s Tale embodies. Dinnerstein believed that the world was being ravaged and brutalised by “the silent hatred of Mother Earth which breathes side by side with our love for her, and which, like the hate we feel for our human mothers, poisons our attachment to life” (in Tong, 2017:180). Interestingly, Dinnerstein’s understanding of ecofeminism highlights how the Gilead theocracy prioritises the protection of the patriarchy and birth rate at the expense of women. Gilead even goes as far as to utilise an oppressive regime to end the plague of infertility. The religious symbolism of infertility as a plague is only strengthened by the ten plagues in the book of Exodus [Exodus 9:14, NIV]: here, God sends these plagues for the Pharaoh’s persecution of the Jewish people. Aunt Lydia also states this wrath of God stems from the practises of casual sex, birth control pills and abortions. Consequently, the religious expression of “blessed be the fruit” on the sanctity of life. For the Gilead government (and coincidentally Project 2025), procreation and fertility are the priority (Carter, 2024).
This religious and political issue is best understood by the developments in the American Republican Party, Project 2025 which is an American conservative manifesto, supported by many Trump supporters and fellow conservatives. The aims of Project 2025 are to reverse all achievements and legislation relating to reproductive justice like abortion. Notably, this is not long after the reversal of the 1973 Roe vs Wade abortion legislation and the plans to defund organisations such as Planned Parenthood (Carter, 2024). In addition, Project 2025 believes in the reversal of all climate crisis related policies by making it increasingly more difficult to pass legislation to combat the climate crisis (Noor, 2023). Many politicians, like the commanders within The Handmaid’s Tale, justify their politics with their religious convictions. These beliefs can lead to political and scientific misinformation – that climate change is not real nor our problem. Instead, it is God’s plan.
Admittedly, I had to go through the series with a fine-tooth comb to find evidence of climate change. The most obvious example in the show was the depiction of the “Colonies.” The colonies are a place filled with radioactive waste where the “unwomen” are sent for labour. The term “unwomen” refers to people that subvert Christian and patriarchal ideology (DiPaolo, 2018:99), and they are referred to in episode one to instil fear in disobedient handmaids. The colonies are feared because the conditions are so vile that “your skin will peel and you will die” (Emily to Janine, a fellow Handmaid).
The topic of pollution is also subject of the dialogue between Offred and Nick, the driver. Nick warns Offred about the spoilt chicken having “crazy levels of dioxin” and joking the “tuna has mercury.” Their brief conversation over food show that global warming has contributed to food scarcity and unsanitary conditions.
These examples I have focused on are also a reality in the 21st century. Many women in sweatshops in Bangladesh are worked to the bone. These women, like the Handmaids, are exploited and seen as easily replaceable. Corporations do not even care for their welfare resulting in events like the horror of Rana Plaza (Begum and Butler, 2023). Secondly, global warming is affecting farming and food sources, which is a recurrent theme within the Handmaid’s Tale – including Offred being allowed rarities when she is “expecting” and the incident where the presence of oranges leave the Handmaids in shock. There is an increase in food droughts due to the poor weather conditions which make farming difficult at home and abroad (Halpin, 2023).
The experiences of Offred best encapsulate Atwood and the adaptions’ interpretation of a climate crisis story. In focusing on the story of Offred’s life before and during Gilead, the viewer sympathises with her. Hence scenes of the abuse and suffering she endured are even more disturbing, particularly because Offred’s never ending suffering is partly due to consequences of climate change. She is forced into the role of “surrogate” due to the drop in fertility which stems from global warming and human inaction (Ashton, 2022:115). Despite the patriarchy and all systemic forms of oppression contributing to the climate crisis, Atwood repeatedly highlights that women are the ones that suffer the most (Öztürk, 2020).
Even the setting of The Handmaid’s Tale contributes to the subtlety of this dystopian climate narrative. Within many flashbacks, especially happy ones, elements of nature are present. The lighting within these flashbacks is more natural to convey the joy and nostalgia of the pre-Gilead era. Whereas in scenes of Gilead, the greenery all looks artificial and fake as much as the success of the new country.
Without attending the CST conference on sustainability and television, I would never have considered The Handmaid’s Tale as a climate narrative, probably because The Handmaid’s Tale strays away from the typical narrative of climate crisis and the patriarchy. Atwood’s 1985 novel champions that climate crisis, ecofeminism and reproductive justice as intersectional. These intersections, shown within the series’ dual narrative of women’s stories and the impact of climate change, indicate that although climate change affects us all, women as the most marginalised are the most affected by them.
Uroosa Rashid is an undergraduate at Edge Hill University studying BA (Hons) Religion. She is currently working as an intern to the CST Conference. The internship was financed by Edge Hill University’s RIMES (Research Internships for Minority Ethnic Students) which aims to get more students from minorities backgrounds into research careers.
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