Women have not always found themselves at the forefront of history, but that never stopped them from consistently shaping the world for the better, a visiting author said on Tuesday.

Linda Hogan, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated author and activist, delivered her lecture “Women Watching Over the World” as part of Women’s History and Awareness Month, sponsored by the Women’s Studies Program.

Hogan said all people are now living in a world of ecological disaster, brought on by problems ranging from fracking to deforestation.

In spite of the desperate need to address these problems head on, most of the population continues to ignore them, Hogan said.

“There are now people who walk in dirty water, who live in dirty water, who give birth in dirty water because of ways the world are changing,” she said. “It is women who are mostly talking about this.”

Hogan also said there is no easy path toward changing the world, but everyone has the same potential to make a positive effect.

“I don’t believe men and women have different imaginations,” she said. “And I do believe we can create change through the imagination.”

Hogan said women from the Chickasaw, a Native American tribe that Hogan herself is descended, held constructive positions for years and suggests that more women can do the same in today’s society.

“We had many women warriors and peace ambassadors,” Hogan said. “Their names have been lost to history, but they were people with imagination.”

Part of the problem is when people have stopped taking an interest in one another’s well-being when money is at stake, such as is the case in Oklahoma where natural gas companies run the risk of poisoning residents, Hogan said.

“What happens is that people in poverty and people in racially concentrated areas are taken advantage of because they don’t have the means or knowledge of how to fight back. People who do this don’t care if you live or die.”

Hogan also took to spreading her message of ending isolation and promoting change through her art, as she did in her poem “History” that she read to the audience.

“We are so used to it now, this country where we do not love enough,” she said. “Only do we need to remember what we do to one another, it is so fierce.”

Lindsay Hrebic, a junior psychology major, said Hogan’s message of being able to make an impact in the world was encouraging.

“She is very motivating,” Hrebic said. “She makes me want to make change.”

Nicholas Dalton, a junior psychology major, said he had never read any of Hogan’s works before her lecture, but that her uncommon view of how people can interact caught his attention to the point that he will seek out more of her work.

“It was really neat to me that she had a different perspective on how people should look at things,” Dalton said. “People just need to learn to be nice to other people and taking the wealth that makes them powerful and giving it back. People just don’t do that anymore.”

Andrew Crivilare can be reached at 581-2812 or ajcrivilare@eiu.edu.