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Long article
Religion and environmental behaviour (part two): Dark-green nature spiritualities and the fate of the Earth
The Ecological Citizen Vol 3 No 2 2020: 135–40
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Access PDF of articleFirst published: 1 April 2020 | Permanent URL | Download citation in RIS format
Abstract
It has been claimed that a 'greening of religion' is underway within Earth's predominant world religions. As the first part of this article (in Vol 3 No 1 of The Ecological Citizen) showed, there is little evidence to support such a claim. In sharp contrast are individuals and groups animated by ecocentric or dark-green nature-based spiritualities, which are discussed in this, the second part of the article. The rapid growth, increasing influence and ecocentric priorities of these actors suggest that they could be the vanguard of a successful sustainability revolution – perhaps even of the formation of a politically powerful civil Earth religion. However, ideas and practices endemic to world religions that hinder environmental mobilization, the power and nature of the world's prevailing ideologies and the shrinking time for effective action, all darken the prospect that any particular religion or alliance among them will arise soon enough to avert the collapse of Earth's biocultural systems.
Keywords
Anthropocentrism, Environmental humanities, Religion, Worldviews