Participation Type
Paper
Session Title
Session 4.10 Environment and Ecology
Presentation #1 Title
Religious Environmentalism in Appalachia: Exploring the "Greening of Religion" Thesis
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Since the late 1960s, as social and environmental conditions around the world have become more dire, scholars associated with the academic study of Religion and Ecology have predicted a widespread “greening” of the world’s religious traditions--that religions would lead the way toward environmental sustainability. However, the hoped-for “ecozoic age” (as some scholars have termed it) seems slow in coming. A possible flaw with many of these academic approaches is that they have been too broadly focused—examining broad categories such as religious traditions and global climate change rather than specific communities and the local impacts of larger global problems. Based in research among faith-based environmental activists in Appalachia, this paper examines how these earlier predictions of a global “green future” for religion might be tempered when contextualized in local cases, such as 21st century Appalachian environmental movements. However, Appalachian examples of institutional religious environmental initiatives and individual religious/spiritual responses to perceived environmental and social injustices reveal that religious values may still play a significant role at the regional and community levels. The local religious voices of resistance against surface coal mining bring ethical arguments for environmental sustainability to the forefront of public discourse, providing alternatives to economic arguments supporting surface mining and helping to redefine the importance of connections to the biotic community in an increasingly globalized 21st century Appalachia. “Religion” as a general concept may not have a green future, but regional religious groups and individuals may indeed play integral roles in transitioning communities toward sustainability.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Joseph Witt is Assistant Professor of Religion in the Philosophy and Religion Department at Mississippi State University. He is also Assistant Editor of the Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture.
Religious Environmentalism in Appalachia: Exploring the "Greening of Religion" Thesis
Corbly Hall 464
Since the late 1960s, as social and environmental conditions around the world have become more dire, scholars associated with the academic study of Religion and Ecology have predicted a widespread “greening” of the world’s religious traditions--that religions would lead the way toward environmental sustainability. However, the hoped-for “ecozoic age” (as some scholars have termed it) seems slow in coming. A possible flaw with many of these academic approaches is that they have been too broadly focused—examining broad categories such as religious traditions and global climate change rather than specific communities and the local impacts of larger global problems. Based in research among faith-based environmental activists in Appalachia, this paper examines how these earlier predictions of a global “green future” for religion might be tempered when contextualized in local cases, such as 21st century Appalachian environmental movements. However, Appalachian examples of institutional religious environmental initiatives and individual religious/spiritual responses to perceived environmental and social injustices reveal that religious values may still play a significant role at the regional and community levels. The local religious voices of resistance against surface coal mining bring ethical arguments for environmental sustainability to the forefront of public discourse, providing alternatives to economic arguments supporting surface mining and helping to redefine the importance of connections to the biotic community in an increasingly globalized 21st century Appalachia. “Religion” as a general concept may not have a green future, but regional religious groups and individuals may indeed play integral roles in transitioning communities toward sustainability.
