Relgion and Ecology 2021

  Homosapians had evolved in nature but had subsequently simultaneously diverged away from nature as modernization took place. Although the effects of evolution and urbanization have driven the species from its origin, natural spaces are still where humans are most comfortable. It has been scientifically proven that when humans spend time in nature, the brain behaves differently. It affects emotions and thoughts, which has a direct impact on immunity and healing powers. These inherent healing qualities natural systems provide are directly correlated to our neurological development and human biological ties to primates due to evolution. In the past several decades there have been many scientific studies that demonstrate the mechanisms behind the healing effects of nature immersion. Countries such as South Korea and Japan have funded extensive research for comprehending the beneficial contributions forest environments have on human mental, spiritual, and physical health. In order ...

  Since Europeans made the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, the white man has been under the impression that America was an empty land, teeming with wild vegetation and foreign animals. What the newcomers did not realize was that this new land was peppered with Native Indians of whom were caretakers for this American landscape.  To the Old World settlers, the terrain was unkempt and savage, truly an uncultivated land. The ignorance that played into their initial impressions of America made a resounding impact on how their successors ultimately viewed the landscape they were settling. America’s wilderness was interpreted to be a cultural construct due to the various interpretations of what nature means to different individuals. Nature exists as it is in its natural state, however, the wild aspect is up to the interpretation of these natural spaces being a sublime setting or a frontier of some sort. Based on the various evaluations made by humans, nature’s rugged wilderness was...

  As the growth and innovation of society and populations peak in developing countries, one must think to consider how this world, full of finite resources and land acreage, will account for the seemingly ever-growing population. Disputes transpire between the opposing conditions of development over how “clean” the country ought to develop as. Two terms for delineating between the different stages of evolution are developed and developing countries. Developed countries wish to enforce sustainable construction and progression. Developing countries believe they should be grandfathered in and relieved of global restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions and the usage of fossil fuels. The countries prospering in their establishment push for clean and sustainable methods of doing so in order to mitigate the possibility of increased exploitation of fossil fuels. Countries working on establishing themselves in the worldwide market economy perceive themselves to be at a disadvantage if not g...

  Due to the complexity of this systemic exclusion and repression, it is pertinent to shed light on historical events that have previously been excluded from the scholarly realm. By providing a multifaceted and layered context of Indigenouse’s disproportionate experience of the climate crisis, one might come to understand how this deep divide came to be. Historical treaties, government-mandated relocations, and subsequent genocide impacted Native American populations and set them up for nonsuccess. It is the Aboriginals who have been on the front lines experiencing the extremities of the climate crisis. A more expansive comprehension of the historical narrative forced upon the indigenous people will illustrate the circumstances to contemporary scholars to formulate a greater understanding of indigenous treatment over the years. By setting the stage of how residual oppression sets the indigenous community apart, one can come to understand how these injustices have tellingly led to t...

  This animation of Mother Earth Indigenous populations realize does not exempt these populations from enacting impacts on the land. Evading the “Ecological Indian” bias, there are lessons to be learned by observing Indigenous cultural practices as they interact amongst the land. Their ancestral knowledge of the land is a proficiency lost in post-colonist education. When colonizers declared America to be theirs, they were under the assumption that the land had not been touched, that it was pristine nature, wild and unkempt. Because the land was not managed the European way, the conscious husbandry of the landscape was not made evident. To white settlers, it was a novel and virgin land. To Native inhabitants, it was their ancestral home. Subtle but in no way “unimproved”, American landscapes were humanized environments. Regular vegetation burns facilitated the formation of grassy habitats open to berry bushes, birds, deer, and game for the purpose of hunting and gathering for calori...

  Within chapters 22 and 23, the concept of being a "plant manager" is presented to the reader. setting the intentions of one's actions as a plant manager coincides with the concept of ecocentric ethics.  Originally conceived by Aldo Leopold, the ecocentric ethic advocates for biospherical egalitarianism. Maintenance of the current ecosystem composition and ecological processes are key to environmental management. Author Evan Eisenberg mirrors Leopold’s sentiments in his novel, Ecology of Eden by writing that man acting as plant managers manage nature by minimizing the need to manage nature. Minimal land management strategies can be observed in many Indigenous cultures around the world and have the potential of being adopted by others, both personally and nationally.