Title: 13. Wilderness, Spirituality and Biodiversity in North America – tracing an environmental history from Occidental roots to Earth Day
Abstract:Exploring competing perceptions of wilderness, and disputes over places said to be wilderness, opens an illuminating window into environmental history. Understanding such cultural evolution requires s...Exploring competing perceptions of wilderness, and disputes over places said to be wilderness, opens an illuminating window into environmental history. Understanding such cultural evolution requires special attention to religion. My analysis begins with some generalizations about the idea of wilderness in the Occidental world and then focuses on the history of the nexus of wilderness and religion in North America from European contact to the first Earth Day in 1970. This history demonstrates how deeply the idea of wilderness and wilderness-related spirituality are related to nature conservation movements in U.S. culture. It also reveals how the idea of wilderness and the rationale for protecting it has shifted since the Darwinian revolution, from the preservation of natural beauty and its various spiritual values, to the notion that biological diversity is intrinsically valuable and sacred, and thus, worthy of reverence and defense.Read More
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-09-13
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 4
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