1st Edition
How the World's Religions are Responding to Climate Change Social Scientific Investigations
A growing chorus of voices has suggested that the world’s religions may become critical actors as the climate crisis unfolds, particularly in light of international paralysis on the issue. In recent years, many faiths have begun to address climate change and its consequences for human societies, especially the world’s poor. This is the first volume to use social science to examine how religions are helping to address one of the most significant and far-reaching challenges of our time.
While there is a growing literature in theology and ethics about climate change and religion, little research has been previously published about the ways in which religious institutions, groups and individuals are responding to the problem of climate change. Seventeen research-driven chapters are written by sociologists, anthropologists, geographers and other social scientists. This book explores what effects religions are having, what barriers they are running into or creating, and what this means for the global struggle to address climate change.
1. Social Science, Religions, and Climate Change, Robin Globus Veldman, Andrew Szasz, Randolph Haluza-DeLay PART I: THE GLOBAL SOUTH 2. A Retreating Goddess? Conflicting Perceptions of Ecological Change near the Gangotri-Gaumukh Glacier, Georgina Drew 3. Religion, Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Change in a Mountain Region: a Case Study of Thini Village, Mustang, Nepal, Sujata Manandhar, Dietrich Schmidt–Vogt, Vishnu Prasad Pandey, and Futaba Kazama 4. Climate Change Projects in the Land of Gross National Happiness: Does Religion Play a Role in Environmental Policy in Bhutan?, Matt Branch 5. Pursuing Diplomacy Overseas, Fostering Adaptation at Home: The Church of Bangladesh’s Proactive Responses to Climate Change, James Pender 6. From Theology to a Praxis of "Eco-Jihad": The Role of Religious Civil Society Organizations in Combating Climate Change in Indonesia, Ulil Amri 7. Churches building resiliency to climate change in Solomon Islands, Andreana Reale 8. Prophecies and Climate Change in the Mam Altiplano of Guatemala, Julie Hermesse 9. Religious Perspectives on Climate Change in the West Ivoirian Mountainous Region, Sadia Chérif and Joy H. Greenberg 10. Climate Change and Indigenous African Religion: A Case Study of the Transitional Ecological Zone of Ghana, Paul Sarfo-Mensah and Samuel Awuah-Nyamekye PART 2: THE GLOBAL NORTH 11. Stepping up to the Plate: Climate Change, Faith Communities and Effective Environmental Advocacy in Canada, Mishka Lysack 12. The U.S. Catholic Response to "Climate Change", Michael Agliardo 13. "How Many Presbyterians Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb?": Confronting Global Climate Change in the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., Patricia K. Townsend 14. Keep Christianity Brown! Climate Denial on the Christian Right in the United States, Bernard Daley Zaleha and Andrew Szasz 15. Christian and Muslim Climate Activists Fasting and Praying for the Planet: Emotional Translation of "Dark Green" Activism and Green-Faith Identities, Maria Nita 16. "Healing the Land" in the Canadian Arctic: Evangelism, knowledge, and climate change, Noor Johnson PART 3: THE TRANSNATIONAL CONTEXT 17. An Investigation of Perception of Climate Change Risk, Environmental Values and Development Programming in a Faith-based International Development Organization, H. Carolyn Peach Brown, Douglas R. Brown, Christopher A. Shore 18. International Advocacy for Climate Justice, Guillermo Kerber 19. How Are the World’s Religions Responding to Climate Change?, Robin Globus Veldman, Andrew Szasz, Randolph Haluza-DeLay
Biography
Robin Globus Veldman is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Religion at the University of Florida, USA.
Andrew Szasz is Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, USA.
Randolph Haluza-DeLay is an associate professor of sociology at The King’s University College in Alberta, Canada.
"This book opens a research agenda that is long overdue". - W. Jenkins, Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia
