climate change
“The change in world climate patterns over time. Such change has always occurred, both on a large scale since the formation of the earth and on a smaller scale within the span of human history. . . . However, three factors led to climate change becoming an important issue in the late 20th and early 21st centuries: a body of scientific evidence suggesting that the average world temperature was increasing rapidly; a concern that human activity was in part causing this change; and a fear that, if unchecked, it would lead to massive physical, economic, social, and political disruption within a few human lifetimes.”
From:
“climate change.” Oxford Reference. 2 Apr. 2018. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095617958.
Earth community
“The term Earth Community comes from the Earth Charter, a declaration of universal responsibility to and for one another and Earth. . . . The Earth Charter elaborates four overarching principles of Earth Community: (1) respect and care for the community of life; (2) ecological integrity; (3) social and economic justice; and (4) democracy, nonviolence, and peace. It calls for a reintegration of humans into the planetary system of life and requires the birthing of human cultures and institutions that embrace and nurture material sufficiency for everyone, honor the generative power of life and love, seek a balance of feminine and masculine principles, and nurture a realization of the mature potential of our human nature.”
From:
David Korten. “Earth Community.” Living Economics Forum. https://davidkorten.org/ecological-civilization-vision/earth-community/
The concept of an Earth community is central to Thomas Berry’s work. See:
Thomas Berry: Selected Writings on the Earth Community. Selected with an Introduction by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim. Modern Spiritual Masters Series. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2014.
ecospirituality
Ecospirituality expresses the joining of spirituality with ecological perspectives. There are numerous types, traditions, expressions, and understandings of ecospirituality. It does not refer to any one set of beliefs, but to a range of ethical or moral, religious, spiritual, or agnostic beliefs, tendencies, or actions that relate to ecological concerns. Ecospirituality has evolved since the 1960s and is currently part of popular culture in North America. The connection between spirituality and the Earth has deep and historical roots in many religious traditions and in particular with those that have remained in tune with the rhythms and limits of the Earth, such as some indigenous traditions around the world.
Ecospirituality has many meanings, the first referring to a thirst for connection between spirituality and the Earth, given the extent of and the general lack of religious responses to the ecological crisis. There is a recognition that the ecological crisis threatens all life on Earth, and it is fundamentally a moral, spiritual, and religious problem.
From:
“Ecospirituality .” Contemporary American Religion. . Encyclopedia.com. 21 Feb. 2024 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.
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spirituality
“[Spirituality is] difficult to define as the word is used in many different contexts. Its roots are in the Christian tradition where it has a long history in theology and religious practice. The spiritual as an inward quest has often been contrasted with the material, physical and external. Some understand the ‘spiritual’ as more diffuse and less institutionalized than the ‘religious’. Others, on the contrary, take spirituality as the very centre and heart of religion, encountered particularly through religious and mystical experience. The subject matter of spirituality is a perennial human concern, but the critical, comparative reflection on spirituality in a global context is a recent phenomenon. Many religions have no precise word for ‘spirituality’; yet today the notion of spirituality has become universalized and is now used inside and outside religions, and also in an inter-faith and secular context. The modern interest in spirituality goes together with an emphasis on the individual subject, self-development and a more differentiated understanding of human psychology. Spirituality has now become a universal code word to indicate the search for direction and meaning. In modern secular society spirituality is being ‘rediscovered’ as a lost or at least hidden dimension in a largely materialistic world.
“Spirituality has been described as an attempt to grow in sensitivity – to self, to others, to non-human creation and to God; or as an exploration into what is involved in becoming human, a quest for full humanity. The way in which spirituality finds concrete expression varies greatly from culture to culture, and from one religion to another.”
From:
“Spirituality.” A New Dictionary of Religions. Hinnells, John R. Blackwell Publishing, 1995.
Ecozoic Cafe 