Bajo el signo del miedo ecológico global: La imbricación de lo sagrado en la conciencia ecológica europea

Abstract

The current ecological crisis has brought about an environment of fear that affects many people in society. In this article we study how environmental fear influences ecocentric attitudes and practices in Europe and how it intertwines with a sacred interpretation of nature. Religion can be regarded as a cultural response to collective fears, and therefore we analyse how it reacts to new environmental fears. The article draws special attention to a new eco-religion named Cosmic Piety by Giner and Tábara. The data used in the research comes from the ISSP Environment survey of 2000, covering 13 European countries. The results show that environmental fear activates ecological behaviour and that Cosmic Piety scores high in environmental fear as well as in ecocentric behaviour. Religious beliefs tend to be more prone to environmental fear, but the main difference with Cosmic Piety is the lack of transcendence in the interpretation of the sacred essence of nature.