Religious narratives help frame our understanding of culture and nature

Religion and biodiversity

Laura Feldt works with the relationship between culture and the environment. She therefore asks how culture can influence our understanding of nature and human behaviour in it. 

A key point for Laura Feldt is the issue of biodiversity. What we today call ‘biodiversity’ and the desire to protect it is, in a religious and cultural historical understanding, what we previously termed ‘wild nature’:

‘Wild nature has often been treated in what we call wilderness mythology. It consists of human narratives about wild nature that have helped colour our understanding and behaviour in nature today,’ she says.

Classic tales of the lone male hero who ventures into the wilderness to fight monsters, chop down some trees and bring them back to civilisation. Stories from writers and poets who were keen to spend time in nature and become one with it.

‘The American author Henry David Thoreau and naturalist John Muir, who helped establish the first national parks in the United States and the related movement, show that the fields of literature, popular culture and religion are intertwined and have a concrete impact on the nature conservation initiatives that are undertaken,’ Laura Feldt points out, but elaborates that there are of course both positive and negative effects of wilderness mythology.

Becoming one with nature vs. taming nature

For example, early European exploration and colonisation of North America had disastrous consequences for biodiversity and the Indigenous peoples. Europeans came with notions of a dangerous, chaotic wilderness that needed to be controlled and civilised, and this applied to both nature and the people who lived there.

‘The Natives were treated and categorised as savages and as animals. That’s also why it was believed that they should be tamed, which is why some truly horrible things have happened in terms of how the Indigenous population in North America has been treated,’ says Laura Feldt.

Fortunately, there are many different wilderness narratives around the world and throughout history. Some wilderness mythologies also have positive aspects, such as the fact that the stories have helped train people’s appreciation for nature and non-human animals, which has had a tangible impact on initiatives to protect biodiversity.

Laura Feldt also touches on the contemporary overlaps and interactions between popular culture, social media and biodiversity conservation. As another example, she mentions the activist network Extinction Rebellion, which has initiated ‘Free the Earth’ actions and is very active in the controversy between the City of Copenhagen and Amager Fælled (Amager Common). At the same time, they are also active on social media. 

‘Among other things, they have dressed up as newts, chained themselves to trees on Amager Fælled and named a small section of Amager Fælled 'Lærkesletten' (‘The Lark Plain’) to emphasise the wild nature that exists and which they believe should be preserved instead of building housing,’ she says.

However, there is no clear-cut answer to whether green activism itself is a religion. However, Laura Feldt points out that in both activism and fan culture, there are religion-like elements because they each involve a group of people who are closely connected and will do anything for each other and to promote their cause. And it’s clear that when green activists are ready to do anything to protect biodiversity in a certain area, even going to jail or risking a penalty or fine, it looks like nature has become of sacred value to them.

However, a key difference for activism and fan cultures versus traditional religions is that there aren’t necessarily superhuman powers or gods involved.

Can we talk about sustainable religions?

There is a lot of research on the influence of religions on human behaviour in terms of sustainability. In March 2023, SDU had the pleasure of a visit from American researcher Bron Taylor, who has conducted a major study comparing previous research on a global scale and concludes that the major traditional religions are actually more conservatively inclined on a global level.

‘Bron Taylor’s research shows that traditional religions tend to be linked to conservative values, including opposition to abortion, feminism and gay rights. And being anti-liberal is usually also linked to being against biodiversity protection,’ says Laura Feldt.

She argues that on a global scale, it can be said, somewhat simplistically, that traditional religions are generally not good for the environment.

‘But it should be noted that there are many local variants and environmental activists also within traditional religions who are trying to transform their religion from within at a local level, and this is important to keep in mind. And then you have these emerging green religious movements, such as new animism, which tries to promote a new and sustainable relationship between humans and non-human animals and nature,’ she says. 

Today, there are also other green religious communities, such as modern witches in Denmark and other Western countries, and this is a growing religious community that has not been widely researched until now. Laura Feldt explains that there are also certain groups within the witch community that work to create special natural conditions. A special practice for them is outdoor seating, where they sit naked outside all night and train their senses in relation to nature and animal life. In fact, there are many indications that new green religious communities are on the rise.

Although Bron Taylor’s research shows that traditional religions in particular are characterised by conservatism, Laura Feldt points out that Indigenous religions and new religious communities can certainly also be characterised by conservatism:

‘There are many religious communities, including some Indigenous people, who can be conservative, for example, when it comes to gender. However, it is clear that many Indigenous religions have a different way of relating to nature, because they live in a completely different way in their natural surroundings than, for example, Danish people do.’

Ultimately, whether we can define some religions as more sustainable than others depends on how we understand sustainability. There is a difference between looking at it solely from a green perspective and also taking gender equality into account.

Is religion to blame for climate change?

In 1967, researcher Lynn White argued that the contemporary environmental crisis is rooted in Christianity’s view of nature, with a particular focus on the creation myth from Genesis. Here, humans are appointed to be the one to rule over the animals and the world that has just been created.

‘This interpretation has caused a lot of debate, and the question is also whether it is a reasonable interpretation of an ancient myth. The myth originates from a time when humans lived under completely different and harsh conditions, when there were far fewer people than there are today, and it could be difficult to survive,’ says Laura Feldt, who nevertheless finds it an interesting discussion, as there are many cultural differences in how humans relate to nature and the surrounding environment. Indeed, this may depend on whether it’s a more agriculture-based religion like Judaism, Christianity and Islam or whether it’s hunter-gatherers, but it’s still an open question.

Research shows that there are also big differences in what we consider to be nature.

‘Many Danes think it’s biodiversity and wild nature if they see some deer or hares in the field. However, the biological understanding of biodiversity focuses more on other endangered species, such as small animals like insects and butterflies,’ says Laura Feldt, who explains that our understanding of culture and nature affects human behaviour in crucial ways.

It can therefore also have consequences when it comes to combating the climate change we face today.

Narratives can help change people’s behaviour

‘The last few years have shown that the information from climatologists is not enough for people to change their behaviour,’ says Laura Feldt and explains: ‘We need to work on the basic narratives we have about nature and how they affect us. Information alone is clearly not enough.’
Right now, Laura Feldt and her colleagues are addressing the issue through education. Here they take a broad look at what education can and does mean in relation to the green transition. They also include media, popular culture and digital games, and ask how non-formal contexts for learning can help change our understanding of culture and nature.

‘However, it has to be done in a democratic way, and that is a key value. You risk people distancing themselves if they feel they are being manipulated into acting more sustainably,’ he says.

The importance of biodiversity for our well-being

However, several psychology studies show that being in nature benefits humans. And especially uncontrollable or wild nature has a positive effect.

Today, there are initiatives like ‘Vild Med Vilje’ (‘Wilfully Wild’) and insect hotels that help us bring biodiversity into our own gardens.

‘It’s also about people gaining experience with nature and realising that having butterflies in your garden, for example, can make a difference to your well-being. You need to know the species and have experiences with nature to be able to appreciate it,’ she argues.

Sociologists have pointed out that when all processes in modern life become completely transparent and controllable, it’s not good for us. It’s actually good for humans to have something in our environment that we have no control over.

‘Ideally, it should be because we believe it’s worth preserving biodiversity for its own sake that we focus on biodiversity conservation initiatives, but there are psychological studies that show that being in nature reduces stress, and unfortunately, we have a major well-being crisis right now,’ says Laura Feldt.

Religion as a cultural phenomenon thus has a huge impact on our narratives about nature and biodiversity. Discourse shapes our understanding of culture and nature and influences whether we consider a dandelion to be a weed or a flower.

‘Sometimes it’s also about the context in which it occurs,’ Laura Feldt points out, explaining that there are differences in how people feel about plants at the roadside versus their own gardens.

Stories about the wilderness in religious myths and other cultural contexts influence our understanding of nature. Some criticism of wilderness mythology has therefore centred on the tendency to isolate wild nature within specific areas.

A concrete piece of advice from Laura Feldt seems to be that we need to get better at ‘seeing all the nature that is right under our noses and appreciating it.’