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Why Climate Activism Resembles a Religious Movement

6 February 2017

Although climate change has become the most prominent environmental issue of the 21st century, when it comes to intergovernmental agreements on legally binding targets for the reduction in carbon emissions, the political process has been disappointingly slow.

Now, although it may surprise scientists, the media and activists to learn that they’re unconsciously following models rooted in belief systems, new analysis suggests that discussions around climate change help spread awareness and trigger public action in much the same way that belief systems gain popularity and mass support.

The Idea of Climate Change as a Belief System: Why Climate Activism Resembles a Religious Movement uses the belief systems framework to illuminate a different side of climate change. In particular, authors Shonil Bhagwat et al. refer to the following four themes common to belief systems originally identified by Atran and Norenzayan (2004):

  1. belief in supernatural concepts (gods, goddesses, ghosts)
  2. emphasis on existential anxiety (death, disease, catastrophe)
  3. public expressions of commitments (offerings of goods, property, time)
  4. institutionalised rituals that originate from co-ordination of 1, 2 and 3 (congregation, ceremonial gatherings, intimate fellowship).

After examining each theme in the context of the discussions around climate change, the authors argue that the discussions – together with the call for individual sacrifices through everyday moral choices – suggest that addressing climate change may require a shift in focus from political leadership to grassroots activism. And that if this is true, then the similarities with the way in which religious movements are spread may even be a strength.

Read The Idea of Climate Change as a Belief System: Why Climate Activism Resembles a Religious Movement in full.

Read Shonil's post What Do Belief Systems Have to Do with Cimate Change? on the Campaign for Social Science website.

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