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RELIGION AND ECOLOGY 67 senseless and even detrimental — it also had complex and relevant economic reasons (Harris, M. 2003). During his work among the Tsembaga Marings in Papua New Guinea in 1967, Rappaport analyzed cultural and non-cultural elements in a single system, and demonstrated how this system was sustained by a rite, the so-called kaiko. He found that this ritual regulated the equilibrium of the system in the same way as natural ecosystems do: by killing the excess of the pig population, it helped maintain the adequate state of the environment, and set a limit to the frequency of wars. It thus banished the threat to the existence of the regional populations, harmonized population and territorial rates, made trading possible and provided surplus meat for sharing (Rappaport 1968). In the 1970s, Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff studied the forest and river use of the Tukans living along the Amazon in Colombia, and how it related to their social structure, myths, rites and symbols. He ascribed a sort of “environment managerial” function to the shamans in this complex of relations. Richard Nelson (1983) examined traditional ecological knowledge, hunting, respect of animals, handling and protection of natural resources among the Athabaskan Indians (Alaska, Yukon). Biologist Fikret Berkes inquired into the traditional knowledge, religion and practice as well as use of environmental resources of the Cree Indians in Canada (1999). During his research in Thailand (1992), Sponsel compared the Buddhist and Muslim villages in the same area, with special regard to the differences in the use of the environment by the different religions (summarized in Borsos 2004, Sponsel 2012). This upgrading of traditional knowledge and religion has entailed increased efforts to protect sacred localities (Grand Canyon, Mount Shasta, Stonehenge, Uluru, etc., see https://sacredland.org/map/). Spiritual ecology is thus a line of research within anthropology on the one hand, and a social, political, and intellectual movement on the other. It is sometimes hard to draw the line between the two. This is one of the reasons why contemporary spiritual ecology is mostly interpreted as an applied science: it seeks anthropological knowledge that can be applied to combat the environmental crisis. This is also a manifestation of a characteristic of EH: that its researchers are at the same time activists. Summary The chapter has reviewed the role of religion in the relationship between human beings and nature. It has made a point of stressing how an environmentally conscious rereading of the scriptures might influence this relationship, and how diverse historical churches and spiritual trends strive to join not only the ecological discourse, but also the solving of the environmental problems. Using the example of the dispute on the impact of Christianity, involving Lynn White, the chapter explored the possibility and effects of a constructive rethinking of responsibility. It discussed the relations of religion and science in the domain of environmental issues, and the issue of care, with reference to examples from confessional literature and religious activism. It also addressed the question of eco-spirituality with reference to such concepts and phenomena as dark-green religiosity, nature religion, native faith, and eco-paganism. The latter has links to traditional ecological knowledge, a theme discussed in more detail in a later chapter.
