Paper: How religion mediates our understanding of climate change.

People draw on cosmological orientations and religious teachings as a resource to make sense of ecological change. This can be in ways that both do and do not align with established scientific narratives, and in ways that do or do not motivate participation in climate mitigation or adaptation efforts. To explore this dynamic between religion and ecology, this paper looks at how Hinduism mediates understanding, interpretation and action toward climate change in India, using a multi-site ethnographic approach.

Three ethnographic studies are analysed: one conducted on the upper reaches of the river Ganges, exploring perspectives and interpretations of glacial retreat caused by climate change, and two that explore how Hinduism explains and guides action toward heavy pollution at different points on the Ganges and Yamuna rivers. Reference to Hindu texts and analysis of Hindu practices are also used to further explore themes.

Analysis reveals that the revered rivers are seen to exist across multiple realms: in the physical realm as rivers and in the spiritual realm as goddesses. These river goddesses transcend both temporarality and materially, so their existence and importance within the religion is not entirely dependent upon their continued existence on earth. This affected people's perception of the importance of their physical state. It was also found that many Hindus see ecological destruction as inevitable and intimately tied with increasing human moral corruption, due to our placement within the mytho-geological meta-narrative of the Kali Yuga. While both of these two religious interpretations of climate change do not seem to prompt nature conservation or protection, there is some evidence of people confronting the apparent inevitability of climatic change with acts of service, self-sacrifice, worship, and thinking beyond their individual needs.

Read paper: Climate change and the rivers of India: reverence, protection, pollution and the dark age of Kali Yuga