Merry Meet

Happy Earth Day, readers!

I’d like to discuss environmentalism and paganism today. Do you think they are connected?

Opinions on this topic seems to vary.

I’ve been accused of being a ‘fluffy pagan’ before because I feel like I have a spiritual responsibility to at least be decent to the environment; for over a decade, this included my desire to maintain a vegetarian diet. This is actually one reason why I have always said I have a Celtic path, but am not necessarily a Celtic Reconstructionist.

Recently, the pope made it a venial sin to damage the environment. Catholics see him as God’s representative on earth, and he deemed it morally wrong to hurt the environment. Is this also fluffy behavior? While I happen to disagree with the manner in which the pope represents a higher authority, I do agree with his judgement here–why would it make any sense, spiritually, to do harm to the planet? Why would it NOT be wrong?

Some, of course, even oppose environmentalism because it has what they call pagan origins. I take issue with this, as many pagan deities are actually destructive and are seen as part of the greater picture. I’ve always liked the shamanistic perspective of respecting the environment as caretakers.

Here are some further resources for those wishing to explore this topic more:

• Dreamsmith’s Forge
• Environmentalism: The Newest Paganism?
• APC: United Nations: The Pagan Roots of Environmentalism

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