More than 50 years ago, Science magazine published ‘The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis’ (March 1967), a paper by Lynn White, then professor of history at the University of California. The paper launched a controversy that still rumbles on today, over the vexed question of whether certain religious doctrines and beliefs of the western Christian world contributed to the formation of widely held attitudes to Nature that have resulted in the ecological crisis confronting us today.
White’s paper argued that “human ecology is deeply conditioned by beliefs about our nature and destiny – ...
There are approximately 2007 more words in this article.
To read the rest of this article, please buy this issue, or join the Resurgence Trust. As a member you will receive access to the complete archive of magazines from May 1966.
If you are already a member, please Sign in