“The Religions of the World and Ecology conference series, hosted by the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) at Harvard Divinity School, was the result of research conducted at the CSWR over a three-year period (1996-1998)… …

The enormous challenges posed by the environmental crisis in its many complex and interlinking aspects have been much debated. Exploding population, diminishing resources, overconsumption, crippling poverty, rampant pollution, and unrestrained industrialization have created seemingly insoluble problems of global proportions. In searching for solutions to these interrelated problems, it is becoming increasingly clear that what is needed is recovery of mutually enhancing human-earth relations. One approach to reestablish a sense of balance with nature is to draw on worldviews that reflect this sense of reciprocity. This series examines the ecological implications of the beliefs, attitudes, rituals, and doctrines of various world religions in order to discover what they might offer to both the larger interdisciplinary dialogue on the environmental crisis and to the more immediate, pragmatic aspects of public policy and environmental ethics.

An introductory essay to each of the volumes written by conference organizers Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim entitled, “The Challenge of the Environmental Crisis,” provides an introduction to the topic of religion and ecology”

There are also introductions to each of the volumes available on-line at http://fore.yale.edu/publications/books/cswr/ 

An introductory essay to each of the volumes written by conference organizers Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim entitled, “The Challenge of the Environmental Crisis,” provides an introduction to the topic of religion and ecology.