New New (Buddhist?) Ecology
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12901233 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J Baird Callicott (University of North Texas, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 2 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 166-182 |
| Publication date | 2009-01-16 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal for the Study of Religion Nature and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1749-4907 • E-ISSN: 1749-4915 |
| Publisher | Equinox Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1558/jsrnc.v2i2.166 |
| OpenAlex | W2100651337 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 12 |
Simultaneous with the emergence of an ‘environmental crisis’ and attendant widespread environmental consciousness and conscience in the1960s, Eugene Odum, then dean of the field, announced the advent of the ‘New Ecology’. Odum’s new ecology was based on the ecosystem concept as its organizing idea and reiterated the classic notion of nature, unperturbed by human disturbance, as in a steady state of dynamic equilibrium. This New Ecology is now old. The classic ‘balance-of-nature’ paradigm has been replaced by the ‘flux-of-nature’ paradigm in which ecosystems are open, human influence has been ubiquitous and long-standing, and natural disturbance is multifaceted, widespread, and frequent. If not in Buddhism, then certainly in ecology, ‘everything burns’—that is, everything is subject to periodic disturbance, of which fire is so common an instance as to be symbolic. However, most laypersons are unaware of this paradigm shift in ecology, which was consolidated over the last forty years. Any plausible and up-to-date articulation of an ‘ecotheology’ should be informed by the new New Ecology and not the old New Ecology. Among world religions, Buddhism has had the longest association with ecology, and thanks to leaders such as the Dalai Lama, it remains the religious worldview most closely associated with ecology in the environmentalist’s imaginary
Applied ecology · Articulation (sociology · Biology · Buddhism · Disturbance (geology · Ecosystem · Ecosystem ecology · Environmental ethics · Evolutionary ecology · Functional ecology · Geography · Human ecology · Plant ecology · Political science · Systems ecology · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics · Environmental, Ecological, and Cultural Studies · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics · Ecology
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,15 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2017 (5) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |