RefeUnder the Sign of Global Ecological Fear: The Intertwining of the Sacred and the European Ecological Consciencerendums without Citizens. The Case of the Referendum for the Reform of the Statute of Autonomy of Andalusia

Abstract

The current ecological crisis has brought about an
environment of fear that affects many people in
society. In this article we study how environmental fear
influences ecocentric attitudes and practices in
Europe and how it intertwines with a sacred
interpretation of nature. Religion can be regarded as a
cultural response to collective fears, and therefore we
analyse how it reacts to new environmental fears. The
article draws special attention to a new eco-religion
named Cosmic Piety by Giner and Tàbara. The data
used in the research comes from the ISSP
Environment survey of 2000, covering 13 European
countries. The results show that environmental fear
activates ecological behaviour and that Cosmic Piety
scores high in environmental fear as well as in ecocentric behaviour.

Religious beliefs tend to be more prone to environmental fear, but the main
difference with Cosmic Piety is the lack of
transcendence in the interpretation of the sacred
essence of nature.