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Summary
Shows how the major world religions view the environmental problems of over population and excess resource consumption, and how they approach possible solutions.
This book concentrates on the different ways in which the major world religions view the problems of overpopulation and excess resource consumption and how they approach possible solutions. After examining the natural background and the human context, the book moves on to consider both religious and secular approaches.
It analyzes how a particular religion's scriptures comment on the nature of people, the environment, people's place in the environment, and their roles and responsibilities. The historical dimension is derived from reviewing a particular religion's record in teaching about these issues, often demonstrating how broader issues are addressed. Practical lessons are learned from religious guidelines that deal with current problems and offer solutions.
The authors consider Aboriginal spirituality, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Chinese religions. The secular approaches include secular ethics, North-South relations, market forces, the status of women, and international law.
Harold Coward is Director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria. He is the author of Derrida and Indian Philosophy and Jung and Eastern Thought; editor of Modern Indian Responses to Religious Pluralism; and co-editor of Derrida and Negative Theology and Hindu Ethics: Purity, Abortion, and Euthanasia, all published by SUNY Press.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
Harold Coward
Part I: Baseline Analysis
2. The Natural Background
F. Kenneth Hare
3. The Human Context
Anne Whyte
Part II: Religious Responses
4. Aboriginal Spirituality, Population, and the Environment
Daisy Sewid-Smith
5. Judaism, Population, and the Environment
Sharon Joseph Levy
6. A Christian Response to the Population Apocalypse
Catherine Keller
7. Islam, Population, and the Environment: A Textual and Juristic View
Nawal H. Ammar
8. Hinduism, Population, and the Environment
Klaus K. Klostermaier
9. Buddhist Resources for Issues of Population, Consumption, and the Environment
Rita M. Gross
10. Chinese Religions, Population, and the Environment
Jordan Paper and Li Chuang Paper
Part III: Secular Responses
11. Prescriptions from Religious and Secular Ethics for Breaking the Impoverishment/Environmental Degradation Cycle
Michael McDonald
12. Projected Population Patterns, North-South Relations, and the Environment
Mahendra K. Premi
13. Environmental Degradation and the Religion of the Market
A. Rodney Dobell
14. Ethics, Family Planning, Status of Women, and the Environment
Jael M. Silliman
15. International Law, Population Pressure, and the Environment
Elizabeth A. Adjin-Tettey
16. The Northern Consumption Issue after Rio and the Role of Religion and Environmentalism
