Within a short period of time, the residents in Ghost Valley had to reconcile with two environmental challenges filled with grief – the 2013 Alberta Flood & the 2015 Clear-cut Logging Project. An interesting observation was that some residents have attributed the flood as a “nature-produced event”. They attribute the sadness they felt to “God’s plan or fate”.
When residents perceived the problem to be external or nature-related, they mentioned it was easier to grieve – reduced guilt and sadness. However, if the problem is deemed to lay within the human sphere, they express more anger and remorse.
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Consequently, the distinction in attributing the source of problems is critical and religion can serve as a comforting outlet to help people to cope with environmentally related grief. Religion can be used as a two-pronged approach for grief-coping mechanism and promoting pro-environmental behaviour. Foremost, implications to cope with grief using religious rituals, resources and discussions could be infused while considering the context of ‘human’ and ‘nature’ caused ecological loss. Religion can also be a way to bind people together and create social bonds. Religious people are more likely to help those who share their beliefs – in-group favouritism. In-group is the group with which an individual identifies as a member. Religion can become a binding force by expressing more empathy to people of the same religion to help them cope with grief. Next, stewardship philosophy can be used to promote pro-environmental behaviour from the biblical teachings of Judeo-Christian. The religious movement of Ecotheology emphasise the pro-environmental aspects of traditional scripture and it can help religious individuals to relate to their environmental behaviour. |
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