ecology

"The Cultural Politics of Sacred Groves: A Case Study of Devithans in Sikkim, India"

Amitangshu Acharya and Alison Ormsby explore devithans—Nepali sacred groves—in the eastern Himalayan state of Sikkim, India. Given that historically the Buddhist Lepcha-Bhutias’ cultural association with Sikkim’s sacred landscape has been celebrated, while that of Nepali ethnic groups has been largely invisibilized, they argue that devithans have emerged as a potential political instrument for the latter to validate political and cultural claims to Sikkim’s sacred landscape.

Earth First! 29, no. 7

This special “Samhain-Yule” issue of Earth First! is dedicated to Samhain, the Celtic term for “summer’s end,” a time to reassess goals and strategies. It discusses endangered rivers, tar sands, protection from environmental degradation, information about US climate justice activism (MCJ), the “Green Scare,” Deep Ecology, and the G20 Summit. Letters to the editor and songs are included as well.

The State of Nature: Ecology, Community, and American Social Thought, 1900–1950

Gregg Mitman examines the relationship between issues in early twentieth-century American society and the sciences of evolution and ecology to reveal how explicit social and political concerns influenced the scientific agenda of biologists at the University of Chicago and throughout the United States during the first half of the twentieth century.

"Rot"

Lorimer’s article for the Living Lexicon for the Environmental Humanities section discusses rot as a natural process avoided by modern humans, focusing particularly on processes of urbanization in contrast to the nurturing of rot that takes place among natural scientists and managers.

The Ecology of Home

About this issue

This essay examines environmental thought in China and the West to propose an “ecological history” that offers new ways to think about the human/nature relationship.

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