Religious Environmentalism

“There are many quasi-religious practices in our increasingly secular era: consumerism, drunkenly cheering the local sports franchise, playing Quidditch at Ivy League universities, the ‘Cult of Mac,’ etc. Unlike these ritualized amusements, environmentalism is actually spiritual. It combines the oldest forms of nature worship with the Good and Evil of monotheistic faiths and the transcendence of Buddhism, all leading to a utopian goal of an Earthly Paradise — a state of grace with creation, which is exactly what saints and seekers have always pursued…. So what would happen if 10 million or 50 million religious environmentalists suddenly appeared on the national scene?”