Ecopsychology Essay -- Religion Ecology Papers

Ecopsychology You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes no. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting- over and over announcing your place in the family of things. "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver Mary Oliver's (Clinebell, 1996, p.188) poem has a lot to say about the relatively new approach to conservation called ecopsychology. Ecopsychology combines the human element from psychology, with the study of how biological systems work together from ecology. A more in depth explanation of ecopsychology is that it seeks to help humans experience themselves as an integral part of nature (Strubbe 1997). When this is accomplished, humans can proceed to commit to "helping heal the earth, as well as healing ourselves" (Strubbe 1997, p. 293). In the past, environmental action has consisted of scaring and shaming those who over consume or do not recycle, which proved to be quite ineffective. Ecopsychology, in contrast, attempts to create positive and affirming motivations, derived from a bond of love and loyalty to nature (Bayland, 1995). Before tackling the principles, religious aspects, therapy, actions and education included in ecopsychology, it is essential to unde... ...ting a more earth-friendly human nature. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. Mander, Jerry. (1991). In the Absence of the Sacred. San Francisco: Sierra Book Club. Miller, D. Patrick. (1994). The Voice of the Earth. The Sun, 220, 6-10. Roszak, Theodore (1995). Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind. New York: Sierra Press. "My Shrink, My Sequoia" Self, September 1994. Spilner, Maggie. (1997). Connecting with Nature. Walker's World, 128-132. Strubbe, Bill. (1997). The World as Self, The Self as World. World & I. [Online], 12 (6), 12 pages. Available: http//insite.palni.edu/WebZ/FETCH:fulltext.html [1998, September 10]. Tarkan, Laurie. (1997). Nurtured by Nature. Shape, 16 (7), 32. White, Jonathan (1994). The Unreturning Arrow. In Talking on Water: Conversations about Nature and Creativity. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.