Leading change through sacred ecopraxis: Cultivating ecological belonging as a holy task

Abstract

The task of creating a sense of belonging among newer communities of color involves the fostering of a spirituality of terrain. Cultivating belonging through ecopraxis requires creating a sense of communion, not only with the land, but with those who have experienced it before us, particularly Native peoples and Black Americans. The dominant culture of environmentalism does not always recognize their place in the human ecology of the land. Leading change through ecopraxis is a matter of forging one story out of many narratives, of remembering the gifts of ecospirituality brought by minority religions and cultures; it is to weave a new American tapestry. And, it is to ask the question: “If we acted from the truth of interrelationality, what would our shared vision look like?” This article presents the argument that human civilization’s malrelationship with the other-than-human world echoes through people’s broken relations with each other. It suggests the need to lead change through an integrative ecospirituality of terrain that weaves a new ecovision with forgotten and unacknowledged strands of the American experience.