Spirituality And Sustainability

Argues that true sustainability must be based in spirituality and looks at religious communities dedicated to the environment. This groundbreaking book explores the inherent interconnectedness of sustainability and spirituality, acknowledging the dependency of one upon the other. John E. Carroll contends that true ecological sustainability, in contrast to the cosmetic attempts at sustainability we see around us, questions our society’s fundamental values and is so countercultural that it is resisted by anyone without a spiritual belief in something deeper than efficiency, technology, or economics. Carroll draws on the work of cultural historian and “geologian” Thomas Berry, whose eco-spiritual thought underlies many of the sustainability efforts of communities described in this book, including particular branches of Catholic religious orders and the loosely organized Sisters of the Earth. The writings of Native Americans on spirituality and ecology are also highlighted. These models for sustainability not only represent the tangible link between ecology and spirituality, but also, more importantly, a vision of what could be. John E. Carroll is Professor of Environmental Conservation at the University of New Hampshire. He is the author and editor of many books, including (with coeditor Keith Warner) Ecology and Religion: Scientists Speak.

This book aims to examine sustainability and spirituality philosophically with ethics as the balancing force. The goal is to reveal the important intersection between sustainability and spirituality by using spirituality as the invisible guiding hand in the quest for sustainability. The editors and contributors examine old social and economics dilemmas from a new perspective in order to provide alternative approaches to economic and social development. The enclosed contributions cover a broad range of topics such as sustainable development and human happiness, contemporary spirituality, environmental ethics and responsibility, and corporate social responsibility. In addition, the title features real-world case studies and discussion questions that inspire self-reflection and theoretical and empirical deliberation in academic courses and business seminars. Contemporary approaches to economic and social development have failed to address humankind's abiding need for spiritual growth. For material development to be sustainable, spiritual advancement must be seen as an integral part of the human development algorithm. While the policy makers and governments can play their respective role, each one of us has to consciously adopt spirituality and sustainability as a way of life. This book will rely on the spiritual power of individuals to heal themselves and the environment. Featuring interdisciplinary perspectives in areas such as science, marine biology, environmental policy, cultural studies, psychology, philosophy, ecological economics, and ethics, this book will provide extensive insights into the complimentary fields of spirituality, sustainability and ethics.

This book offers a pragmatic approach to the benefits of spirituality and sustainability for both individual and organizational success. It introduces sustainability and workplace spirituality as contemporary solutions to the challenging organizational environment. The first few chapters introduce the fundamentals of spirituality, workplace spirituality, and sustainability. The author then demonstrates how the three qualities are beneficial in achieving personal and business success. Through the combination of synthesized research summaries and case studies of individuals and organizations, this book offers readers a fresh perspective on the importance of spirituality and sustainability to organizational performance.

Workplace spirituality has become a popular topic in today’s society as it has been reported to have a positive association with employee performance, organizational citizenship behavior, employee engagement and commitment, team building, and the physical and psychological health of employees. Integrating spirituality into the workplace provides a number of organizational benefits that require further study, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Handbook of Research on Integrating Spirituality in Modern Workplaces discusses the numerous benefits of spirituality in the workplace and considers best practices and approaches for successful implementation. Covering topics such as emotional labor and job satisfaction, this major reference work is ideal for researchers, practitioners, academicians, managers, business professionals, instructors, and students.

Spiritual masters through the ages have devised methods different than those of science for investigating the great mystery of nature by, for example, immersing themselves in it, making use of silence, stillness, and solitude. The scientific and spiritual quests have been the two great quests of humanity, but somehow a feeling has developed that science is antagonistic to spirituality. Since the whole of reality is built up of both matter and consciousness, why should the quest for the understanding of order in the external world be antagonistic to the quest for the understanding of order in the inner world of our consciousness? Science and Spirituality for a Sustainable World: Emerging Research and Opportunities brings together theories, methodologies, new ideas, experiences, and applications emphasizing the importance of both spirituality and skill for leadership and sustainable management, sensitizing leaders and management practitioners toward the spirituality-skill paradigm, skill-based leadership, and highlighting the role of spiritual values for environmental sustainability. Featuring a wide range of topics that focus on the relationship between spirituality and science such as spiritual education, management practices, and traditional wisdom, this book is essential for researchers, academicians, administrators, managers, professionals, policymakers, and students.

This book explores how religious groups work to create sustainable relationships between people, places and environments. This interdisciplinary volume deepens our understanding of this relationship, revealing that the geographical imagination—our sense of place—is a key aspect of the sustainability ideas and practices of religious groups. The book begins with a broad examination of how place shapes faith-based ideas about sustainability, with examples drawn from indigenous Hawaiians and the sacred texts of Judaism and Islam. Empirical case studies from North America, Europe, Central Asia and Africa follow, illustrating how a local, bounded, and sacred sense of place informs religious-based efforts to protect people and natural resources from threatening economic and political forces. Other contributors demonstrate that a cosmopolitan geographical imagination, viewing place as extending from the local to the global, shapes the struggles of Christian, Jewish and interfaith groups to promote just and sustainable food systems and battle the climate crisis.

Looking beyond the materialistic boundary of the conventional development paradigm, this book identifies our spiritual underdevelopment which is being reflected as self-centeredness and greed, as the root cause of conventional development's failure to alleviate poverty and inequality, achieve sustainability and deliver happiness to humanity.