Emergent Forms of "Dark Green Religion" and Environmental Education's Future

• In Event: Environmental Education and the Eco-Fascism Problem

Abstract

Introduction & Objectives

As ecological conditions worsen, environmental education proceeds under the assumption that more ecological knowledge will entail a kind of socially just commitment toward others. As we (Authors, 2021) and others (Lysgaard et.al. 2021) have shown, this shortsighted assumption is based upon normative aspiration rather than empirical evidence. Concern for the environment has never been the exclusive purview of the justice-oriented political left. Such framing can be attributed to a limited political economy of thought within our field.

Theoretical Framework

Concern for our environment has crossed political lines over history. Taylor (2016) has shown that figures of both political parties took environmentally conserving actions. As political polarization has grown, conservatives have moved away from environmental concern (Turner & Isenberg, 2018). Meanwhile, the political left has become associated as those “who care for the environment.” This social sorting produces a blinkered approach to environmental education. Consider a recent review of our field (Clark et al., 2020) suggesting that “environmental education works to move people to action for the tangible benefit of the environment and humanity” (p. 381). How might a neo-fascist interpret such a statement?

Ecofascism is emerging again as right-wing fascists see environmental degradation as a concern of their own (Authors, in review). Philosophical frameworks for thinking about the environment have focused on the conservator’s tendency in the U.S., and the recent “deep ecology” movement--in particular the philosophical framework of Bron Taylor (2009). Taylor’s typology of “dark green religions'' is useful to ascertain our capacity to address burgeoning fascist thought (Belew & Gutierrez, 2021). How do we turn such expanded conceptual frameworks toward the practical projects of school curricula, science communication, marketing, and governmental policy? This problem is doubly hard as climate change has no clear curricular voice writ large in the U.S. (Authors, in review).

Modes of Inquiry & Data Sources

We detail and expand Bron Taylor’s conceptual typology with a two-fold purpose: 1) to explicitly identify the limits of the framework’s adequacy, and 2) to build upon and revise it in light of growing ecofascist thought among the far right. While major categorical ‘types’ have yet to harden, our work details the emergent forms and their likely coming trajectories as they relate to environmental education.

Results

Our work complicates Taylor, for he assumes withering forms of U.S. religious adherence--a replacement in the style of a dying ancien régime. Religion is changing in the U.S. (Pew, 2022). Believers increasingly are adherents of the political right as the phenomenon of Christian Trump voters have shown (Gorski & Perry, 2022). How the political right takes up ecofascism in its educational projects remains an unfolding phenomenon that we address in this paper.

Scholarly Significance

As a superordinate concern of schools, climate change is at risk by a polarized populace unwilling to engage in a commitment to the socially just (Authors, in review). The environmental education community needs working conceptual frameworks to approach this wicked problem if we are to enact better climate education. This work is part of that scaffolding.

Authors

• David E. Long, Morehead State University
  Presenting Author

• Joseph A. Henderson, Paul Smith's College
  Presenting Author