Putting Ecospirituality to Work: Environmental Ministry and Chaplaincy

This project arose out of curiosity about the term “environmental ministry,” listed as an elective track in the Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program at Upaya Institute and Zen Center. Several core and adjunct faculty members, including Upaya and Chaplaincy Program founder and Head Teacher Roshi Joan Halifax, have been environmental activists, teachers, writers, and mentors for decades. Roshi Joan follows the path of engaged Buddhism pioneered by her late teachers, Venerable Thich Nhat Hahn and Roshi Bernie Glassman.      

This paper documents my process of exploring the phenomenon of environmental ministry. I searched via standard web search engines and then attempted to find published literature—books or peer-reviewed academic papers. Finding none, I constructed an online survey and interview process to get a clearer picture of environmental ministry/chaplaincy and the people who serve in that role. 

The direct involvement of clerics and chaplains in addressing the climate and environmental crises has not been studied. In this project, I was seeking answers to the questions “What do eco-chaplains do?” and “How does one prepare to be an eco-chaplain?” My hypotheses, more implicit than explicit as I began this process, were: There is a contemporary phenomenon of chaplains and clergy serving in the field of climate change and the environment; the characteristics of these people can be determined and quantified; the professional role(s) of environmental ministers/chaplains can be elucidated.

As suggested above, the primary sources directed toward these questions and suppositions are information on the World Wide Web and the results of the survey and interviews of eco-chaplains I conducted in the summer of 2023. Information from the two data streams is initially presented separately, then interwoven as contextually appropriate in thematic discussions. Given that the impetus and structural support for this project was a Buddhist chaplaincy training program, results are viewed through both nonsectarian and Buddhist lenses.

Addressing a Global Spiritual Crisis

Fundamental to understanding the interest of chaplains and clerics in environmental ministry is the perspective that underlying the ecological, political, economic, and social crises of our day is a global spiritual crisis. (Armstrong, 2022; Capra & Luisi, 2014; Horan, 2021; Loy, 2018; Rienstra, 2022). “Global” in this context refers to both the deeply pervading nature and its worldwide distribution due to the intentional “globalization” of the dominant culture.

There is no universally recognized definition of spirituality. However, discussions of spirituality typically include a belief in or sense of being part of or connected to something beyond the self, a relationship with the divine or a higher or greater power, and the source of purpose or meaning. The “power” could be, but doesn’t have to be, a divinity. It may be a natural process or entity such as life, the cosmos, nature, or the earth itself. For some, connection in this definition is expanded to interdependence, and for most Buddhists, transcended to interpenetration and interbeing (Halifax & Peale, 1996).

For most writers concerned about an environmentally-related spiritual crisis, modernity or the dominant culture has created a perceived disconnection between humans and nature or the earth (Berry, 1999; Capra & Luisi, 2014; Naess, 1995).  The nature of this disconnection is a toxic worldview of all things as separate and competing entities. From this arises the perspective that humans are separate from nature (Naess, 1995), that systems of dominant hierarchies (gender, race, nations, human “dominion” over nature, etc.) are the natural order (Capra, 1997; Capra & Luisi, 2014), and that economies must continually expand through exploitation and extraction (Bendel, 2023). This “spiritual impoverishment” (Halifax, 1993, p. 9) has led to a global ecological crisis (that) is also the defining crisis of the human species” (Stanley & Loy, 2013, p. 45).

Primarily scientific or aesthetic/emotional (e.g., “Save the polar bears!”) attempts to address causes and corrective approaches to these crises have had limited success and have been distorted by divisive politics or co-opted by the systems they were intended to change. Explicit religious and spiritual approaches, while not entirely new, have begun to gain prominence as the crises have worsened. Major religions and dedicated interfaith organizations have become more active, visible, and energized in climate and environmental causes. The recognition of this spiritual crisis has spawned new academic specialties: ecospirituality, ecotheology, and environmental ethics. It has also triggered faith-based activism, such as the Episcopal Church’s Reconciliation, Justice, and Creation Care program, the interfaith Creation Justice Ministries, Buddhist Global Relief, the Loka Initiative (interfaith, Buddhist-inspired), and scores of others worldwide. Writer and activist Bill McKibben, reporting on a series of religion and ecology conferences at Harvard in the 1990s, concludes, “Every major religion had resources buried in their scriptures and commentaries” that can help tackle climate change (McKibben, 2022). On a more individual level, chaplains and clergy of multiple faith traditions are attempting to identify the niches, both within and outside of religious institutions, where they can serve the needs of those experiencing the effects of the environmental and related social crises (sometimes called polycrisis and permacrisis) and also support activists and environmental organizations.  

Findings/Results

Results of a 24-question survey offered on SurveyMonkey are reported. One hundred and twenty survey invitations were sent to chaplains and clerics interested in the spiritual interface of humans and nature; 51 surveys were completed (51/120 = 42.5% answer rate).

The survey revealed a greater-than-expected diversity in spiritual worldviews and interests. Survey respondents saw a clear link between environmental degradation and serious social issues such as racism and human exploitation. The roles and activities of eco-chaplains (using a variety of titles) are discussed.  Implications for ministry—Buddhist and non-Buddhist—are discussed.

The survey and interview results suggest a strong—and growing—need for an ecospiritual approach to addressing environmental and related crises. Also revealed is a nonexistent to patchy infrastructure of preparation and support for those engaged in or interested in pursuing environmental ministry and chaplaincy. Concerns about and recommendations regarding the future of environmental ministry are discussed.