The Christian Environmental Ethic of the Russian Pomor
This article revisits Lynn White's famous 1967 article that placed the blame forenvironmental problems in the Western world on the Judeo-Christian belief system, anddiscusses the case of the Pomor, a Russian sub-ethnicity who settled on the shores ofthe White Sea in the twelfth century. Althoug...
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European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture and the Environment; Universidad de Alcalá de Henares
2011
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Online Access: | https://doaj.org/article/4998f16134cb45aa9f58ffd220f755bd |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:4998f16134cb45aa9f58ffd220f755bd 2023-05-15T18:43:52+02:00 The Christian Environmental Ethic of the Russian Pomor Stephen Brain 2011-01-01 https://doaj.org/article/4998f16134cb45aa9f58ffd220f755bd de en es fr it ger eng spa fre ita European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture and the Environment; Universidad de Alcalá de Henares 2171-9594 https://doaj.org/article/4998f16134cb45aa9f58ffd220f755bd undefined Ecozon@, Vol 2, Iss 2, Pp 60-82 (2011) hisphilso hist Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2011 fttriple 2023-01-22T19:11:39Z This article revisits Lynn White's famous 1967 article that placed the blame forenvironmental problems in the Western world on the Judeo-Christian belief system, anddiscusses the case of the Pomor, a Russian sub-ethnicity who settled on the shores ofthe White Sea in the twelfth century. Although maintaining their Orthodox faith aftermigrating to the edge of the Slavic cultural zone, the Pomor adopted an entirely newway of life suited to the climate of the far north. Rather than concentrating onagriculture, which proved unreliable at the extreme northern latitude, they turned theirattention to the exploitation of marine resources: fishing, sealing, and whaling.Contending with the harsh elements on a daily basis, the Pomor developed a worldviewcalled "sacral geography," which fused animism with Christian eschatology. Sacralgeography, in addition to providing an interpretive system for the natural world, alsoobligated the Pomor to observe and respect the natural world by limiting their economicstrategies. The result was a unique environmental ethic. In the late nineteenth centuryand early twentieth century, the Pomor environmental ethic came under direct criticismfrom larger social forces-first the local business community and then the Soviet statebecauseof its low productivity. Ultimately, Stalin's aggressive economic and politicalpolicies succeeded in eliminating the Pomor environmental ethic as an effective curb onresource exploitation. Article in Journal/Newspaper White Sea Unknown White Sea |
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German English Spanish French Italian |
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hisphilso hist Stephen Brain The Christian Environmental Ethic of the Russian Pomor |
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hisphilso hist |
description |
This article revisits Lynn White's famous 1967 article that placed the blame forenvironmental problems in the Western world on the Judeo-Christian belief system, anddiscusses the case of the Pomor, a Russian sub-ethnicity who settled on the shores ofthe White Sea in the twelfth century. Although maintaining their Orthodox faith aftermigrating to the edge of the Slavic cultural zone, the Pomor adopted an entirely newway of life suited to the climate of the far north. Rather than concentrating onagriculture, which proved unreliable at the extreme northern latitude, they turned theirattention to the exploitation of marine resources: fishing, sealing, and whaling.Contending with the harsh elements on a daily basis, the Pomor developed a worldviewcalled "sacral geography," which fused animism with Christian eschatology. Sacralgeography, in addition to providing an interpretive system for the natural world, alsoobligated the Pomor to observe and respect the natural world by limiting their economicstrategies. The result was a unique environmental ethic. In the late nineteenth centuryand early twentieth century, the Pomor environmental ethic came under direct criticismfrom larger social forces-first the local business community and then the Soviet statebecauseof its low productivity. Ultimately, Stalin's aggressive economic and politicalpolicies succeeded in eliminating the Pomor environmental ethic as an effective curb onresource exploitation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stephen Brain |
author_facet |
Stephen Brain |
author_sort |
Stephen Brain |
title |
The Christian Environmental Ethic of the Russian Pomor |
title_short |
The Christian Environmental Ethic of the Russian Pomor |
title_full |
The Christian Environmental Ethic of the Russian Pomor |
title_fullStr |
The Christian Environmental Ethic of the Russian Pomor |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Christian Environmental Ethic of the Russian Pomor |
title_sort |
christian environmental ethic of the russian pomor |
publisher |
European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture and the Environment; Universidad de Alcalá de Henares |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://doaj.org/article/4998f16134cb45aa9f58ffd220f755bd |
geographic |
White Sea |
geographic_facet |
White Sea |
genre |
White Sea |
genre_facet |
White Sea |
op_source |
Ecozon@, Vol 2, Iss 2, Pp 60-82 (2011) |
op_relation |
2171-9594 https://doaj.org/article/4998f16134cb45aa9f58ffd220f755bd |
op_rights |
undefined |
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1766234402166145024 |