Ecotheology and the Practice of Hope

Chapter 6. GLOBAL AND LOCAL IN THE SOCIAL IMAGINARY

6 GLOBAL AND LOCAL IN THE SOCIAL IMAGINARY Isolating issues doesn’t work because nobody lives like that. —Vernice Miller-Travis1 Taylor’s designation of a social imaginary as Western recognizes the particular contextual nature of the imagination in the construction of societies. First, this chapter examines some of the ways in which Christian texts have addressed the contextual nature of the ecological crises, focusing on ecofeminism and the evolution of its contextual richness . While air pollution, climate change, and toxic water do not respect national, city, town, or village boundaries, the ways in which these problems interact with local geographies, societies, cultures, and even race, class, and gender within particular geographies, societies, and cultures are recognizably different. Practices that we recognize as practices of hope are characterized by commitments that are exercised in particular locations. In other words, the social location of the participants matters and the participants themselves recognize their own concerns and visions of sustainable (and in our case, Christian) lives in the creation of the practice. Context enables the actualization of such practices. Second, this chapter examines the theoretical discussions that reflect on efforts to relate the global and local dimensions both of the ecological crisis and of proposed solutions. There is no doubt that the social imaginary of the West, deeply shaped by Christianity, profoundly affected many societies around the world through colonization, in particular , but also through trade relations, international agreements, and many other forms of interaction both formal and informal. Today global economics and increased travel and migration are intensifying interactions among different ways of life and thereby intensifying the urgency of discussions of difference in all domains. 89 The significance of the relationship of global and local is heightened by the fact that other societies are influenced by the West and its social imaginary—particularly, for our purposes, Western Christian practices and theology. Mujerista theology, for example, is not just for Latinas, argues Ada María Isasi-Díaz. Rather it is a perspective on Christianity that ought to be taken into consideration by all liberation theology.2 The argument has also been made for African and Asian women’s theologies.3 With the rapid increase in global communication and travel, the influence of cultures and religions on each other can only increase. The postmodern awareness and emphasis on the difference between cultures, together with this increased interaction, make even more urgent the question of how best to confront the ecological crisis. Should we focus on global or local solutions? As Christian ecotheologians take up this question, they speak from a religious viewpoint that has a global reach whether or not their own social location is in the West. They are also aware of the concrete context within which Christians express their faith. CONTEXTUALIZING ECOTHEOLOGY The quotation from Vernice Miller-Travis that heads this chapter draws attention to the embeddedness of all life issues in the particularities of time and place. Miller-Travis speaks from an environmental justice perspective and draws examples from issues of environmental racism. Within that discussion she deals directly with the concrete local conditions within which people face ecological impairment and the difficulty of making their voices heard where national and international policies are formulated. This is as true for Christian and other religious groups as it is for the secular institutions. Miller-Travis reports having heard from colleagues working on global climate change in a large network of church groups in Kentucky. When she asked if members of the coalitions had spoken with coal miners and their communities in Appalachia she got the response, “We haven’t gotten to them yet. We’re dealing with the big picture issues. We haven’t gotten down to that level yet. But when we get there, we’ll invite them.” Her reflection was, “How can you have a conversation at any level without the people whose lives are ultimately going to be destroyed by what we are recommending as fundamental policy changes, both domestically and internationally?” In Miller-Travis’s view, “there is no big picture that is not essentially about how both nature and people can thrive interdependently in each place.”4 She calls on the churches to support the 90 ECOTHEOLOGY AND THE PRACTICE OF HOPE process of bringing voices together. Her story exemplifies the notion of local concrete context. Context does not always refer to such specific and concrete communities as the coal mining communities...