Intriguing front cover: a shrine grove (鎮守の森) in the midst of a flood. Good visual metaphor: Shinto-derived aesthetic environmentalism doesn't help against climate change. The popular myth that Japanese traditional culture offers solutions for living sustainably is unfounded.
https://twitter.com/NoahSneider/status/1468413203520843776
We all know what's needed: corporations must stop burning fossil fuels asap; national governments must stop subsidising them. #Japan is addicted to fossil fuels; its environmental track record is poor. #Shinto is aesthetically appealing, but useless in the face of climate change.
If you're interested in Shinto environmentalism and the significance (ecological/ideological) of sacred groves, please read my book. Spoiler alert: some interesting local initiatives, mostly of a symbolic nature; no meaningful action at the national level. bloomsbury.com/uk/shinto-natu…
Editors often ask me to write a book chapter or article about "how Shinto can contribute to solving environmental problems" or something similar. Sorry, I can't. Scholars already claimed that Shinto can contribute to solving the environmental crisis decades ago. But it hasn't.
The problem of many academic texts on religion and ecology: too much wishful thinking about how religions *might* be used; too little critical analysis of how they actually work. Green values, aesthetics, or spirituality won't solve this crisis. We need systemic political change.
The umbrella organisation Association for Shinto Shrines (神社本庁) and shrines such as Ise Jingū and Meiji Jingū are powerful forces in Japanese politics, society, and the economy. They are conservative, communitarian, corporate, and capitalist. They don't want systemic change.
Which is one of the reasons why I wrote this article, together with my colleagues @jolyonbt, @mclaughlin_levi, and @drchikawatanabe. Shinto "nature spirituality" looks attractive, but why doesn't it translate into meaningful political action more often?
https://twitter.com/jolyonbt/status/1291750621671038977
In sum, instead of the hypothetical question "can Shinto contribute to solving the environmental crisis", we should ask: "why haven't Shinto actors done more to argue for meaningful environmental policy change, despite the fact that they worship deities who reside in nature?"
P.S. It's not a shrine in the midst of a flood, as I wrote in the first tweet. I stand corrected! It's a torii on a lake. Nevertheless, it's a compelling image of a sacred grove next to a body of water, showing Shinto's embeddedness in Japanese landscapes.
https://twitter.com/ozAntinnippon/status/1468598513005400065?s=20
The link is obvious though: the torii gate as a symbol for the nation, the rising water, the title "On the front line" - all establishing the association between Japan, its traditions, and the threat of climate change. This picture would have worked, too: gettyimages.no/detail/news-ph…
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