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A book that asks, “How does faith affect how we think about and respond to climate change?”

There’s no time left to equivocate. Climate change is undeniable, and as world governments and organizations begin to bring due focus to the crisis, we must understand the specific role that religion plays in climate change policy. This is the driving message of Climate Change and the Power of Religion, edited by Evan Berry and published by Indiana University Press in 2022.

The collective impact of human activity on the global environment now figures prominently in virtually all domains of public life, from economic development to military strategy, from cultural production to international relations. No longer merely a speculative concern about future generations, climate change has infused twenty-first–century politics with the raw facts of environmental precarity.

—From the Introduction, Climate Change and the Power of Religion

This volume draws upon case studies in the Philippines, Trinidad, India, Puerto Rico, and northern Peru to assess how religion and climate change policy intersect at a time of growing concern about the survival of the planet. Addressing climate change requires a unified front. However, the different political, economic, and cultural factors at play in each society complicate different perspectives on the role of religion in the public sphere complicate these efforts. For this reason, Climate Politics and the Power of Religion seeks to inform readers through national and transnational analyses.

Note: This book was one of the major outputs of “Religion and Climate Change in Cross-Regional Perspective,” a Luce-funded program organized by American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies.

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  • Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Environmental Humanities, Arizona State University
    Advisory Board
    HRLI Grantee