A Retreating Goddess? Conflicting Perceptions of Ecological Change near the Gangotri-Gaumukh Glacier

Abstract

The Gangotri-Gaumukh glacier is a significant body of ice in the Indian Himalayas whose loss could cause ecological turmoil, the disruption of livelihoods, and possibly even threaten the continuity of cultural-rebgious practices intertwined with the sacred Ganga River into which its runoff flows. Although there is reason to fear for the Ganga's longevity, the issue of its potential decline is layered with ambiguity, uncertainty, and debate. In this article, I present the science-based discourse on glacial melt, which continues to evolve, along with ethnographicaUy documented perspectives on retreating glaciers and other ecological tiansformations. I demonstiate how Faith in the enduring nature of the Goddess Ganga impacts interpretations of environmental change, regardless of the climate change science, and how ideas about the river's impermanence in Hindu texts can sometimes deter conservation efforts. In doing so I offer a variety of views that enlarge discussions about the causes for and the range of responses to climatic change.Extensive ecological transformations are in progress around the globe and awareness is growing over the degree to which human activities are responsible. In addition to the contributions of climate science, many public debates help to circulate varied understandings of the issues and the challenges ahead. The emerging emphasis on climate stewardship

Against Spiritual Ecology: Reply to Sponsel’s Comments

“…With respect to the latter's statement which my review characterized as a pie-in-the-sky counterfactual, I must now go further on the basis of studies previously unfamiliar to me and question even Worster's premise that reverence for nature necessarily makes for better environmental stewardship. Thus, contrary to the premise, an article by Drew (2012) shows that complexities related, inter alia, to "multiple circulating epistemologies…layered within regional policies and politics" have the result that religious reverence for the River Ganges keeps actions from being taken in parts of India to reverse the river's degradation (see also the similar points being made by 1998 and Alley 2000, cited by Drew, and, also relevant to questioning Worster's premise, the somewhat different points made decades ago by Yi-Fu Tuan [1968: 187-188 and1970: 248] about practical reasons why people frequently and consequentially act in ways that diverge from their own widely shared pro-environmental attitudes or values, like the Chinese ones in past centuries about quiescence towards nature).…”

The spiritual significance of glaciers in an age of climate change

“…Local subjectivities and identities are shaped both through practice and ritual engagement with mountain landscapes, and through distant forces that are remaking the mountain landscapes. Disruptions in the mountain landscape are affecting cultural and religious perceptions and practices, altering human subjectivities and cosmological orientations . For example, Bolivians revere their glaciated mountains as Achachilas , life‐giving deities, on whom they depend for the water necessary for agriculture and survival .…”

“…Some communities and individuals report malaise, disaffection, or community disruption occurring when the totems, around which they have oriented their spiritual life, show signs of decline . In general, the internal, subjective, and psychological effects of climate change are understudied, as are the consequences for the interpretations of meaning and value that arise from religious, philosophical, artistic, and cultural constructs (for important exceptions see Ref ).…”

Religion and climate change: varieties in viewpoints and practices

“…Another cosmology, say, belief that a divine force is in control of the cosmos or that humankind is not so powerful as God or Nature is likely to shape in very different ways what people believe about anthropogenic climate change . Believing that we are in the epoch of Kaliyuga —the most degenerate period in the cycles of cosmological time—for some Hindu faithful the divinity of the sacred Ganges River is assumed to provide reassurance in times of decay; disrupted flow from climate changes are filtered through this framework, creating multiple layers of interpretation of world . On the other hand, local ecological knowledge is often infused with spiritual worldviews or emotive awarenesses of place and thereby disregarded by research scientists trained in the rigid man/nature/spirit divisions of modernity's understandings of the world.…”

“…In their view, modernity, secularism, ecological exploitation, and moral decay are associated while tradition is idealized, creating a narrative of a return to harmony. Other studies discern similar belief structures (e.g.,). Researchers using interviews to achieve more nuance than surveys provide showed that even evangelical Christian eschatology‐based fatalism coincides with other beliefs that could substantiate environmental concern and acceptance of anthropogenic climate change .…”