by Daniel Rowell

Created on: February 05, 2011   Last Updated: February 06, 2011

Before I begin this article, I feel it necessary to say that I am part of a pagan religious denomination. Additionally I am also very environmentally aware. So one would wonder why I am writing an article in defense of the no side; admittedly I found myself quite surprised. Well the reason is quite simple.

One of the large fundamental things of paganism (well religion altogether) is that not all religion is right for everyone. While all religions aren’t right for everyone, by the same token all aspects of a single religion aren’t for everyone. So any aspect of religion that you might have, I very well might not share. Religion, after all, is a matter of opinion.

One might say, “Well isn’t paganism known as an earth religion?” and my answer would be simply “Only by some.” Religion is known by many titles across this vast world, some good, and some bad. So this question is irrelevant to our outcome.

From my studies, however, I have found that you are to respect the earth and all of its parts. So this would be known as being an environmentalist, yes? Correct, but once again this isn’t something unanimously agreed upon by all members of paganism. The reasons behind this are numerous.

In many living situations one cannot easily recycle his/her waste products even if they would want to. I am a person who is in this situation currently. I was once an avid recycler, I even brought a box to work to help everyone else do the same, and in exchange, I would recycle for them. Alas, this of course failed and now I am in a greatly different living situation these days.

This doesn’t mean that I am not an environmentalist. Quite simply, if one was to view my day-to-day activities they would realize that I don’t partake in practices that would be considered environmentally friendly as often as I should. Of course as listed prior, this is due to limitations set before me. I could literally go on and on about this.

So, should all neo-pagans be environmentalists? No they most definitely shouldn’t. They should be whatever suits their views and personality most. Nothing is much worse than someone being or doing something that just isn’t what they really are. I am not condoning the lack of environmental awareness, simply that everyone chose for themselves. I will just hope for the sake of my children and everybody else’s children that every neo-pagan out there chooses to be an avid environmentalist!

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