Nudging spirituality in environmental behavior: Fid-Bau Portal

Nudging spirituality in environmental behavior

Ramyar, Reza

Abstract It is often said that human population and urban growth are the main concerns in environmental degradation. Growing human populations require more food and development, but does it interfere with the sustainability of Earth's ecosystem, or is human population growth detrimental to human welfare, due to limited resources on our planet? Human welfare encompasses a wide variety of factors, and cannot truly be improved by an increase in consumption. Consumerism produces a cycle, in which people work more to earn more to consume more. In a world where happiness is determined by wealth and property (what is purchasable), fundamental changes in the perspective of the individual are necessary in order to decrease the consumption of the limited resources and preserve the natural environment. These changes need not be radical or weird, rather, they could be introduced gradually and address the root of our current destructive manner. First, we must understand the cause of our current human predicament. Why are we now more alone, more selfish, consumer-oriented, destructive, and irresponsible? Then, to control this selfish human instinct to exploit, we need to find fundamental solutions, one of which is proposed in this paper.

Highlights • The trajectory of our development and growth is closely linked to the destruction of natural structures. • Society developed a strong faith that science would previl and could reduce all problems. • Spiritually would be a reliable start point to change our manner and become more responsible.