Earth Day: A Mormon Primer on Nature and the Environment

By: Kris W - April 22, 2008

Looking to do a little LDS reading on Earth Day?   

 Some suggestions:

Hugh Nibley ,“Subduing the Earth” in On the Timely and the Timeless (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, 1978) and  “Brigham Young on the Environment” in To the Glory of God. Mormon Essays on Great Issues: Environment,  Commitment, Love, Peace, Youth, Man.  (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1972)

Emma Lou Thayne,  How Much for the Earth:  A Suite of Poems: About Time and Considering (Signature Books, 1983).

Terry Tempest Williams  Refuge:  An Unnatural History of Family and Place (Vintage, 1992)

 Thomas Alexander’s “Stewardship and Enterprise” in Western Historical Quarterly 25 (Autumn 1994): 340-64

Richard Jackson’s “Righteousness and Environmental Change: The Mormons and the Environment” in Essays on the American West 1973-1974, 5 (Brigham Young University Press: Provo, UT): 21-42

Jeanne Kaye and Craig J. Brown.  “Mormon Beliefs about Land and Natural Resources, 1847-1877.” Journal of Historical Geography 11(3): 253-267.

Aaron Kelson The Holy Place: Why Caring for the Earth and Being Kind to Animals Matters (Spotsylvania, VA: White Pine Publishing, 1999)

Terry Tempest Williams, William B. Smart and Gibbs M. Smith, eds. New Genesis. A Mormon Reader on Land and Community,  (Layton, UT: Gibbs-Smith Publisher, 1998)

 George Handley “The Environmental Ethics of Mormon Belief” in BYU Studies 40:2 Summer 2001: 187-211)

 Matthew Gowan and Philip Cafaro “A Latter-Day Saint Environmental Ethic” in Environmental Ethics 25 (2003): 375-94)
Mark J. Nielsen, Ensign, “The Wonder of Creation”, March 2004, pp. 60-65).

Links:

MESJ’s Environment Page 

Much of  Patricia Karamesines’ writing both at A Motley Vision and Times and Seasons

Green Mormon Architect

LDS Sustainability

An article about the roof of the Conference Centre

Amri’s awesomely titled post

All other suggestions gratefully accepted.

6 Comments

  1. Thanks, Kris.

    Your list will keep me reading for some months to come, since I was aware of only about a third of those titles, and have read even fewer.

    Comment by Mark IV — April 22, 2008 @ 9:23 am

  2. Thanks for the list, Kris. I have my suspicions, but what is your favorite?

    Comment by J. Stapley — April 22, 2008 @ 9:29 am

  3. Well, of course I love Refuge. (You should stop doing research and read it!) I also really like Nibley and the Handley piece in BYU Studies.

    Comment by Kris — April 22, 2008 @ 9:35 am

  4. Awesome, Kris. I was hoping you’d provide some of these resources.

    Comment by Steve Evans — April 22, 2008 @ 9:39 am

  5. Don’t forget today to turn to page 92 in your Hymnal and sing “For the beauty of the Earth”.

    Comment by Ogan — April 22, 2008 @ 12:36 pm

  6. Its a bit late, but good earth by Wendell Berry and writings by Edward Abbey

    Comment by Joshua Madson — April 23, 2008 @ 10:37 am