Historical Ecospirituality and Environmental Attitudes

Author: Paul C. Behler (Bonn Graduate School of Economics, University of Bonn)Paulina Schröder (Berlin School of Economics, RFBerlin, Humboldt University of Berlin)
Posted: 4 November 2025

Abstract

This paper studies ecospirituality - spiritual views that people have about the natural world. First, utilizing folklore data from around 1,000 pre-industrial societies, we present the first comprehensive global measurement of ecospirituality. Our analysis reveals systematic cultural variation: ecospirituality is most prevalent in South America and least prevalent in Europe. Additionally, we find a strong negative correlation between ecospirituality and belief in high gods. Second, we study the potential impact of historical ecospirituality on current environmental attitudes. Combining data from the Integrated Values Survey with folklore, we find no statistically significant relationship between contemporary environmental attitudes and the prevalence of ecospirituality in the folklore of ones ancestors.
JEL codes: Q50, Z12, Z13
Keywords: Environmental Attitudes, Ecospirituality, Folklore