Abstract
Within the confines of human culture, phenomena like climate change or biodiversity loss are integrated in powerful narratives that belong to the category of social myths. Social myths (very often based on historical or scientific facts) possess an authority akin to sacredness and can inspire strong moods and motivations in people.
In this chapter, the scholarly debate on climate change activism as a form of religion with its own mythology is reviewed. The review is then followed by a closer look at the historical origin and development of environmental ideas and mythemes in the context of the climate change debate.
Two main lineages are offered by scholarship: on the one hand Romanticism, Transcendentalism and by extension the holistic, mystical, animistic and "pagan" undercurrent of European thought, on the other Protestantism, especially Calvinism, with its focus on sin and asceticism. The main mythemes are then presented: the image of the "Fall", the disruption of natural harmony by first the agricultural revolution and later technology; the visions of the looming apocalypse; the opposition of (Cartesian) dualism and (eco-friendly) holism; the opposition of sacred (wild) space and the profane (urban), corresponding to the opposition of pure to polluted and healthy to unhealthy.
The mythemes are then connected to specific secular ritual practices - diets, consumer behaviours etc. - and situated in the wider context of contemporary culture.