Stewardship Versus Citizenship - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 306

Chapter 20
Stewardship Versus Citizenship

Eugene C. Hargrove

Abstract Although “stewardship” may be an environmentally useful term in some
contexts, it is also limiting in many ways because it is tied narrowly to three reli-
gious traditions, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Thus, while it may be extremely
helpful in reaching people who are members of one of these three traditions, people
who are not followers of these religions may have diffi culty with environmental
material that is presented to them under the banner of stewardship. They may feel
that the message they are receiving is colonizing, imperialistic, and/or totalizing. An
alternative term that is religiously neutral is “environmental citizenship,” a term fi rst
used extensively by Environment Canada, but also used to some degree elsewhere,
including the United Nations. It is possible that in some countries both stewardship
and citizenship could be pursued in parallel. However, because of the Culture War,
which began in the fi rst decade of the nineteenth century, when Catholics fi rst began
coming to the United States in large numbers and were displeased with the Protestant
religion and ethics they found in the public schools, ethics was largely removed
from them by 1860. Since then watch groups in most major religions have formed
to watch the public schools to prevent its reintroduction. Given that stewardship is
a recognizable religious term, a program of Earth or environmental stewardship is
more likely to be opposed than a program on Earth or environmental citizenship.
Thus, it might be best to focus on citizenship in the public schools and stewardship
among Judeo-Christian-Islamic religious audiences.

Keywords Christianity ￿ Citizenship ￿ Islam ￿ Judaism ￿ Stewardship

20.1 Introduction

In 2011 the Ecological Society of America (ESA) 96th Annual Meeting had as
theme “Earth Stewardship: Preserving and enhancing the earth's life-support sys-
tems.” The ESA's stewardship initiative aims to fi nd simultaneous solutions to a