Lynn White’s lecture can be found in Lynn White Jr., “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis,” Science, March 1967, 1203–7. On the Alabama official’s claim about EPA’s coal regulation, see Stan Diel, “Pray God Blocks EPA Plan, Chief Regulator of Alabama Utilities Tells Consumers,” Alabama Media, July 28, 2014, http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2014/07/post_14.html. On the Resisting the Green Dragon series, see Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, “Resisting the Green Dragon,” accessed April 24, 2015, http://www.resistingthegreendragon.com/. For a summary of Mike Huckabee’s views on religion and the environment, see “Mike Huckabee on Environment,” On the Issues, last updated February 8, 2010, http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Mike_Huckabee_Environment.htm. The website for the Alliance of Religions and Conservation is http://www.arcworld.org/. On the role of environmentalist evangelicals, see David Wheeler, “Greening for God: Evangelicals Learn to Love Earth Day,” Atlantic, April 18, 2012. For the pope’s encyclical, see Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: Encyclical Letter of the Holy Father Francis on Care for Our Common Home, May 24, 2015, http://w2.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf.
On worldwide deaths from air pollution, see Tarik Jasarevic, Glenn Thomas, and Nada Osseiran, “7 Million Premature Deaths Annually Linked to Air Pollution,” World Health Organization, March 25, 2014, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/air-pollution/en/. The quote about the Grinch trying to steal Lag B’Omer comes from Allison Kaplan Sommer, “The Grinch Who Tried to Steal Lag B’Omer,” Haaretz.com (Israel), May 8, 2012. On Lag B’Omer generally, see Ron Friedman, “Lag B’Omer Takes Its Fiery Toll,” Times of Israel, April 29, 2013; “Israel-Environmentalists Against Hundreds of Thousands Lag B’Omer Bonfires,” Jewish Week, May 7, 2009; R. Ainbinder et al., “[Lag Ba-Omer Bonfires: Is There Any Association Between the Tradition and Asthma and COPD Exacerbations]” (article in Hebrew) Harefuah 144, no. 6 (2005): 386–88. On the possibility of Hanukkah candles being harmful, see Shandi P., “Can Hanukkah Candles Poison You?” The Whole Life (blog), December 16, 2011, http://thewholelifeblog.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/can-hanukkah-candles-poison-you/.
Dr. Kin-Fai Ho’s coauthored article about the impact of incense on air quality in temples in Hong Kong is B. Wang et al., “Characteristics of Emissions of Air Pollutants from Burning of Incense in Temples, Hong Kong,” Science of the Total Environment 377 (May 1, 2007): 52–60. Two other pieces on incense in temples are C. K. Ho et al., “Adverse Respiratory and Irritant Health Effects in Temple Workers in Taiwan,” Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health 68 (2005): 1465–70; and Hsin Ta Hsueh et al., “Health Risk of Aerosols and Toxic Metals from Incense and Joss Paper Burning,” Environmental Chemistry Letters 10 (March 2012): 79–87. On air pollution caused by fireworks during Diwali, see Nandita D. Ganguly, “Surface Ozone Pollution During the Festival of Diwali, New Delhi, India,” Earth Science India 2 (October 2009): 224–29. The second expert on firecrackers during Diwali is quoted in Priyangi Agarwal, “Pollution Level During Diwali Goes Up by 30%,” Times of India, November 13, 2012. On fireworks in China during the New Year celebration, see Austin Ramzy, “Will Chinese New Year Fireworks Make Beijing’s ‘Crazy Bad’ Air Worse?” Time, February 8, 2013. On fireworks and Eid, see “‘Have Fun This Eid—but Not with Fireworks’: Abu Dhabi Police Issue Warning,” 7 Days in Dubai, July 24, 2014. On regulating fireworks in the United States, see Judy Fahys, “Fireworks Loophole: Critics Decry Pollution Exception,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 22, 2013.
To learn about the worldwide impacts of indoor air pollution, see World Health Organization, “Household Air Pollution and Health,” fact sheet, updated March 2014, www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs292/en/. On the ritualistic use of mercury generally and Arnold Wendroff’s campaign to fight it, see Emily Yehle, “EPA Weighs Threats Posed by Mercury Used in Religious Rituals,” New York Times, May 18, 2011; Lauryn Schroeder et al., “Ritualistic Use of Mercury Remains a Mystery—but Health Effects Aren’t,” Medill Reports Chicago, March 14, 2013, http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=219201; Leonora LaPeter and Paul de la Garza, “Mercury in Rituals Raises Alarms,” St. Petersburg Times Online, January 26, 2004. For a piece written by Wendroff himself, see Arnold P. Wendroff, “Magico-Religious Mercury Use in Caribbean and Latino Communities: Pollution, Persistence, and Politics,” Environmental Practice 7, no. 2 (June 2005): 87–96. The relevant EPA documents on ritualistic use of mercury are EPA Office of Inspector General, Public Liaison Report, EPA Is Properly Addressing the Risks of Using Mercury in Rituals, Report No. 2006-P-00031, August 31, 2006; and EPA, Task Force on Ritualistic Use of Mercury (Washington, DC: December 2002), http://www.epa.gov/superfund/community/pdfs/mercury.pdf.
On the loss of wetlands in the 1900s, see Marianne de Nazareth, “Approximately 50% of the World’s Wetlands Lost During the 20th Century,” Countercurrents.org, October 18, 2012. On losing rain forests, see National Geographic, “Rain Forest Threats,” accessed April 24, 2015, http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/rainforest-threats/. The Supreme Court case referred to in the paragraph introducing the RLUIPA is Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990). The text of the RLUIPA can be found at 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000cc, et seq. On a zoning law that limits the number of vegetables a landowner can grow, see M. S., “Where Growing Too Many Vegetables Is Illegal,” Democracy in America (blog), Economist, October 3, 2010, www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010–10-weird_zoning_laws. The Rocky Mountain Church case is Rocky Mountain Christian Church v. Board of County Commissioners of Boulder, Colorado, 613 F.3d 1229 (10th Cir. 2010). Professor Zale’s law review article is Kellen Zale, “God’s Green Earth? The Environmental Impacts of Religious Land Use,” 64 Maine Law Review 207 (August 2011): 208–37. On green burials, see Lauren Markoe, “Green Burials Reflect Shift to Care for the Body, Soul and Earth,” Huffington Post, January 26, 2014. On the shaimos controversy, see Margaret F. Bonafide, “Jewish Artifacts Illegally Dumped in N.J.,” USA Today, March 14, 2013; Zach Patberg, “Burying of Artifacts Remains Unresolved,” Asbury Park (NJ) Press, October 15, 2010; Alexander Aciman, “God’s Garbage in New Jersey,” Tablet, April 10, 2013.
On the number of people who embark on a religious pilgrimage each year, and on the water bottles left behind during the hajj, see George Webster, “Holy Cities Face Threat from Polluting Pilgrims,” CNN.com, November 9, 2011. On damage to the cave in the Himalayas, see Rebecca Byerly, “Massive Hindu Pilgrimage Melting Sacred Glacier,” National Geographic News, March 14, 2012. On the Sri Lanka pilgrimage, see Zahrah Imtiaz, “Daunting Task of Keeping Sri Pada Clean: Severe Lack of Facilities for the Millions of Pilgrims Who Climb the Sacred Peak Has Caused Immense Damage to the Environment,” Ceylon Today, April 13, 2014. On green pilgrimages, see the website of the Green Pilgrimage Project, http://greenpilgrimage.net, where you can find “Green Pilgrimage Handbook” and “Green Guide to Hajj.” Also see Miriam Kresh, “Jerusalem Launches World Conference Project for People of Faith,” Green Prophet, April 10, 2013, www.greenprophet.com/2013/04/jerusalem-symposium-on-green-pilgrimage-april-21-26/.
On the successes of the Clean Water Act and the point-source/non-point-source distinction, from someone who did get a rash from contact with Boston’s Charles River in the 1970s, see James Salzman, “Why Rivers No Longer Burn: The Clean Water Act Is One of the Great Successes in Environmental Law,” Slate, December 10, 2012. The line about leeches and sludge worms quoted by Salzman comes from the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration itself. On the Amish and non-point-source farming pollution and the quotes about “guns ablazing” and “federal money,” see Amanda Peterka, “Amish Farmers in Chesapeake Bay Find Themselves in EPA’s Sights,” New York Times, October 10, 2011. Other sources on this issue include Sindya N. Bhanoo, “Amish Farming Draws Rare Government Scrutiny,” New York Times, June 8, 2010; and Brian Winter, “Scientists, Amish to Fight Chesapeake Bay Pollution,” USA Today, February 2, 2010. On the Swartzentrubers, see Associated Press, “Embattled W. Pa. Amish Sect from Cambria County Moving to Upstate NY,” Wall Street Journal, November 24, 2012 (“going to hell” quote); and Sean D. Hamill, “Religious Freedom vs. Sanitation Rules,” New York Times, June 13, 2009 (“enforcing stuff that’s against our religion”). The Ohio and Michigan cases are Ohio v. Bontrager, 897 N.E. 2d 244 (Newton Falls Municipal Court 2008) and Beechy v. Central Michigan District Health Dept., 475 F.Supp.2d 671 (E.D. Mich. 2007).
The scientific article on Holi is Joy Joseph Gardner and Deepanjali Lal, “Impact of ‘Holi’ on the Environment: A Scientific Study,” Archives of Applied Science Research 4, no. 3 (2012):1403–10. On the Ganges River, see Ritu Sharma, “As India’s Rivers Turn Toxic, Religion Plays a Part,” UCANews.com, January 9, 2014; Joshua Hammer, “A Prayer for the Ganges,” Smithsonian Magazine, November 2007; Dean Nelson, “Ganges Hit by Alarming Pollution Levels During Kumbh Mela,” Telegraph (London), February 24, 2013. The book by the famous doctor and writer is Atul Gawande, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (New York: Henry Holt, 2014). For a table reporting the safe level of biological oxygen demand for bathing and the level in the Ganges, see Sankat Mochan Foundation, “Pollution in Ganga & Ganga Action Plan Failures,” accessed August 21, 2015, www.sankatmochanfoundationonline.org/PollutionofGanga.html.
On the current rate of species extinction, see the World Wildlife Federation, “How Many Species Are We Losing?,” accessed April 24, 2015, http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/Biodiversity/biodiversity/. The case involving the Santeria is Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993). On Candomblé animal sacrifices, see Nivaldo A. Léo Neto et al., “From Eshu to Obatala: Animals Used in Sacrificial Rituals at Candomblé ‘Terreiros’ in Brazil,” Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 5, no. 23 (2009). On the Kali Puja turtle sacrifices in Bangladesh, see “100,000 Turtles Sacrificed in Ritual Slaughter to Celebrate Hindu Ritual,” Daily Mail Reporter (London), October 27, 2011; “Vast Turtle Slaughter in Bangladesh,” WildlifeExtra.com, November 2001. On the Shembe and leopard pelts, see Nkepile Mabuse and Vanessa Ko, “Wild Leopards Threatened by Religious Tradition in Africa,” CNN.com, September 16, 2012; “Biologist Enters the Fashion Field in a Bid to Save Wild Leopards,” AllAboutWildlife.com, January 12, 2011; “Zulu False Dawn: Shembe Faithful Swap Leopardskin for Faux Fur,” TheGuardian.com, February 19, 2014; and “Panthera’s Faux Fur Leopard Project,” accessed April 24, 2015, http://www.panthera.org/node/1471. On the number of elephants killed in recent years, see Brad Scriber, “100,000 Elephants Killed by Poachers in Just Three Years, Landmark Analysis Finds,” National Geographic News, August 18, 2014. Bryan Christy’s classic piece on the connection between religion, ivory, and the killing of elephants is “Blood Ivory,” National Geographic, October 2012. On Oliver Payne’s attempt to get the Vatican to denounce the killing of elephants for their ivory, see Oliver Payne, “Vatican Responds to National Geographic’s Correspondence About Religious Use of Ivory,” NationalGeographic.com, January 22, 2013. On the destruction of ivory stocks, see Karl Mathiesen, “Does Destroying Ivory Save Elephants?,” TheGuardian.com, February 6, 2014.
The magazine article about the yellow-eared parrot is Susan McGrath, “Parrot Conservation Changes a Catholic Tradition,” Audubon, March–April 2012. For newspaper stories about the EcoPalm project, see Marc Lacey, “U.S. Churches Go ‘Green’ for Palm Sunday,” New York Times, April 1, 2007; Stephanie Reighart, “In York, Church Turns New Leaf for Palm Sunday,” York (PA) Daily Record, March 31, 2012; Ann Rodgers, “Eco-Palms Bring Sustainability to Christian Holy Day,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 28, 2010. My Slate piece on the EcoPalm project is Jay Wexler, “Are Your Palm Sunday Palms Bad for the Environment?,” Slate, March 22, 2013.
For some general reading about the Ganesh festival and its environmental impacts, see Sarika Bansal, “Ganesh Chaturthi: India’s Toxic Festival,” Guardian (London), September 22, 2010; Marc Abrahams, “God-Awful Pollution of India’s Waters,” Guardian (London), April 30, 2012; Sudeshna Chowdhury, “Green Dream,” Mid-Day (India), September 6, 2011. The scientific studies mentioned and quoted in the text are, in order of discussion, Anju Vyas et al., “Heavy Metal Contamination Cause of Idol Immersion Activities in Urban Lake Bhopal, India,” Journal of Applied Scientific Environmental Management 11, no. 4 (December 2007): 37–39; N. C. Ujjania and Azhar A. Multani, “Impact of Ganesh Idol Immersion Activities on the Water Quality of Tapi River, Surat (Gujarat) India,” Research Journal of Biology 1, no. 1 (2011): 11–15; M. Reddy et al., “Assessment of the Effects of Municipal Sewage, Immersed Idols and Boating on the Heavy Metal and Other Elemental Pollution of Surface Water of the Eutrophic Hussainsagar Lake (Hyderabad, India),” Environmental Monitoring Assessment 184 (2012): 1991–2000. The Bombay High Court decision on Janhit Manch’s Public Interest Litigation is Janhit Manch v. State of Maharashtra, PIL Writ Petition No. 1325 of 2003, 2008(5)ALLMR2299 (High Court of Judicature at Bombay, Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction), July 22, 2008. For more on the case, see “High Court Asks Maharashtra for Report on Idol Immersion,” India Water Review, June 8, 2011. For the national government’s guidelines, see Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Guidelines for Idol Immersion (Shahdara, Delhi: Central Pollution Control Board, June, 2010), http://cpcb.nic.in/upload/NewItems/NewItem_159_Guideline_for_Idol_Imersion.pdf. See also Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Suggested Code of Practice for Environment Friendly Celebration of Ganesh Festival (Mumbai: Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, 2010), http://mpcb.gov.in/images/guidelinesforimmersion.pdf. The National Green Tribunal’s decision in the Gujarat case is Sureshbhai Keshavbhai Waghvankar v. State of Gujarat Ors, Application No. 65/2012 (THC), May 9, 2013.
The quotation about the role of the eagle in Arapaho religion, culture, and community is from “Findings and Conclusions of the Northern Arapaho Tribe Regarding the Right to Take Eagles for Religious Purposes,” filed October 14, 2013, as an attachment to the Memorandum in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment on Remaining Claims, Northern Arapaho Tribe v. Ashe, Civil No. 11-CV-347-J (D. Wyo). The Audubon article is Ted Williams, “Golden Eagles for the Gods,” Audubon, March–April 2001, 30–39. The Supreme Court cases on religious freedom are the following: Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1878); Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963); Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972); Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990); Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, 573 U.S. __, 134 S. Ct. 2751 (2014). For the case of United States v. Friday, see 525 F.3d 938 (10th Cir. 2008). As of this writing, the most recent printed decision in the ongoing case of Northern Arapaho Tribe v. Ashe is the March 12, 2015, decision issued by federal district court judge Alan B. Johnson, https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/wyoming/wydce/2:2011cv00347/23407/93/0.pdf?ts=1426254665. The decision describes in full detail the history of the litigation. My description of the Iowa Tribe’s eagle aviary appeared, in somewhat different form, in Jay Wexler, “Not Your Ordinary Home for Birds,” April 11, 2013, National Geographic News Blog, http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/11/not-your-ordinary-home-for-birds/.
On the actor’s Facebook posting about joss, see “Local Celeb Says Joss Paper Burning Destroys Grass and Causes Global Warming,” Stomp (blog), Singapore Press Holdings, September 1, 2012. For the comment about “dumbasses,” see “Spike in Complaints Against Joss Paper Burning,” SgForums.com (blog), Singapore, May 8, 2013. For the post comparing joss burning in Singapore to forest fires in Indonesia, see “Burning of Joss Paper,” SgForums.com (blog), Singapore, August 22, 2000. For the person without religious tolerance, see “Seriously WTF Is Wrong with These Idiots?,” SgForums.com (blog), Singapore, March 1, 2010. For the flowerpot story, see “Man Dies After Quarrelling with Neighbours over Burning Incense,” AsiaOne (Singapore), August 15, 2011. Professor Tong’s academic article is Tong Chee Kiong and Lily Kong, “Religion and Modernity: Ritual Transformations and the Reconstruction of Space and Time,” Social & Cultural Geography 1, no.1 (2000). The scientific journal articles about the environmental effects of joss paper burning are Hsi-Hsien Yang et al., “Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Emissions from Joss Paper Furnaces,” Atmospheric Environment 39 (January 2005): 3305–12; Jui-Yeh Rau et al., “Characterization Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Emissions from Open Burning of Joss Paper,” Atmospheric Environment 42 (March 2008): 1692–1701; Yu-Yun Lo et al., “Removal of Particulates from Emissions of Joss Paper Furnaces,” Aerosol and Air Quality Research 11 (2011): 429–36; and M. D. Lin et al., “Characterizing PAH Emission Concentrations in Ambient Air During a Large-Scale Joss Paper Open-Burning Event,” Journal of Hazardous Materials 156 (2008): 223–29. On the Phoh Kiu Siang T’ng temple, see Daryl Chin, “Eco-Friendly Incense Burners for Temple,” Straits Times (Singapore), July 18, 2013. On the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, see Yen Fang, “Sin Ming Residents Move to Keep a Lid on Temple’s Ash,” Straits Times (Singapore), January 29, 2012; Melody Zaccheus, “Clearer Skies, Roads for Temple’s Neighbours,” Straits Times (Singapore), April 1, 2013. See also Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department, Guidelines on Air Pollution Control for Joss Paper Burning at Chinese Temples, Crematoria, and Similar Places (Hong Kong: HKSAR Government, September 2011), http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/compliance_ass/others/files/EPD_Joss_Paper_eng.pdf. For more on the green temple at Wong Tai Sin, see Guo Jiaxue, “Worship Goes Green,” Hong Kong Focus, March 4, 2011.
To read generally about mercy release and its negative impacts on the environment, see Elizabeth Hsu, “‘Release of Life’ Religious Practice Spurs Big Business,” Taiwan News, October 2, 2009; “Groups Release 200 Mil. Animals Annually: Study,” China Post, October 3, 2009; Amber Wang, “Environmentalists and Buddhists Go Head to Head in Taiwan,” Telegraph (London), February 22, 2010; Liu Meng, “Snake Bites Dog, Capital Rattled,” Global Times (China), June 12, 2012; Angelica Oung, “Conference Pans Animal Releases,” Taipei Times, September 30, 2007. The Humane Society International’s web page on mercy release can be found at http://www.hsi.org/issues/mercy_release/. For the Humane Society International quotations, see Humane Society International, Mercy Release: Kind Intentions, Cruel Consequences (Washington, DC: Humane Society International, 2009), which can be found at http://www.hsi.org/assets/pdfs/mercyrelease_flyer_english.pdf. The scientific paper studying the effects of mercy release of American bullfrogs in Yunnan Province, China, is Xuan Liu et al., “The Influence of Traditional Buddhist Wildlife Release on Biological Invasions,” Conservation Letters 5 (February 2012): 107–14. The RCRC letter is Awoyemi et al., “Mobilizing Religion and Conservation in Asia,” Science 338 (December 21, 2012). For Benkong Shi’s work (but with birds rather than turtles), see Rachel Nuwer, “A Buddhist Ritual Gets an Ecologically Correct Update,” Audubon, January–February 2014. For more on Wu Hung (Chu Tseng-hung), see Chen Wei-tzu and Jake Chung, “Former Monk Leads Fight for Animal Rights,” Taipei Times, December 27, 2012. Li Mau Sheng’s report for the government is available only in Chinese, but the abstract has been translated into English: Li Mau Sheng, [Evaluation Program About Legislation of Commercial/Large-Scale Animal Release] (May 20, 2011). You can watch the touching video of the release of the macaque (but bring tissues) at wfas309, “Wildlife First Aid Station,” posted November 11, 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP-oHJ0oh0Q. For the Supreme Court declaration that courts cannot inquire into the truth of a claimant’s religious beliefs but can inquire into the claimant’s sincerity, see Ballard v. United States, 322 U.S. 78 (1944). The case involving the Jehovah’s Witness was Thomas v. Review Board, 450 U.S. 707 (1981).
An enormous amount of information on whaling can be found on the website of the International Whaling Commission, http://iwc.int/home. The masterful book about the Makah’s first whale hunt in decades is Robert Sullivan, A Whale Hunt: How a Native American Village Did What No One Thought It Could (New York: Scribner, 2000). The young whalers’ teaching guide that I found in the Barrow library is North Slope Borough School District, Whaling Standards Barrow and Wainwright: Honoring the Learning of Our Young Whalers (Barrow, AK: North Slope Borough School District, 2002). The Wikitravel page for Barrow is http://wikitravel.org/en/Barrow_%28Alaska%29. To read about Fran Tate and her Mexican restaurant, see Lyn Kidder, Tacos on the Tundra: The Story of Pepe’s North of the Border (Anchorage, AK: Bonaparte Books, 1996). On the role of whaling in Barrow, see Nobuhiro Kishigami, “Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling in Barrow, Alaska, Anthropological Studies of Whaling,” SENRI Ethnological Studies 84 (2013): 101–20.