Doğaya İlişkin İnançlar, Kültür ve Çevre Sorunları Arasındaki İlişkilerin Kuramsal Bağlamda İrdelenmesi: Examination of Connections Among Nature Believes, Culture and Environmental Problems In Theoret

Abstract

Nowadays, environmental problems such as water crisis and climate change at global and local scales are affecting environmental sensitivity of individuals and communities in various ways. Therefore, Earth is living a period that needs serious changes in individual and community praxis and approaches to reduce and overcome these environmental problems. One of the main steps for this change is to question of communities their selves once again by understanding believes about nature and attitudes towards nature and accordingly, by understanding the relations with nature. A realistic questioning about this issue in individual and community levels will provide significant contributions to develop realistic solutions in the process of reducing and overcoming the environmental problems. In this framework, aim of the paper is to criticize nature perception, attitudes towards nature and related environmental values of human communities in the concept of different “world views” and to emphasize the importance of this issue for the ongoing activities in Turkey in environment and nature conservation fields. According to the aim, human-nature relations, nature belief, environmental values and connections among these are examined within the scope of “cultural theory”. In the framework of the information gathered from literature review and previous case studies, it is determined that different world views might have positive or negative contributions to environmental problems. As a result, it is emphasized that in achieving the needed change, to prevent and reduce the environmental problems and to be successful in nature conservation activities, to analysis and comprehend the relations of communities with nature are essential