Global Challenges of Earth Protection and Philosophic Foundation of Cherokee Indian Religion: the 19th Century American Transcendentalism and Georgian “Gialove” in Poetry

Abstract

Environmental issues now present a greater challenge for the global society than everand demand better cooperation among nations around the world to save the planet andhumans from inevitable disaster which may be caused by environmental degradation.Air and water pollution, depletion of soil, loss of biodiversity, extinction of many speciesare the result of inhuman and irrational attitudes towards the earth and the gifts of nature.Civilization means more people demanding higher standards of living which hasdirect disastrous impacts on world ecosystems because it stimulates exploitation ofrenewable resources, such as fresh water, forests, and fertile topsoil.This article ecological problems caused by the brutal consumption of natural resourcesand the attempt of international community to protect the earth; also it argues that manyancient civilizations, and among them aboriginal Cherokee people, worshiped universalspirit of nature and tried to maintain balance with nature. Based on the analysis offamous essay Nature by the 19th century American essayist and poet Ralph WaldoEmerson and the short stories by Georgian poet and writer Vazha Pshavela, the articlereveals the authors’ philosophy of nature interpreted as a Universal being.The central idea of the paper is that the most important for mankind is to restore “wholeness”with nature and save it from the flaws and distractions imposed by “civilized society”in the post-industrial era. “Gialove” - is an Earth-affection philosophy, which wasbrilliantly demonstrated in Vazha’s poetry and stories.