Paper short abstract

Drawing on ethnographic data collected in French-speaking Europe, this paper explores how individuals practising Pagan, holistic and esoteric spiritualities embrace ‘Soft Ecology’ as a non-militant yet engaged mode of environmental involvement.

Paper long abstract

In this pivotal moment for our planet's future, many members of ‘alternative’ spiritual communities have turned to the vast field of eco-spirituality to find tools for developing modes of ecological engagement and cultivating relational ethics. Described as a ‘quiet revolution’ (Sponsel, 2012), eco-spirituality has long been criticised for its depoliticised and individualistic character (Bookchin, 1990). However, recent surveys conducted in French-speaking Europe have challenged these assumptions, exploring why practitioners value eco-spiritual practices as vital to initiating an effective and collective ecological transition (Becci, 2023; Chamel, 2024; Itel, 2023). Although these individuals explicitly distance themselves from militant environmentalism —often perceived as confrontational and morally prescriptive— their attitudes and actions cannot be qualified as ‘indifferent’.

This paper explores how spiritual seekers relate to ecospirituality as a form of ‘Soft Ecology’: an environmental engagement that does not conform to conventional models of political activism or militant ecological movements, yet cannot be reduced to apolitical individualism. Drawing on empirical data collected in France, Switzerland, and Belgium, this paper examines how these actors articulate ecological concern through spiritual and therapeutic practices rather than collective protest, lobbying, or ideological and political mobilisation. Advancing the ‘ethics of care’, this paper also argues that ecospirituality enacts a micro-social form of ecological engagement centred on vulnerability, interdependence, and attentiveness to everyday life. This conceptualisation of ‘Soft Ecology’ reframes environmental responsibility not as a duty enforced through norms or activism, but as a disposition emerging from lived experience, as well as affective and embodied bonds with the more-than-human world.