Ecospirituality, as used in this research, means “having a reverential attitude toward the environment in taking care of it while dwelling within its premises. The concepts related to this definition include feeling oneness with the universe, respecting surroundings, knowing the risks involved in creating an imbalance to the ecosystem, understanding the ethical dimensions, preserving and conserving nature, and perceiving a sense of awe in understanding the ecosystem.” While previous research recognizes a spiritual component in one's relationship with nature, this component has not been measured. This research addressed this gap in the literature by developing an instrument for measuring one's ecospirituality.
The first step involved a review of the literature to establish a definition of ecospirituality and to identify items that would measure an individual's affective component of feeling emotionally and spiritually connected to nature. Thirty such items were identified. After an expert review, the number of items was reduced to 22. A refined instrument with the 22 items was then pilot tested among 527 adults. Through this process, five dimensions of ecospirituality were identified and used to frame the ecospirituality scale. These five dimensions are dwelling, caring, revering, experiencing, and relating. Through a second study, which involved 321 individuals, the ecospirituality scale was compared to three other related scales: the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS), the Environmental Attitude Inventory (EAI), and the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES). This second study established the uniqueness of the ecospirituality scale. The environmental attitude scales and the connectedness to nature scales do not include the spiritual dimension of one's relationship with nature. The spirituality scales, on the other hand, do not include environmental aspects of spirituality.
Results of the overall process found the ecospirituality scale to be a valid and reliable instrument for measuring the spiritual component of one's relationship with nature. This scale can be used “to aid researchers in measuring ecospirituality and facilitate in testing causal relationships.” As existing environmental and spirituality scales fail to capture reverential respect for nature, the newly developed ecospirituality scale represents “a unique contribution to the existing body of environmental management and psychology literature” and may play an important role within the framework of sustainable development.
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