Lynn White's article, "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis," was particularly interesting to me. I had never thought up until this point to associate the obviously-intertwined ideas of Western Christianity and the idea of ownership over nature with one another. However, White makes a profound argument that the advent of Christianity as we know it today has led to our attitude toward nature (and our support of its exploitation), and framing this in the context of the change in plow technology during the Middle Ages, or the age of the rapid spread of Christianity, truly placed this issue in perspective.
One thing that caught my attention about this argument was White's brief mention of Eastern Christianity and how Orthodox Christians focus on ideas rather than actions, leading to a far less exploitative relationship between Eastern Christians and nature. I would have enjoyed reading further into the contrast between Eastern and Western Christian approaches toward nature. Additionally, the discussion of Saint Francis of Assisi and his heretical approach to nature displayed the utter disregard of the Western Christian attitude towards the well-being of nature as a whole. It is truly no wonder that with this exploitative and entitled attitude, Western/Latin Christianity was able to fight its way toward dominance over Eastern Christianity.
If Eastern Christians and the Franciscan orders of Catholicism had more footing in the attitudes of the West toward nature, I doubt the ecological crisis we experience today would have happened to such an extent. Western Christianity differentiates itself from Eastern or Franciscan Christianity in that it demands and enforces control over nature rather than respect for nature as an equally valuable part of God's creation. I would be interested in seeing how humans' relationship with nature would have progressed under the influence of Eastern rather than Western Christianity.