이 논문은 자연의 질서 회복이 인간을 지속 가능토록 한다는 생각에서 비롯되었다. 필자가 새로이 발견한 다양한 문학적 가치와 종교적 모티프를 지닌 생태 문학 작품들을 조명해 보았다. 자연에 대한 새로운 관점을 지니고 인간 대 비인간의 심리적이고 실재적인 장벽을 없애기 위해서 우리는 순진무구한 어린이의 눈을 지닐 필요가 있다. 융은 인간의 원형적 ‘자기’의 모습을 ‘식물 모티프’로 설명하였다. 에덴동산의 신화와 어머니 대지의 이미지는 ‘자기’ 실현의 과정에 영향을 미칠 수 있다. 자연의 이미저리와 연관된 필자의 분석은 심각한 상황과 병치하고 있는 시기에 낭만적이거나 반동적인 것은 아니다, 이 연구는 생태 문학을 재발견하고 그것의 실제적인 비전을 재해석함으로써 우리 지구의 파괴를 극복하고자 하는 필자의 의지를 표현한 것이다. 생태 문학의 교훈은 우리들의 생존 의지와 임박한 실존적 위기를 해결하고자 하는 우리의 의지를 북돋울 수 있을 것이다

경건한 자의 고난을 다루고 있는 주전 10세기 이전의 고대 근동의 신정론적 시문학 작품인 욥기와 바빌로니아 욥기(“루드룰 벨 네메키,” “내가 지혜의 주를 찬양하리라”)는 고통과 버려짐, 탄식, 갈망, 회복과 찬양이라는 공통의 모티브를 갖고 있다. 욥과 숩시마쉬레삭칸은 자연물을 도입하여 다양한 수사학적 기교를 통해서 질병의 고통과 환자의 육체적-정신적 갈망, 신에 대한 이해를 운문형식으로 표현했다. 그들은 내용 전개에 천체, 지질, 해양, 광물, 기상과 기후, 동식 물, 미네랄, 유충, 인체, 발생학적 발전 단계와 관련된 자연물을 200가지 이상 사용했다. 자연비유를 통해 신과 인간의 다양한 모습을 드러낼 수 있다. 신은 사나운 사자와 날아간 새, 날려버리는 폭풍이 되기도 하고 고난 받는 자는 먹잇 감 동물, 구슬피 우는 비둘기, 낙엽과 마른 검불, 좀먹은 의복이 되기도 한다. 주 인공들은 자연을 통해 신의 지혜와 능력을 찬양한다. 두 작품은 자연을 통해 신의 초월성과 편재성/임재성에 대해 인식하게 하고, 고난에 대해 사색하게 함으로 영성 개발에 도움을 준다.

A side effect of green advertising has emerged in the form of ‘greenwashing’, which designates “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service” (Terrachoice, 2010). Till now, research has focused on ‘claim greenwashing’, the use of textual arguments in the ad that create a misleading environmental claim and ignored the potential ‘executional greenwashing’ effect, whereby nature-evoking elements (e.g., pictures symbolizing endangered animals or renewable sources of energy, backgrounds representing natural landscapes) in the ad execution may induce false perceptions of a brand’s greenness, whether intentionally or not on the part of the advertiser. This research addresses this gap by documenting the ‘executional greenwashing’ effect and identifying moderating factors (i.e., consumers’ knowledge about environmental issues in the product category, the display of environmental performance information) that may reduce or even remove its impact on consumers. Research on green advertising has largely drawn from the ELM framework (Petty & Cacioppo, 1981) to assess the impact of green cues on consumers’ brand attitudes (Hartmann & Apaolaza-Ibáñez, 2009). However a sole focus on the content of the advertising message may not be sufficient to understand consumers’ responses to it. There may be important variables that moderate the effects on the brand’s ecological image. One important individual moderator, in the tradition of the ELM, is consumer topic knowledge, i.e. knowledge related to the topic of the message, which influences the ability to process the message and the outcome of persuasive attempts (e.g. Alba & Hutchinson, 1991). In the context of ‘executional greenwashing’, the persuasive power of advertising executional elements representing nature may therefore differ depending on consumers’ topic knowledge of environmental issues in the product category. Consumers with such topic knowledge, referred to as “expert” consumers, are less likely to rely on and be influenced by the use of advertising executional elements representing nature, whereas “non-expert” consumers may be influenced through the peripheral route to persuasion, resulting in greater perception of the brand’s ecological image. Stated formally: H1. Advertising executional elements evoking nature have a positive influence on the brand’s ecological image for non-expert consumers, but not for expert consumers. One important contextual moderator is the type of relevant information provided in the advertisement. In this paper, we examine whether the display of environmental performance information, which was in fact selected by the European Community, can correct a potential ‘executional greenwashing’ effect. The Directive 1999/94/EC requires that car manufacturers selling within European countries provide information regarding new cars’ carbon emission to direct consumers’ choices towards greener cars. A potential additional benefit of environmental performance information is that this kind of objective information may also prevent greenwashing by helping consumers form an accurate perception of a brand’s image, regardless of the executional advertising setting. A central premise of the ELM is that consumers’ response to information differs depending on their level of knowledge about the issue at hand. Expert consumers should be more able to treat the environmental information provided, therefore following a central route of persuasion (Alba & Hutchinson, 1991). Their brand evaluation should be formed based on the objective environmental performance provided, which are strong arguments, and not from the visual and sound executional elements manipulated in the ad (conversely for non-expert consumers). H2a. For non-expert consumers, advertising executional elements evoking nature enhance the brand’s ecological image, whereas the level of the environmental performance indicator (EPI) does not influence it. H2b. For expert consumers, the level of the EPI damages the brand’s ecological image, whereas advertising executional elements evoking nature do not influence it. Considering the relative efficiency of specific formats to display environmental performance information, we tested the traffic-light type of label, inspired by the energy appliance label program compulsory in Europe. The label format is crucial, especially if it can reduce the perceived costs of searching and processing this information and offer a comparison baseline. In the context of the EPI display, a traffic-light representation of the raw information about emission rates showing value ranges associated to color codes should may help expert and non-expert consumers calibrate environmental performance information, therefore counterbalancing the ‘executional greenwashing’ effect. H3. For experts and non-experts, the presence of a traffic-light label removes the effect of advertising executional elements evoking nature on the brand’s ecological image.