Armstrong argues that if we want to avert environmental catastrophe, it is not enough to change our behaviour: we need to learn to think and feel differently about the natural world, to rekindle our spiritual bond with nature. For most of human history, nature was believed to be sacred, and our God or gods present everywhere in the natural world. When the West began to separate God and nature, it set in train the destruction of the natural world. Taking themes that have been central to the world’s religious traditions – from gratitude and compassion to sacrifice and non-violence – she offers practical steps to help us develop a new mindset to reconnect with nature and renew our sense of the sacred. In conversation with journalist and editor Kitty Corrigan.