reading+notes,+environmental+attitudes

Values Survey: American Views on the Environment in an Era of Polarization and Conﬂicting Priorities," SRI Research Summary. October, 2006.
"Participation in Earth Day events in America is down from 20,000,000 people in 1970 to less than 1,000,000 today. And while 77% of Americans say they worry about the environment a great deal or fair amount, for most of them it is neither a personal nor a public policy priority." (Tom Holland) "Traditional environmental appeals are much more attractive to women than to men." (Tom Holland)

"messages that include a tax-based solution are likely to turn off as many people to global warming solutions as they will engage." (P.7) "more than three- quarters of Americans claim to be concerned or very concerned about the environment. Yet when compared with other issues such as the war in Iraq, terrorism, gasoline prices, illegal immigration and taxes, the environment does not rank among their top 20 concerns." (P.8) (Dan Fancher)

"Inability to comprehend the issues and visualize future beneﬁts prevents people from acting." (P. 10) (Carrie Drexel) "It’s important to refute anti-intellectual arguments,but not necessarily by using more scientiﬁc research -- making scientiﬁc arguments is not compelling to many Americans. Using humor and focusing skepticism back on those who fund these anti-intellectual arguments can help offset their effects." (P. 11) (Carrie Drexel) "Environmentalists could be much more effective by tailoring messages to speciﬁc groups of Americans in the same that any for-proﬁt company targets products and advertising to different audiences." (P. 15) (Carrie Drexel)

To help people understand and support environmentally friendly policies, consider programs that personalize environmentalism: demonstrate 'costs' to families or how can be achieved through simple, incremental changes in personal behavior. (p 10) (Lindsay Poirier) Indifferent Americans are likely to be immune to images of environmental trauma and destruction. (p 11) (Lindsay Poirier)

"Some Americans... understand the grave threat that global warming represents but they aren’t worried about pollution in their neighborhoods – a problem that they think has been solved." (page 3) "Advocates must... engage speciﬁc audiences on the issues that are most likely to resonate with them." (page 3) "The main lesson of the AEVS is that a one-size-ﬁts-all approach won’t work." (page 8) (Dan Powell)

"Current environmental crises like global warming... are not as vivid. Vast, subtle and remote, they don’t seem to affect our daily lives. They don’t provide quick sound bites on cable news. And when they do make the news, professional naysayers dispute the ﬁndings and remind us of trade-offs. Meanwhile, a host of more pressing concerns, including war... clamor for attention." (Page 3) (Ernesto Villasenor)

"As a cultural idea, the environment is gendered, and the gap between male and female perspectives on the subject is large." (p 10) (Mark Rovereto) "Traditional environmental appeals are much more attractive to women than to men." (p 10) (Mark Rovereto)

"The creation of a values majority for the environment starts with the realization that Americans are not one homogeneous mass. We are a collection of divergent, sometimes polarized groups, each with different perspectives and priorities.We don’t all belong to the same religion, live in the same small town, watch the same television programs, or worry about the environment" (in Conclusion) (Christina Pacifico)

"Most Americans are not fully aware of our current environmental challenges because such awareness requires a high level of knowledge about environmental issues, a strong understanding of how the environment relates to the economy, and a long-range perspective. Inability to comprehend the issues and visualize future beneﬁts prevents people from acting." (pg 10) - Jason King

Anja Kollmuss & Julian Agyeman, "Mind the Gap: why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? // Environmental Education Research //, Vol. 8, No. 3, 2002
//"Individual sense of responsibility:// People with a greater sense of personal responsibility are more likely to have engaged in environmentally responsible behavior." (Tom Holland) "They (Diekmann and Preisendoerfer) propose that people choose the pro-environmental behaviors that demand the least cost." (Tom Holland)

"Lack of knowledge about the causes and effects of ecological degradation can therefore lead to emotional non-involvement." (P.254) "Human beings are very good at perceiving drastic and sudden changes but are often unable to perceive slow, incremental changes. We are, in many respects like the frogs in the famous experiment: when placed into hot water, they immediately jumped out but when put into cool water that was slowly heated, they did not react and boiled to death." (P.253) (Dan Fancher)

"Attitudes do not determine behavior directly, rather they influence behavioral intentions which in turn shape our actions. Intentions are not only influenced by attitudes but also by social (‘normative’) pressures. Thus ‘the ultimate determinants of any behavior are the behavioral beliefs concerning its consequences and normative beliefs concerning the prescriptions of others’" (P.242) (Carrie Drexel) "People with a strong internal locus of control believe that their actions can bring about change. People with an external locus of control, on the other hand, feel that their actions are insignicant, and feel that change can only be brought about by powerful others. Such people are much less likely to act ecologically, since they feel that ‘it does not make a difference anyway’." (P. 255-256) (Carrie Drexel)

"These models from the early 1970s were soon proven to be wrong.. Yet today, most environmental Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) still base their communication campaigns and strategies on the simplistic assumption that more knowledge will lead to more enlightened behavior." (page 241) "...more affluence does not lead to more ecological behavior." (page 245) (Dan Powell)

A valid argument could be made that environmental knowledge is a subcategory of environmental awareness (as does Grob, 1991) and that emotional involvement is what shapes environmental awareness and attitude. This difficulty in defining and delimiting the different factors is due to the fact that most are broadly and vaguely defined, interrelated, and often do not have clear boundaries. (p 248) (Lindsay Poirier)

Blake identies three barriers to action: individuality, responsibility, and practicality. Individual barriers are barriers lying within the person, having to do with attitude and temperament. He claims that these barriers are especially in influential in people that do not have a strong environmental concern. (pg. 247) -Jason King

"Motivation= V (egoistic orientation) + 1 V (social orientation) + 1 V (biospheric orientation) " (p.245)(Christina Pacifico)

Direct experiences have a stronger in iuence on people’s behavior than indirect experiences. In other words, indirect experiences, such as learning about an environmental problem in school as opposed to directly experiencing it (e.g. seeing the dead sh in the river) will lead to weaker correlation between attitude and behavior. (p242) Chris Kerr

Anthony Leiserowitz, Robert Kates & Thomas Parris, "Do Global Attitudes and Behaviors Support Sustainable Development?" Environment, 2005.
"First, in general, the global public supports the main tenets of sustainable development. Second, however, there are many contradictions, including critical gaps between what people say and do—both as individuals and in aggregate. From these themes emerge a third finding: Diverse barriers stand between sustainability attitudes and action." (Tom Holland)

"Individuals often lack the time, money, access, literacy, knowledge, skills, power, or perceived efficacy to translate attitudes into action." (P. 34) (Dan Fancher)

"The survey found that Americans strongly disagreed that “humans have the right to alter nature to satisfy wants and desires” and that “humans are not part of nature” (see Figure 3 on page 28). This very limited data suggests that large majorities in the United States and worldwide now reject a domination ethic as the basis of the human-nature relationship, at least at an abstract level." (P. 25) (Carrie Drexel)

"The most technologically sophisticated peoples are also the most pessimistic about the ability of technology to solve global problems." (page 33)

"...bridging the gaps between what people believe and what people do will be an essential part of the transition to sustainability." (page 35) (Dan Powell)

"...in the short term, leveraging the values and attitudes already dominant in particular cultures may be more practical than asking people to adopt new value orientations." (p35) Chris Kerr

White, Lynn Jr., "The Historical Roots of our Environmental Crisis, //Science//, March 10, 1967.
" Man's unnatural treatment of nature and its sad results." (P. 1203) (Ernesto Villasenor)

"Ever since man became a numerous species he has affected his environment notably." (P. 1203) (Ernesto Villasenor)

"Quite unintentionally, changes in human ways often affect nonhuman nature." (p. 1203) (Ernesto Villasenor)

"Distribution of land was based no longer on the needs of a family but, rather, on the capacity of a power machine to till the earth. Man's relation to the soil was profoundly changed. Formerly man had been a part of nature; now he was the exploiter of nature." (P. 1205) (Ernesto Villasenor)

"The emergence in widespread practice of the Baconian creed that scientific knowledge means technological power over nature can scarcely be dated before about 1850, save in the chemical industries, where it is anticipated in the 18th century. Its acceptance as a normal pattern of action may mark the greatest event in human history since the invention of agriculture, and perhaps in nonhuman terrestrial history as well." (p 1203) (Mark Rovereto)

"With the population explosion, the carcinoma of planless urbanism, the now geological deposits of sewage and garbage, surely no creature other than man has ever managed to foul its nest in such short order." (p 1204) (Mark Rovereto)

"Our ecologic crisis is the product of an emerging, entirely novel, democratic culture. The issue is whether a democratized world can survive its own implications." (p 1204) (Mark Rovereto) .The American