Principles of Environmental Sustainability (P00807) The Principle of Participation in Environmental Sustainability Dr Claire Haggett Lecturer in Sociology.

Principles of Environmental Sustainability (P00807)

The Principle of Participation in Environmental Sustainability

Dr Claire HaggettLecturer in Sociology of

Sustainability

Why do we need to think about human behaviour and the environment?

Policies and plans are for people – not developed in the abstract

Have to understand how they will be received and work

eg transport planning, solar panels on roofs Individual or cultural explanations – need to know

which to appeal to We are all ‘people’ – move beyond high-

handed attitudes Have to understand environmental attitudes

and behaviour in the context of people’s lives

What shapes public attitudes and engagement?

People – as individualsPeople – in contextsPeople – making up communities

Crucial to try and understand how people think about sustainable development; and how to work with people and communities

Overview for today

Part 1: Understanding human behaviour Public attitudes and behaviour Public response to environmental issues

Break

Part 2: The role and nature of participation The importance of public opinions Case study of renewable energy

Part 3: Break

Part 4: Discussion

Part 5: Feedback and key points

Part 1: Understanding human behaviour

Overview i) Understanding the emergence and

extent of environmental concernii) Why don’t people care more?iii) Strategies for change and encouraging

environmentalismiv) Responsibility to care

Apollo 17 (Dec 1972)

• Iconic image• World as a whole

for the first time• Able to see problems, disasters, devastation

i) Understanding environmental concern

General trend increase Influence of specific events/issues Widespread in the population Concern and knowledge grew during the

1980’s and 1990’s DEFRA Survey of Public Attitudes to

Quality of Life and to the Environment

Explanations for the rise in environmental concern

1. Environmental explanation2. Interest based explanation3. Post material values explanation4. Cultural based explanation

1. Environmental explanation

Environmental problems are serious…

… and are getting worse?

Dramatic, catastrophic nature

Advances in technology, communications More able to see

evidence of them

But: does not explain rise and fall in concern Hilgartner and Bosch (1988)

Concern not directly in line with seriousness of all problems

eg seals not slugs Concern does not necessarily translate

into action…

2. Individual interest based explanations

Rational individuals – will not act unless personal cost is exceeded by the sum of selected incentives Material incentives Solidarity incentives Purposive incentives

But – overly individualistic and simplistic to see participation in environmentalism as just about self-interest Appeal of collective goods and benefits

3. Post material explanations

Inglehart’s Post-Material Values Thesis

“The rise of the ecology movement is not simply due to the fact that the environment is in a worse condition than it used to be. Partly this development has taken place because the public has become more sensitive to the quality of the environment than it was a generation ago” (Inglehart, 1990:372).• Shift from material to post-material values• Idea of hierarchy of needs

Scarcity hypotheses – have money, so worry about environment

So…

Satisfaction of material needs does not necessarily lead to the development of post-material values

Lack of material values does not necessarily mean no post-material values Environmental Justice movement

Developing countries – Gallup ‘Health of the Planet’ survey of 24 nations Citizens in less economically developed nations..

much more likely to see their local environments as degraded

more likely to see their national environments as degraded

Just as likely to see world environmental problems as very serious..

... than citizens in the wealthier nations

4. Cultural based explanation: The Risk Society

Beck – environmentalism as a response to the ‘risk society’

Broader changes in society Technology out of control Spread of ‘bads’ rather than ‘goods’

“Hazards produced in the growth of the industrial society become predominant” (Beck, 1996:28-29).

Minimising the consequences of modern society becomes more important than the accumulation of wealth

New characteristics of environmental risks

Risks no longer tied to their place of origin

Risks can affect everyone: “risks endanger all forms of life on this planet” (Beck, 1993:22).

Risks are felt across space Risks are felt across time: “atomic

accidents.. affect even those not yet alive at the time” (Beck, 1993:22)

Poverty, justice and sustainable development

Minimising the consequences of modern society becomes more important than the accumulation of wealth

Risks are globalised But - risks are felt differently by different people The rich may be able to buy themselves a certain

amount of freedom from risk Housing, nutrition and occupation

Invariably the poor who live in polluted areas, face the possibilities of contaminated food, and the prospects of hazardous jobs and working conditions

Impacts of environmental risks Rich countries – produce vast bulk of past and

current GHGs… Yet those to suffer most from climate change will be in the developing world fewer resources for coping with storms, with

floods, with droughts, with disease outbreaks, and with disruptions to food and water supplies

Exporting of risk – pollution and chemicals; relaxed environmental regulations for investment

Environmentalism as a response to huge environmental problems and inequalities

As part of a cultural shift Societal transition: goods and wealth to

pollution and ‘bads’

ii) Why don’t we care more?

Catastrophic consequences International impacts; and in the UK

Media coverage Fourth Assessment Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change Report on understanding of the human and natural

drivers of climate change, climate processes and attribution, and estimates of projected future climate change.

Conclusions: Climate change is happening It is caused by human impacts The effects will last for centuries to come

Why don’t we care more?

Issues often characterised by: Being invisible Being temporally distant Being spatially distant Being science based

Lack of direct experience (mediated information)

Responsibility – cannot unite against a common enemy Impacts incremental No definite deadline Huge range of causes and actions – one person’s

contribution infinitesimal Environmental ‘bads’ can be social and economic

goods eg cheap flights Example from India: ‘The People’s Car’

Practicalities

Time consuming: public transport

Costs higher at the point of consumption: new boiler

Yucky: green nappies Lack of opportunities

Public deficit model

If only people knew better…

But people are not necessarily stupid, ignorant, or irrational

They do not necessarily lack information More reports will not necessarily

correlate with increased ‘environmentalism’

Environmental attitudes and behaviour have to be understood in context

iii) Strategies for change

1. General information provision2. Reducing opportunities for ‘ungreen’

behaviour3. Sticks4. Carrots5. Inciting fear6. Small, incremental, tangible change

1. General information provision

Most frequent but not most effective: providing general information, and providing information about consequences

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCJotacAmo4

2) Reducing opportunities

Reducing opportunities for ‘un-green’ behaviour

47% of C02 emissions from homes Climate Change Bill Phasing out ‘stand-by’ buttons Energy saving light bulbs

Easier decision making or removing people’s choice?

3) Encouraging environmentalism: sticks

Punishments Regulation Polluters pays Not just ‘pollution’

Pay-as-you-throw Road pricing Low Emission Zone: £200 charge for

lorries in London ‘Sledgehammer’ approach Would individuals choose to do this

without (large) financial penalties? Is the Govt right to think of the greater

good (air quality, illness and death) – and force drivers to do this?

Doesn’t encourage support for specific or wider incentives

4) Encouraging environmentalism: carrots

Rewarding or making easier ‘green’ behaviour Free home insulation Grants for solar panels Reduced council tax for energy efficient homes HIPs Car share schemes

Personal, social, community rewards…

5) Inciting fear

Inducing regret; arousing fear Least effective:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD2WTK94c1U&feature=related

6) Small, incremental, tangible change

Most effective: setting specific goals; prompt reviews of behaviour; generate community-talk, engaging people in locally relevant ideas

You do influence people by helping us to see what we want to do

Induces goodwill and the experience of facilitation

Enhances authority Promotes mobilisation

Example 1: TEU

Collected ‘waste’ from departing student’s halls

7 tonnes of waste was collected from a pool of 4000 departing students and diverted from landfill.

3 tonnes of carbon saved Goods given a new home

- reducing consumption, waste and saving students money

Charity: ‘Freshstart’ An estimated 1000 people attended during the first

three hours of the event The engagement team talked to those in the very long

queue about different programmes and signed up people who want to participate in other events

www.teu.org.uk

Wider consequences…?

Responsibility: ‘Other’ people

Other people’s behaviour, and what they should and shouldn’t do eg environmentalists and flying ‘If only everyone else would drive less..’

Other people

We all engage in un/green behaviour We are all ‘other people’ Can we expect ‘other people’ to do

things we wouldn’t be prepared to do ourselves?

Summary of this lecture: The importance of understanding human behaviour

Rise of environmentalism Environmental explanation Interest based explanations Post material explanations Cultural shifts; societal transitions

Factors that influence the relationship between problems and concern

Summary of this lecture: The importance of understanding human behaviour

Different strategies to encourage environmentalism

All important because Have to understand how policies will be

received and work eg transport planning Information, fear or incentives Behaviour as interest based? Or culturally

informed?