Cultures attitude to the environment

15:24 April 0 Comments

Is suture part of the natural environment or is it separate and perhaps superior to nature (anthropogenic)? People living in industrialised countries spend a large portion of their lives mediated by technology. We live, work, drive, shop and do almost every other activity in a built environment. Although this is relatively new as many modern comforts we take for granted were fantasies 100 years ago. An issue with this lifestyle is the the damaging effect on the natural environment. Throughout human history activity has impacted the environment, what has changed is the magnitude of its effects. By the end of the 20th century, it was clear that lifestyles of those in industrial countries were not sustainable. Pollution of air, water and land threaten our own existence.

Issues 
Consumption; the industrial revolution led to demands for coal, oil, wood and metal. The rate at which materials are consumed is unsustainable. We are a throw away society.
-Global warming- greenhouse effect through burning of fossil fuels.
-Loss of ozone layer due to CFCs.
-Climate change and loss of biodiversity due to loss of rainforests through deforestation.
-Unsustainable overfishing.
-Acid rain which damages crops and forests, and kills fish, plants and other organisms.
-Toxic pollution of air and water.
-Genetic damage, hormonal damage and cancer due to exposure to toxins.
Population; more people means more consumption, leading to a higher demand and higher pollution. For 99.9% of human existence less than 10 million people inhabited the planet. In 1830 the population reached 1 billion, by 2000 the population was 6 billion. Environmental issues develop slowly. Research on human perception suggests that sensory changes that are slow are difficult to detect. At the core it is the individuals understanding of their relationship with the environment.

Attitude in the USA
As the severity/extent has become apparent people in the USA have began to notice. A survey on environmental issues showed a slow yet steady increase in recognition and concern for environmental issues. In the 1960s to the 1990s US people expressed increasing levels of concern. There was peak concern in the 1990s. A survey conducted in 1990 revealed that 71% believed the US spent "too little" on "improving and protecting the environment". Only 4% thought "too much" was spent. There was an increase in people believing too little was being done after the oil sludge spillage by Exxon Valdez.

Attitudes in other countries
High level of support around the world. A multi-national study of 1000 people in each of 24 countries  (both developing and industrialised) was carries out. Its findings were:
-When asked what they thought the biggest problem facing their nation was 16 of 24 countries had environmental in their top 3.
-When asked about their personal concern for the environment 50% of 21 of the 24 countries said their concern was a "great deal" or a "fair amount".
-When asked if they would pay more for products in return for increased environmental quality the majority in 17 of the countries said they would.
-The participants were asked about what they felt was more important economic growth or the environment. More than 50% in 21 of 24 countries chose environment.
There is high concern around the world, even in poorer countries, for the environment.

Different attitudes- egotistic versus biospheric.
People were asked to write an essay on "environmental problems that concern them the most and why?". Students in the US, Spain, Peru, Mexico and Nicaragua were asked to write the essay. The responses were then coded. Many said that the greatest issue was pollution. Their reasons varied from concern that air pollution would cause cancer, sickness and poor quality go life, to concern for the death of plants/animals and a disrupted balance of nature. The concerns reflect different underlying values: egotist (concern for self), altruistic (concern for others/future generations) and biospheric (concern for all living things and the biosphere). Researchers asked people close ended questions to look at their values- asking them to score their concern for each question which related to a value and the environment. Data from over 20 countries was complied. It was found that it is not the case that all the people from one country/culture share the same attitude. There are clear differences across cultures, however, in the level of concern. All three of the US samples found that egoism was higher than biospherism, and that they scored lower than the other countries in terms of concern. Most other samples (Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Paraguay and Venezuela) had higher biospheric values. Differences have been found between individualistic and collectivist cultures. Self-enhancing goals (money, power, wealth) are related to egotistic values to the environment. Values that transcend self (honesty and loyalty) have been related to biospheric goals.

Culture and attitude
US study suggests with broad/dispersed issues there is a tendency for people to exert less effort when working collectively. Group size increase leads to people being more likely to 'loaf'. People are less likely to be concerned/to act is it doesn't directly affect the people themselves.
It is different in collectivist cultures, there is a lesser tendency to 'loaf'. They value goals which benefit the group more than goals which benefit themselves.
Women are also though to be more concerned as they're more relationship orientated than men. Research suggests that this is true. 32 studies found that women express more concern over the environment and environmental issues. They report that women engage in more pro-environmental behaviour and activism than men. There were similar findings in children (6-10) across cultures.

Conclusions
US are less concerned than other countries. The US are more focused on local issues relating to the individual. People in other countries develop broader biospheric attitudes. Collectivist cultures are more likely to be biospheric.