Biol 367: Lecture 4: Conservation Policy

What are some essential understandings for conservation policy?

• Values DO NOT reliably predict behaviour

• Knowledge, attitudes, and concern are necessary but insufficient for action

• Human decision making is shaped by cognitive biases, social norms and structural constraints

• Behavioural change requires changing contexts, not just minds

• Conservation success depends on psychology as much as ecology or economics

Why do we need conservation psychology?

Human behaviour is causing loss of biodiversity

• Change in human behaviour is necessary to achieve more sustainable relationships between humans and the rest of nature

What are the items of top concern for environmental problems?

1. Pollution of drinking water

2. Pollution of rivers, lakes and reservoirs

3. Contamination of soil and water by toxic waste

4. Contamination of soil and water by radioactivity from nuclear reactors

What are the items of least concern for environmental problems?

1. Extinctions of plant and animal species

2. Urban sprawl and loss of open spaces

3. Global warming and acid rain

What are the percived solutions by the public for environmnetal problems?

1. Setting higher emissions and pollution standards for industry

2. Spending more government money on solar and wind power

3. More strongly enforced federal environmental regulations

How much of the public belives in drastic action vs additional action?

• 27% state drastic action

• 56%  state some additional action

What is the lowest rated solution for the public for environmental issues? what does this say for the trend in beliefs?

• Setting legal limits on the amount of energy the average consumer uses
  
  

Therefore the public believes that changes should be made by the government and business and not the average citizen

How much does the general public own of Canad and Alberta?

• “Owns” 90% of Canada – 60-70% of Alberta

• Consumers of resources and productions: buying decisions will affect company practises

What is the lifestyle of rurual people tied to as compared to urban?

The livelihood of rural people is tied to direct, productive uses of natural resources

They may devalue the opinions of those without such vested interest

• ENGO members tend to be concentrated in cities …

How can public input change policy?

• When engaged the public can change policy

• But its hard to get the public to engage in specific issues due to overload and apathy

• When not engaged, it is hard to gauge public views on specific issues

What are polling defiencies?

• Answers are subject to contingencies: how and when you ask the question makes the big difference

• Therefore it is hard to get a representative sample

• Issues are often too complex for the public to form meaningful opinions

How is the public subject to polling defiencies?

The public generally lacks the knowledge for informed opinions on management issues

• Don’t understand the consequences of decisions

• Susceptible to manipulation …

What are the new conservation postulates made by soule in 2013?

Goal is to enhance those natural systems that benefit the widest number of people, especially the poor

Promotes:

• Economic development

• Poverty alleviation

• Corporate partnerships

How are ENGOs motivated by funders?

ENGO decisions and actions are the result of careful prioritization

Funders alter the opportunity landscape but do not dictate what ENGOs do

What are some examples of dfferent kinds of ENGOS?

• Land based conservation

• Education

• Research

• Advocacy

• Market action

• Legal

What are some influences on environmental ideologies?

1. Age:

2. Race:

3. Sex:

4. Education:

5. Social Class:

6. Political Ideology:

7. Residence:

How does age influence environmental ideology?

Younger people generally have more concern than adults

They are less fully integrated into the social order and do not view the environment as threatening that order.

How does raceinfluence environmental ideology?

Fairly consistent across races and ethnicities

How does Sex influence environmental ideology?

Women generally report  stronger environmental attitudes than men

How does education influence environmental ideology?

Well-educated tend to have moderately higher levels of concern

How does social class influence environmental ideology?

Higher education is often linked to higher income and generally there is greater environmental concern

Once a person's basic needs are met they are able to demonstrate greater concern for the environment?

How does political ideology influence environmental ideology?

Those who are more liberal are more likely to demonstrate more environmental concern;

Support more government and regulation

How does residence environmental ideology?

Mixed response

Some studies show urban residents have more concern than non-urban

Less utilitarian and more exposed to environmental degradation

How can ENGOs influence environmental ideology?

• Changing behaviour with social marketing tools

• Cultivating environmental literacy through education

What is greenwashing?

When a company or organization spends more time and money claiming to be green through advertising and marketing than actually implementing business practices that minimize environmental impact

What is an example of green washing?

Shell ad in 2008 “We invest today's profits in Tomorrow's solutions” in Financial Times

How did the WWF respond to the 2008 greenwashing ad by shell?

• WWF complained that the ad was promoted as an example of investments that were not environmentally sustainable

• The British Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) agreed and demanded that Shell never show this or its sister ad in any publication

• WWF stated that the ASAs decision set a strong message that greenwashing by industry would NOT be tolerated …

How did Friends Of the Eartth respond to the 2008 greenwashing ad by shell?

• The ads central image of refinery chimneys spewing out flowers misrepresented the environmental impacts of Shell’s activities

• Disputed Shells claims that its used waste CO2 can be used to grow flowers and waste sulphur is used to create super-strong concrete

• The ASA agreed “in the absence of qualification readers were likely to interpret their claim that ‘we use our waste CO2 to grow flowers’ to mean that Shell used all or at least a majority of their waste CO2 to grow flowers, whereas the actual amount was a very small proportion compared to the global activities of Shell.

What are the challenges in communicating environmental messages?

That that there are always other opinions

• No matter what facts you present, only the individual can decide whether they believe you or not

• There are some key characteristics that you must meet that influences whether someone believes you or not … your credibility

What are 5 ideals of ethicial journalism?

1. Truth and Accuracy

2. Independence

3. Fairness and Impartiality

4. Humanity

5. Accountability

How is sensationalism and fear mongering used in environmentalism?

• Giving false information or selectively picking one aspect of an issue often creates confusion

• Reduces credibility, and can lead to people ignoring you

• Increases difficulty for others associated with ‘environmental’ brands

Does the same message work for everyone in environmentalism? what are some examples?

No

People on transformative end of environmental spectrum tend to have a self-transcendent life goal so a “sacrifice message” works well

People on instrumentalism end are more focused on self, so a “what can conservation do for you” message is key

What are motivating self-enhancers?

Frame environmental appeals in such a way that they are not inconsistent with self interest

What are 4 ways to use motivating self-enhancers?

1. Work within the motivations and inclinations characteristic of humans

2. Treat human cognitive capacity as a resource

3. Engage motivations other than altruism

4. Focus on how making  a difference makes for a better life for people

How did the biodivserity project (bluestem communications) use self enhancers?

They spent 23 years engaging self-enhancers in conservation

To meet initiate to buy critical lands they used messages like

• “For our Children's future” and “Quality of life”

• “For our Family and Future Generations”

• “Hertitage of Open Spaces” “Healthy Communities” “Property Values”

What are framing effects? positive vs negative?

A phenomena psychologist observe whereby stated preference among same alternatives vary as a function of the way alternatives are expressed

.. Different results are often obtained in surveys depending on whether questions are couched in terms of species lost or species saved

→ Positive framework = emphasizes lives gained

→ Negative framework = emphasizes lives lost

What are two tools conservationists propose using for environmentalism?

1. Alter the cost benefit ratio

• For example: if we want people to take public transportation rather than driving we need to create a system that is faster and less expensive than driving to produce our desired result.

2. Changing fundamental values

• The basic idea is a long-term change in the message that results in more individuals shifting to …

What are a few significant life experiences linked to the environment?

• Childhood memories of natural areas

• Family members who valued the environment

• Joining Pro-environmental organizations

• Experiences of destruction of environment

• School-based education

How can we increase environmental literacy?

• Need interesting stories, case studies, and success stories of environmental heroes

• Participation in project-based environmental problem solving

• Frequent and sustained experiences in nature; starting in childhood

• Partnerships with experts, mentors, older students and leaders

• Information about the environment, environmental issues and the consequences of human actions

Are values enough for conservation?

No conservation is not just about what we value – it's about what systems will allow us to do