Perspectives IB ESS Topic 1.1 Foundations

Perspectives

A perspective is an individual's view of a situation, shaped by personal and collective assumptions, values, and beliefs.
Perspectives influence choices, actions, and how we interact with others and the environment.
Perspectives are informed by sociocultural norms, scientific understandings, laws, religion, economic conditions, events, and lived experience.
Perspective = Worldview; Argument = Justification of a perspective

Values are qualities or principles considered important in life; they affect priorities, judgements, perspectives, and choices.
Values are individual but shaped by the community.
Different values can cause tension between individuals and organizations.
Values surveys investigate social groups' perspectives on environmental issues, aiming to avoid bias and represent diverse views.

Worldviews are shared lenses through which groups perceive and act within their environment, shaping values and perspectives via culture, philosophy, ideology, religion, and politics.

An EVS is a model showing inputs (e.g., education, media) affecting perspectives and outputs (e.g., actions, decisions) resulting from those perspectives.

Environmental perspectives are classified into ecocentric, anthropocentric, and technocentric views.
Ecocentrism: Nature-centered, integrating social, spiritual, and environmental dimensions; focuses on preventing environmental problems and distrusts large-scale technology.
Anthropocentrism: Human-centered, viewing humans as environmental managers of sustainable systems with a need for regulations.
Technocentrism: Argues technological advances can solve environmental problems, prioritizing scientific research and economic growth.

Perspectives and beliefs change over time, influenced by government, NGOs, social and demographic shifts.
The environmental movement's development has been influenced by individuals, literature, media, disasters, agreements, and technologies.
Examples of influence:
- Activists: Greta Thunberg, Wangari Maathai, Jane Goodall, Marcel Gomes
- Authors: Rachel Carson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Wendell Berry, Amory B. Lovins
- Media: An Inconvenient Truth, No Impact Man, Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet, Attenborough’s Planet Earth
- Disasters: Minimata, Chernobyl, Fukushima, Love Canal
- Agreements: Rio Earth Summit, Rio+20, COP 21, COP 27
- New Tech: Green Revolution, Plant-based meat, Renewable energy
- Discoveries: Pesticide toxicity, Global species loss, Enteric fermentation, Atmospheric CO2 levels, Coral bleaching