Awareness of Bad News, Environmental Attitudes, and Subjective Estimates of Coastal Pollution

Abstract

Questionnaires distributed to 154 holiday-makers on beaches in Southwest England assessed awareness of local hazards or incidents associated with either the electricity supply industry or the water and sewage industry and examined the relationship between awareness and evaluations of the industry, current and future levels of pollution on the beach in question, and general levels of concern about environmental pollution. With respect to electricity, those respondents who were more aware of reports claiming a higher incidence of childhood leukemia in the vicinity of a nearby nuclear plant evaluated the electricity industry as less competent or trustworthy, showed higher levels of environmental concern, and were more pessimistic in their estimates of present and future levels of specific pollutants on their beach. With respect to the water industry, similar effects were associated with greater awareness of an accident at a water treatment plant and agricultural pollution of a nearby estuary. These findings are interpreted as suggesting a cyclical relationship between risk awareness and concern. On the one hand, reports about environmental hazards may lead to generalized concern across specific contexts; on the other hand, greater levels of concern may sensitize individuals to such reports.