Environmental Connectedness Research Articles

ENCOURAGING PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOUR: THE FUNCTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONNECTEDNESS, ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS, & ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE

The environment is essential in determining the well-being and quality of human life. The rapid development of human civilization causes humans to depend highly on the world of science and technology. Unfortunately, this speed causes people to become complacent in carrying out their responsibility to protect the environment. The effects of these activities have begun to be felt by today's generation. Despite a strong consensus about human environmental responsibility, many people fail to behave in line with their pro-environmental behaviour. This study examines the interrelationship between environmental connectedness, ethics, knowledge, and pro-environmental behaviour. The quantitative survey method and convenience sampling collected data from the Malaysian public. The final valid data of 247 respondents were analysed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis conducted within SPSS. The regression results showed that environmental connectedness, ethics, and knowledge significantly influenced pro-environmental behaviour. These results indicate that citizens who are emotionally attached to the environment, ethically value the environment, and are highly knowledgeable on how to preserve and conserve the environment will help guarantee a comfortable life. Several theoretical and practical implications are also highlighted in this paper.

“I Was Determined to Fulfill This Image of Myself That I Wanted of a ‘Good Asian Student’”: A Photovoice Study of Asian American College Student Mental Health

Asian American (AsA) youth and emerging adults are growing at a faster rate than all other racial and ethnic populations in the United States. Burgeoning empirical evidence shows that they are experiencing increased adverse mental health outcomes since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, trends in AsA youth and emerging adults’ utilization and help-seeking behaviors remain low. Health equity scholars posit that the model minority stereotype continues to obscure and minimize these mental health disparities. The current study aims to contribute to this vital research through a Photovoice study with AsA emerging adults. Fourteen AsA undergraduate students (M age = 19.77 years old; SD = 1.12) produced photographs and captions and participated in semi-structured interviews to describe mental health. Four themes were developed: (1) mind–body health connection and the belief that mental health is about the synchronization of one’s mind and body; (2) environmental connectedness and the view that mental health is connected to nature; (3) social connectedness and how interpersonal relationships influence mental health; and (4) the internalization of the “good Asian student” stereotype and its impact on mental health. Implications for culturally tailored prevention and intervention strategies are discussed to ultimately improve health equity.

Vitality of older adults through internal and external connectedness

BackgroundVitality is a relatively unresearched concept and defined in existing literature either on the premise of one's functioning, or in terms of feeling alive. There is, however, little known about the significance of a sense of connectedness to life for vitality, especially from the perspective of older adults. This research aims to explore the association between the concept of connectedness and the perspective of vitality as a sense of aliveness, in order to formulate a theoretical understanding grounded in the subjective perceptions that older adults themselves hold of vitality. MethodsFollowing a constructivist grounded theory approach and theoretical sampling, constant comparative analysis was performed on the transcripts of 15 semi-structured interviews, conducted in the Netherlands with older adults (mean age 73 years, eight females and seven males), regarding their vitality. Concurrently, empirical and theoretical findings were translated into a theoretical conceptualisation. ResultsAccording to the older participants, connecting to life itself enhanced their sense of vitality. This connection was achieved through internal connectedness (connecting to one's own life, intrinsic stimuli and intrinsic goals in an independent manner) and external connectedness (social connectedness, environmental connectedness, engagement with the external world). Furthermore, our findings revealed distinct interactions between internal and external connectedness and facilitating tools, such as freedom from physical constraints, financial freedom and adaptation. ConclusionsOur findings provide a holistic concept of vitality and connectedness and consolidate existing perspectives on vitality into an overarching framework, which can contribute to the development of effective care policy, healthcare interventions and welfare services.

The effect of environmental concern and global environmental connectedness on green purchase intention of hotel customers in Malaysia

The effect of environmental concern and global environmental connectedness on green purchase intention of hotel customers in Malaysia

The effect of environmental concern and global environmental connectedness on green purchase intention of hotel customers in Malaysia

The effect of environmental concern and global environmental connectedness on green purchase intention of hotel customers in Malaysia

Connectedness and well-being in simulated nature.

People relate to nature physically, cognitively and emotionally, and this relationship fosters their well-being. There are several types of environments that vary according to their degree of naturalness, raising the question of whether they each exert different effects on people, connectedness and well-being. In order to study the extent to which environmental connectedness and well-being are a function of viewing different types of nature, we conducted a study with 454 participants from five different countries, who viewed images on a computer screen of one of three types of environment (totally natural, quasi-natural or non-natural) and responded to a series of associated items. The results of a mediation analysis showed an indirect effect of type of environment on well-being through positive and negative affect and connectedness to nature. The corresponding ANOVAs revealed differences in the connectedness and well-being elicited by different types of environment, and in preference: totally natural and quasi-natural environments (with no differences between them) showed differences with non-natural environments. Therefore, our study results suggest the usefulness of images of natural environments in fostering people's well-being and connectedness to nature.

A Scoping Review of Nature, Land, and Environmental Connectedness and Relatedness.

The importance of nature and the environment in relation to human health is coalescing, as demonstrated by the increased research that attempts to measure nature connectedness and relatedness. These findings align with constructs of cultural connectedness that assess for land connectedness as part of Indigenous ways of knowing. From an Indigenous worldview, relationships with the environment are critical to wellbeing. The purpose of this comprehensive systematic scoping literature review was two-fold: (1) identify and summarize existing measures of land, nature, and/or environmental connectedness, relatedness, and attitudes and (2) evaluate the psychometric properties of these scales. In total, 1438 articles were retrieved from select databases including PubMed/MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL (EBSCO), and Academic Search Complete (EBSCO). The final searches and application of the inclusion/exclusion criteria resulted in 57 unique articles and 38 scales categorized as connectedness and relatedness scales (n = 9 scales), attitudinal and values-based scales (n = 16 scales), cultural and spiritually based scales (n = 9 scales), and paradigm-based scales (n = 4 scales) (articles could be placed in multiple categories). Psychometric properties and general outcomes associated with nature-related scales are reported, with implications for future education, research, practice, and policy.

Spatial modelling improves genetic evaluation in smallholder breeding programs

BackgroundBreeders and geneticists use statistical models to separate genetic and environmental effects on phenotype. A common way to separate these effects is to model a descriptor of an environment, a contemporary group or herd, and account for genetic relationship between animals across environments. However, separating the genetic and environmental effects in smallholder systems is challenging due to small herd sizes and weak genetic connectedness across herds. We hypothesised that accounting for spatial relationships between nearby herds can improve genetic evaluation in smallholder systems. Furthermore, geographically referenced environmental covariates are increasingly available and could model underlying sources of spatial relationships. The objective of this study was therefore, to evaluate the potential of spatial modelling to improve genetic evaluation in dairy cattle smallholder systems.MethodsWe performed simulations and real dairy cattle data analysis to test our hypothesis. We modelled environmental variation by estimating herd and spatial effects. Herd effects were considered independent, whereas spatial effects had distance-based covariance between herds. We compared these models using pedigree or genomic data.ResultsThe results show that in smallholder systems (i) standard models do not separate genetic and environmental effects accurately, (ii) spatial modelling increases the accuracy of genetic evaluation for phenotyped and non-phenotyped animals, (iii) environmental covariates do not substantially improve the accuracy of genetic evaluation beyond simple distance-based relationships between herds, (iv) the benefit of spatial modelling was largest when separating the genetic and environmental effects was challenging, and (v) spatial modelling was beneficial when using either pedigree or genomic data.ConclusionsWe have demonstrated the potential of spatial modelling to improve genetic evaluation in smallholder systems. This improvement is driven by establishing environmental connectedness between herds, which enhances separation of genetic and environmental effects. We suggest routine spatial modelling in genetic evaluations, particularly for smallholder systems. Spatial modelling could also have a major impact in studies of human and wild populations.

Climate change perception by adolescents: reflections on sustainable lifestyle, local impacts and optimism bias (Percepción del cambio climático en adolescentes. Reflexiones sobre los estilos de vida sostenibles, el impacto local y el sesgo optimista)

The intensification of climate change (CC) is influenced by human actions, adding relevance to psychological studies about the matter. This study investigated the perception of CC by adolescents and its possible relationship to sustainable lifestyle indicators (SLIs). A multi-method exploratory approach to this subject was divided into two stages: a questionnaire applied to 484 students and subsequent focus groups with some of those students. The results revealed that: causes and consequences of CC were by far the most mentioned constituents of its definition; participants were able to describe local implications of CC; and focus groups offered an opportunity for deepening and strengthening their responses to the questionnaire. A spatial optimism bias was identified: adolescents expressed more concern about the world situation as compared to that of their own city. The study indicates possible pathways towards the engagement of adolescents in climate change mitigation, as in the case of environmental care practices and connectedness to nature, significantly associated with aspects of CC perception.

Into the Wild: The Effects of 360° Immersive Nature Videos on Feelings of Commitment to the Environment

ABSTRACT Pro-environmental attitudes and behavior are declining as people become increasingly disconnected from nature. The growing disconnection from nature is thought to be due to cultural shifts, such as the increasing use of electronic media. However, mediated nature contact through new forms of media may also strengthen feelings of environmental connectedness. Therefore, this experimental study (N = 56) investigated whether viewing immersive 360° nature videos can influence individuals’ commitment to the environment. According to the theory of spatial presence, immersive videos are perceived as unmediated nature experiences. The results indicate that immersive nature videos promote stronger feelings of spatial presence and commitment to the environment than regular nature videos. The participants’ need for affect was incorporated as a moderator of the impact of immersive nature videos on commitment to the environment, but a negative interaction was observed in contrast to the hypothesized effect.

Encouraging Environmental Commitment to Sustainability: An Empirical Study of Environmental Connectedness Theory to Undergraduate Students

Environmental commitment to sustainability is one of the most critical issues in the “emerging contaminants”, few studies have examined the role of commitment to pro-environmental behavior and environmental concerns. This study aimed to explore the relationship between environmental commitment and three forms of emotional association: place attachment and social identity, connectedness and concerned about nature. Using 1288 respondents and a structural equation modeling approach, results show that connection to nature enhanced social identity, place attachment, and environmental concern, which in turn increased environmental commitment to sustainability. Place attachment was not related to environmental commitment to sustainability. Further analysis suggested that the theoretical model relationship between connection to nature and environmental commitment to sustainability was mediated by social identity and environmental concern. The findings of this research can offer guidelines for policy makers and green educators who evaluate an environmental commitment so as to provide proper beliefs association with nature and promote social identity and place attachment by emerging contaminants in educational activities. This demonstrates the importance of using a series of robustness of social identity and place attachment instruments and more environmental concern to promote environmental commitment to sustainability. Interpretation of the findings reveals the potential role that environmental commitment to sustainability can play as a hub and catalyst for major emerging contaminants change by fostering recognition of environmental commitment as a way of change and combine schools and government sectors to connect the micro- and macro-levels.

Childhood collecting in nature: quality experience in important places

ABSTRACTA need for a more specific understanding of childhood geographies has motivated an investigation of one activity, childhood collecting in nature. This study examined collecting behavior, places of collecting, and the relationship of these places to environmental connectedness in adulthood. Topophilia is presented as a guide to help consider why children collect in nature and to expand upon a limited understanding of collecting behavior. These ideas are explored with a mixed-method design strategy involving surveys and semi-structured interviews with a sample of Swedish university students. Results show collecting in nature to be a widespread, meaningful, and memorable experience in the formative years of participants. Results also demonstrate potential support for topophilia as a way to understand the childhood collecting nature phenomenon. Implications include recognition of the importance of family to support children’s engagement in the natural world and proximate access to nature as a critical aspect of childhood experience.

Assessing the Strength of Sladecom as a Model for Improved Formal Accessibility of Urban Lands in Nigeria

Objectives: To evaluate SLADECOM (Synergised Land Administration and Development Compliance Model) as a proposed model, to amplify the strengths and remove the weaknesses of Nigeria’s land administration systems, with a view to buoying them for improved performance. Methods/Statistical Analysis: This model’s latitude was calibrated to 10 constructs of 30 queries and gauged against the following benchmarks: Environmental acceptability, demographic suitability, contemporary robustness, administrative consistency, regulatory sufficiency, histo-futuristic connectedness, effective resourcefulness, practical applicability, contextual relevance and technical versatility. Hence, integrity checks showed that 91 retrieved questionnaires out of the 100 structured questionnaires that were administered, using purposive and simple random sampling among all stakeholders in land administration system within the southwest Nigeria, 86 were properly filled and thus were considered valid for analyses, using 5 point Likert scale of measurement admixtured with averages from simple descriptive and inferential statistical tools. Findings: The results showed among other things that, SLADECOM model has sufficient strength to accommodate past, present and emerging requirements associated with increasing complexities of formal land delivery by Nigeria’s land administration systems (79.85% agreed+strongly agreed). Also, it is well positioned to tackle varieties of needs of increasingly land driven endeavours of Nigerians as the population continue to soar (79.89% agreed+strong agreed). Applications/Improvement: Among this model’s numerous relevance, is by directly applying it to synergise the present stand-alone structure of Nigeria’s land administration system and reconfigure them for greater efficiency and effectiveness. Nigeria’s government should endeavour to imbibe a culture of regular system overhauling, dynamic restructuring and role refinement as essentials for continual robust structure that engenders improved performance of land administration machineries, so as to facilitate formal delivery and increase accessibility of urban lands in Nigeria.

The power of connections: Psychological sense of community as a predictor of volunteerism

ABSTRACTTwo studies explored psychological antecedents of volunteerism, including several dispositional constructs and psychological sense of community (PSOC). In Study 1, 140 retirees completed measures of empathy, self-esteem, generativity, and PSOC, as well as involvement in volunteer organizations and weekly volunteering hours at two points in time. PSOC predicted concurrent and future volunteerism even after controlling for the other predictors. In Study 2 (n = 427), PSOC and measures of environmental concern and connectedness were used to predict current environmental volunteerism and activism. PSOC was the only measure reliably and uniquely related to these behaviors. Across two different domains and operationalizations of PSOC, the findings support the validity and utility of PSOC for understanding general and issue-specific volunteerism. More generally, they highlight social relationships and psychological connections as potential pathways to volunteerism and social action.

Effect of environmental perceptions on bicycle travelers’ decision-making process: developing an extended model of goal-directed behavior

ABSTRACTDespite the rapid develop of bicycle tourism, research examining decision-making processed for bike-traveling as a leisure-time choice has been insufficient. Thus, this study was designed to investigate the formation of bike travelers’ decisions by extending the model of goal-directed behavior (MGB). Specifically, this study incorporated two vital constructs in bicycle tourism, namely environmental connectedness and environmental behavior, into the MGB framework. An on-site survey was administered to collect the data with 394 bicycle tourists in bicycle clubs in China. The results of the structural analysis showed that our extended MGB included a satisfactory level of ability in predicting bike-travelers’ intentions and was superior to the original MGB. Our findings also reveal that two incorporated constructs were significant variables influencing bicycle travelers’ decision formation. Moreover, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and positive anticipated emotion influenced bicycle travelers’ desire, in turn, influenced their behavioral intentions. The implications of this are discussed.

From Environmental Connectedness to Sustainable Futures: Topophilia and Human Affiliation with Nature

Human affiliation with nonhuman nature is an important dimension of environmental concern and support for pro-environmental attitudes. A significant theory of human connectedness with nature, the Biophilia Hypothesis, suggests that there exists a genetically based inclination for human affiliation with the biological world. Both support and challenge to the Biophilia Hypothesis are abundant in the literature of environmental psychology. One response that both challenges and builds upon the Biophilia Hypothesis is the Topophilia Hypothesis. The Topophilia Hypothesis has extended the ideas of biophilia to incorporate a broader conception of nonhuman nature and a co-evolutionary theory of genetic response and cultural learning. While the Topophilia Hypothesis is a new idea, it is built upon long-standing scholarship from humanistic geography and theories in human evolution. The Topophilia Hypothesis expands previous theory and provides a multidisciplinary consideration of how biological selection and cultural learning may have interacted during human evolution to promote adaptive mechanisms for human affiliation with nonhuman nature via specific place attachment. Support for this possible co-evolutionary foundation for place-based human affiliation with nonhuman nature is explored from multiple vantage points. We raise the question of whether this affiliation may have implications for multifunctional landscape management. Ultimately, we propose that nurturing potential topophilic tendencies may be a useful method to promote sustainable efforts at the local level with implications for the global.

Connections with nature and environmental behaviors.

The influence of environmental attitudes on environmental behaviors has long been discussed. However, few studies have addressed the foundation of such attitudes. In the present study, we explored primitive belief underlying environmental attitudes, i.e., connections with nature, and its relationship with pro-environmental behaviors. Specifically, we used scales, a computerized Implicit Association Test, and a situational simulation experiment to examine both explicit and implicit connections with nature, both deliberate and spontaneous environmental behaviors, and to find correlations between environmental connectedness and environmental behaviors. Results showed that explicit connectedness was positively correlated with deliberate environmental behaviors, while implicit connectedness was positively correlated with spontaneous environmental behaviors. Additionally, explicit and implicit connectedness was independent of each other. In conclusion, the current study confirms the positive role played by connections with nature in promoting environmental behavior, and accordingly suggests means to encourage pro-environmental behavior by enhancing people’s connectedness to nature.

Inspiring the Outdoor Experience: Does the Path through a Nature Center Lead Out the Door?

This study investigates the visitor experience at a Swedish nature center within a UNESCO biosphere reserve. The question of whether this interpretive facility succeeds in motivating the visitor to get outdoors for a direct experience of nature is explored. Use of the environmental connectedness perspective and concerns about diminished nature experience support the importance of this study. A number of qualitative methodologies are used to investigate the research questions, including thought listing, phenomenology, and field observation. Results indicate that this particular nature center generally succeeded in the goal of inspiring visitors for a direct nature experience. The success in motivating visitors appears to be a result of a number of key variables, including place-based exhibitry, access, and personal visitor factors. Given the setting for this study, we conclude that interpretive nature centers have the potential to play an important role in the re-imagination of urban environments.

Nature to place: Rethinking the environmental connectedness perspective

The environmental connectedness perspective posits that direct encounter with generalized, or non-specific “nature,” leads to environmental connectedness and subsequent pro-environmental behavior. This article examines this perspective and proposes a place-based application of the nature encounter-environmental behavior relation. An empirical study using data from a national survey on outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism is presented. Results show a minimal relationship between measures of environmental connectedness and self-reports of environmental behavior. The following examination of the environmental connectedness perspective reveals that environmental connectedness is rooted in a material/objective perspective, neglecting the human domain of perceptions, values, and representations. The environment as “nature” is portrayed as a geographically undefined agent with the inherent power to change human attitudes and behavior. Based on this, the article concludes with a proposed replacement of the elusive concept of nature for the relational concept of place.

Building Eco-social Capacity to Meet Environmental Crisis: A Model Accommodating Perspectives of Western Sydney Community Groups

By identifying the salient views of environmental community groups in Western Sydney with respect to how they engaged others and built capacity, this paper presents a model of eco-social capacity building. The research methodology involved semi-structured interviews that facilitated reflection on the practitioners' experiences and attitudes. The model draws on Self-Determination Theory to elucidate motivational processes and integrate other major capacity domains: worldview, environmental relationship skills and social relationship skills. It relates environmental and social connectedness to these capacities and gives particular attention to the relationship between motivation and worldview. It explains the motivational consequences of approaching environmental action from both anthropocentric and ecocentric worldviews. We also examine how notions of environmental crisis affect motivation. The model's development process has linked psychological theory with a body of literature on ecocentrism and active hope. In so doing, several possibilities have emerged concerning the adoption of ecocentric worldviews that suggest viable processes for iteratively increasing eco-social capacity and motivation for pro-environmental behaviours.