New Ecological Paradigm New Ecological Paradigm Riley Dunlap et al Riley Dunlap et al The NEP explores the current state of our understanding of nature and our relation to it First how to read Dunlap et al You ll recognize the set of perceptions and notions of nature in the 15 polar statements Dunlap et al use to measure commitment to NEP or DSP The reality of growth limits 1 6 11 Anti anthropocentrism 2 7 12 Fragility of nature s balance 3 8 13 Rejection of exemptionalism 4 9 14 Possibility of eco crisis 5 10 15 Focus on their assessment of the content of the scale and its usefulness at measuring the construct of an ecological paradigm Skim the material on constructing the new scale and internal consistency pp 434 435 Do carefully read about the scale s Predictive Validity p 436 And about Trends p 437 Example Exceptionalism Example Fragility of nature s balance 4 Human ingenuity will insure that we do NOT make the earth unlivable 3 Humans are severely abusing the environment 9 Despite our special abilities humans are still subject to the laws of nature 8 The balance of nature is strong enough to cope with the impacts of modern industrial nations 14 Humans will eventually learn enough about how nature works to control it New Ecological Paradigm Riley Dunlap et al Dunlap et al had several goals in survey Recognize and capture shift from obvious point problems like local air and water pollution to env problems that are Geographically disperse Less directly observable Ambiguous in origin Need to measure awareness over environmental issues 13 The balance of nature is very delicate and easily upset Riley Dunlap et al Dunlap et al had several problems Are they measuring a unitary construct Is it meaningful Does it tap foundational beliefs primitive beliefs Does pro NEP attitudes lead to pro environmental behaviors Does NEP predict 1 Example of a fundamental notion Our assessment of nature s basic operating code is it inherently forgiving and stable or unbalance and inherently unstable Can we perturb it a lot or only a little 3 Humans are severely abusing the environment 8 The balance of nature is strong enough to cope with the impacts of modern industrial nations 13 The balance of nature is very delicate and easily upset Dunalp conclusions They do find support for NEP among younger more educated liberal groups Less among more rural conservative and people employed in primary industries e g farming logging etc Thus it predicts in the sense it supports other surveys Trend There is little longitudinal data but increases in NEP support in WA and KY studies My sense both aspects of survey ability to predict behavior and whether there s authentic trend to fundamental NEP ness need more analysis 2
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