The visibility of sustainable energy measures is a channel of social influence, a means of conspicuous consumption, and affects the aesthetics of an environment. This study investigates how the visibility of sustainable household energy measures (i.e., installation of renewable energy and energy efficient devices) affects people's choices of those products in the Netherlands. In addition, the moderating effects of product attributes, including price, aesthetic appeal, environmental impact, and popularity, are assessed. A choice experiment was conducted in which participants chose between options of heat pumps and solar panels. The results indicate that visibility decreases the probability that a person chooses a heat pump, whereas visibility does not affect the choice of solar panels. For heat pumps, a higher aesthetic appeal mitigates the negative effect of visibility. Interestingly, a more positive environmental impact worsens the negative effect of visibility on the choice of heat pumps. The study suggests that visibility is not influential for choices of sustainable energy measures that have been part of the street scenery for a while, such as solar panels. For devices of which presence is unfamiliar, visibility is perceived as negative and considered a reason to choose another model. For a decision about whether to visibly install unfamiliar sustainable energy measures, expression of aesthetic style is a positive and influential factor, whereas increased environmentalism negatively affects choice.
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This article examines two areas of tension within environmental ethics literature and relates them to the case study of the animal representation in the Dutch media. On the one hand, there is a tension between those who propagate clear division between anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric views; on the other hand, there is a tension between the land ethics perspective and animal right proponents. This article examines the media representation of animals using content analysis, and links the findings back to the areas of tension within environmental ethics. The main findings indicate that the division between anthropocentric and ecocentric perspectives is still relevant for evaluating the human-animal relations, while the convergence of the land ethics and animal rights perspectives can be helpful in explaining why this division is relevant. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in "Environmental Processes".The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40710-014-0025-7 https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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This research explores the attitudes of children from different socio-economic backgrounds towards cars. This paper explores their projected choices and motivations in the context of (1) post-materialist values; (2) economic constraints; and (3) social status theories; and draws upon survey research among 140 upper elementary school children in the Netherlands between September 2010 and January 2011. Comparative analysis shows that there are significant differences in attitudes of children from different socio-economic backgrounds. Pupils from the affluent predominantly ethnically Dutch schools showed greater awareness of and concern about their parents’ and general use of cars, and less desire to own a car in the future, children from less economically advantaged schools demonstrated lower environmental awareness and concern and more desire to own a car in the future. This study is based on a small sample and indicates a need for large-scale follow-up study of children's attitudes towards cars. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2012.07.010 https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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Many citizens experience ambivalence – having simultaneously positive and negative evaluations – about changing their behaviour towards a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Based on 36 studies, this study identifies and synthesises the current evidence on how ambivalence impacts environmental behaviours. In most studies, ambivalence is shown to be directly and negatively associated with environmental behaviours, i.e., higher levels of ambivalence are linked to lower levels of environmentally friendly and unfriendly behaviours. This applies to both types of ambivalence: objective (OA) and subjective (SA). Mediator analyses show, in line with the theory, that SA, not OA, drives behavioural change. In addition, results indicate that ambivalence moderates the relationship between independent–dependent variables mainly negatively, for example, by weakening attitude–behaviour relationships. This review shows the potential of ambivalence to facilitate behaviour change: SA about environmentally friendly behaviour can hinder, whereas SA about environmentally unfriendly behaviour can motivate, behaviour change. In addition, this review highlights some significant knowledge gaps in this body of research. A lack of validated standardised measurements of ambivalence makes it challenging to compare studies and reach conclusions about underlying theoretical constructs. Methods, research designs, and theoretical underpinnings need improvement to fully understand ambivalence and progress towards the transition of environmentally friendly behaviours.
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This entry begins by reviewing the definitions of “human”, “environment” and “dichotomy”, consequently turning to the debates concerning the human–environment relationship. Synthesizing various studies, the capability of advanced tool use; language, hyper-sociality, advanced cognition, morality, civilization, technology, and free will are supposed to be distinctly human. However, other studies describe how nonhuman organisms share these same abilities. The biophysical or natural environment is often associated with all living and non-living things that occur naturally. The environment also refers to ecosystems or habitats, including all living organisms or species. The concepts of the biophysical or natural environment are often opposed to the concepts of built or modified environment, which is artificial - constructed or influenced by humans. The built or modified environment typically refers to structures or spaces from gardens to car parks. Today, one of the central questions in regard to human-environment dichotomies centres around the concept of sustainability. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118924396 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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This article explores cooperation between a commercial supermarket chain and an environmental non-governmental organization linking it to consumer perception of the “The Super Animals” collectable cards promotion initiative. The case study focuses on one particular joint project involving Animal Cards that was initiated by the supermarket Albert Heijn and the World Wide Fund for Nature in The Netherlands. Based on this case, environmental non-governmental organizations’ strategic choices in the context of contesting discourses of sustainability and consumption, as well as implications for environmental education, are addressed. This article combines three strands of the literature – on sustainable consumption, on strategic cooperation between commercial companies and environmental non-governmental organizations and on environmental education. It is argued that the Animal Cards initiative presents an ambiguous case by both attempting to enhance environmental awareness and promoting consumption, opening up questions about the value of such cooperative ventures to the objectives of environmental education. It is concluded that cross-sector partnerships have the potential to lead to improvements in corporate social responsibility and environmental awareness among consumers but simultaneously pose the danger of undermining the critical stance toward consumption. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540514556170 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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This article will discuss social, environmental, and ecological justice in education for sustainable development (ESD) and Education for Sustainable Development Goals (ESDG). The concept of sustainable development and, by extension, the ESD, places heavy emphasis on the economic and social aspects of sustainability. However, the ESD falls short of recognizing ecological justice, or recognition that nonhumans also have a right to exist and flourish. An intervention in the form of an undergraduate course titled Politics, Business, and Environment (PBE) will be discussed. As part of this course, students were asked to reflect on the three pillars of sustainable development: society, economy, and environment, linking these to the fourth concept, ecological justice or biospheric egalitarianism. Biospheric egalitarianism is characterized by the recognition of intrinsic value in the environment and is defined as concern about justice for the environment. Some of the resulting exam answers are analyzed, demonstrating students’ ability to recognize the moral and pragmatic limitations of the anthropocentric approach to justice. This analysis presents ways forward in thinking about the role of “ecological justice” as the ultimate bottom line upon which both society and economy are based. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10100261 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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The Middle East and North Africa region has been absent form stocktaking exercises on social accountability initiatives (SAI), an umbrella term to designate citizen-led tools aimed at socio-political change. We argue that this sidelining is unwarranted, given the proliferation of participatory governance initiatives, civic associations and popular mobilisation in Arab societies after 2011. Whereas the struggle for improved accountability in the Arab world remains under-researched, analysis of authoritarian regime tactics has proliferated. The fact is, however, that many Arab societies have experimented with mechanisms to apply political pressure on corrupt elites while international donors have launched diverse SAIs, including community score cards and participatory and gender-responsive budgeting initiatives. In this chapter, we first identify this double gap: not only has the literature on SAIs overlooked the MENA region but scholarship on the Middle East has largely failed to recognise initiatives launched across the region over the past decade as SAIs. Then, we aim to address the blind spot of Arab SAI’s as pathways towards improved governance. Finally, we present an overview of extant literature and introduce a set of four research questions to better understand what social accountability means for people on the ground. These questions focus on the various meanings of social accountability (musā’ala vs muhāsaba), its modes of mobilisation, the responses from authorities to such initiatives and their overall outcomes.
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