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Environmental awareness and environmentally friendly behaviour - case Sulkava Rowing Event Author:

Anja Tuohino Researcher Lake Tourism Project University of Joensuu / Savonlinna Institute for Regional Development and Research Kuninkaankartanonkatu 5 P.O.BOX 126 57101 SAVONLINNA FINLAND email: [email protected]

Abstract During the past few decades, concern for the environment has increased significantly and, at the same time, people’s values and attitudes towards nature have changed substantially. As far as tourists are concerned, however, many research results have shown that environmental awareness has more to do with tourists’ aim to collect cultural capital than with their genuine concern for nature. In other words, there is an absence of environmental ethics as tourists do not transfer their environmental beliefs into their consumer behaviour. This paper presents the results of a survey made among tourists (non-rowers) and participants (rowers) in the biggest rowing event in the world, Sulkavan Suursoudut, organized in July 2001 for the 34th time. In the Finnish scale, we can talk about a mass tourism event as during one weekend it gathers over 20,000 people to the small village of 3,500 inhabitants. The purpose of the survey was to find out the environmental images of non-rowers and rowers in this special event. The paper will focus on their attitudes towards environmental sustainability, and on how these attitudes reflect their consumer behaviour. The survey tries to find answers to the following questions: are these images just mental images without no reflections on the behaviour of the respondents, or are they really behaving like they think? The questions of the survey dealt with environmental issues such as nature protection, nuclear power, preservation of meadows, the use of car etc. A random sampling method was used. The data was collected during the rowing event by using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire contained five parts to clarify different types of research problems. Environmental awareness was one of them consisting of twelve statements concerning environmental attitudes and behaviour. The number of respondents was 375 rowers and 211 non-rowers. The data was processed in statistical groupings. The results of the survey show that the environmental awareness of the two groups, i.e. non-rowers and rowers, was somewhat similar. However, the balance between environmental awareness and environmentally friendly behaviour is far and difficult to attain. Both groups were aware of environmental aspects but not ready to transfer their environmental beliefs into their consumer behaviour.

2 Introduction Concern for the environment has increased significantly during the past few decades and, at the same time, people’s values and attitudes towards nature have changed substantially. As far as tourists are concerned, however, many research results have shown that environmental awareness has more to do with tourists’ aim to collect cultural capital than with their genuine concern for nature. In other words, there is an absence of environmental ethics as tourists do not transfer their environmental beliefs into their consumer behaviour. This paper will focus on tourists' images of the environment and on how these images will reflect their consumer behaviour? I will try to find answers to the following questions: are these images just mental images without no reflections on the behaviour of the respondents, or are they really behaving like they think? Are environmental images just a trend or is there an ideology behind? Sport tourism or tourism sport According to Ritchie & Adair (2002), sport and tourism are today among the most sought-after leisure experiences in the ‘developed´ world. Sport events, among other special events, are increasingly seen as unique tourist attractions and destination image-makers. However, it was not until in the 1990s that the field of special events was regarded as a serious area of research (Jago & Shaw 1998 cited by Gandhi-Arora & Shaw 2002). Gammon and Robinson (1997) divide sport and tourism into two categories: sport tourism and tourism sport. In sport tourism, sport is the principal motive, while in tourism sport, it is only a secondary motive of the holiday. Furthermore, sport tourism can also be divided into two subcategories: recreational and competitive. Accordingly, Ritchie & Adair (2002:2) see that sport tourism includes “travel to participate in a passive or active sport holiday and it may involve instances where either sport or tourism is the dominant activity or reason for travel”. Standeven and De Knop (1999:11-14) have defined sport tourism as follows: “all forms of active and passive involvement in sporting activity, participated in casually or in an organized way for noncommercial or business/commercial reasons, the necessitate travel away from home and work locality”. In the case of Sulkava Rowing Event we can see these both elements. Among participants there are those for whom sport plays a secondary and recreational role, while for rowers, especially for those who participate in the competition series, sport is the main motive for participating in the

3 event. Similarly, participation in the event can be seen either as active or passive way of spending one’s holiday. Passive sport tourists are those who follow the event merely as spectators while active sports tourists take actively part in the rowing activities. In this paper passive tourists are referred to as non-rowers and active ones as rowers. Environmental attitudes and consumer behaviour Studies conducted in different countries have showed an awakening interest in green products or increase in environmentally friendly attitudes. During the latter half of the 1980s, environmental concern became translated into a specific activity of green consumerism. Surveys show that there has been a permanent change in consumers' attitudes. The ecolabelling of tourism products seems to be an effective means of communicating the green message to the increasingly responsive tourist audience. However, there is no evidence to suggest that the increase in popularity of sustainable tourism as a whole is directly related to the emergence of green consumerism (Sharpley 2001). Sharpley & Sharpley (1996) see that the nature of tourist consumption has changed from a producer-led to a consumer-led form of consumption. Consequently, new and alternative forms of tourism, like ecotourism or nature-based tourism, have enjoyed increase in popularity. However, this has been more as a result of people’s need to maintain their cultural capital and social differentiation than of a genuine concern for the environment. Thus, as a form of consumption in modern society, tourism has become a marker of social status, a cultural signifier of taste. To their mind, ecotourism, for instance, is more about the tourists’ aim to collect cultural capital than about their concern for nature. Witherspoon´s research from 1994 (according to Sharpley 2001) confirms this result. Witherspoon observed that up to one half of those who claim to embrace green values never transfer these beliefs into their consumer behaviour. Mihalic (2001) has received the same result. According to her, there is a difference between the declarative and actual environmental sensitivity for tourist demand, which is the difference between environmental awareness and environmental behaviour. Environmental awareness is much greater than seen in tourists' (non-environmental) behaviour. She sees that the problem lies in the absence of environmental ethics that should be aimed towards environmental behaviour.

4 By studying Danish consumers buying organic products, Grunert & Juhl (1995 cited by Björk 1995: 66) found out that there is a relationship between values, environmental attitudes and consumer behaviour. However, the correlation between attitudes and behaviour is not always high. According to Uusitalo (1991 cited by Björk 1995:66), the reason for this can be that “expressed favourable attitudes towards environmental protection are based on existing information on collective interests and social welfare, while in actual choice situations, the decisions are still based on individual utility consideration”. In geographical studies it has also become evident that environmental knowledge is not something that explains ‘spatial behaviour’. This is explained by saying that behaviour is influenced by intentions, which are influenced by attitudes, and further, which are influenced by beliefs about social norms (Whalmsley & Lewis 1993). Hence, attitudes are just one factor among others influencing consumer behaviour. Environmental attitudes of the Finns have been researched sporadically since the 1970s and systematically since 1983. The results point out that the ecological self-image is high; up to 71 % said that they are ready to take care of nature even it costs more (Kuisma 2001, cited by Vänttinen 2001:38). In general, Finns are more worried about global environmental problems than problems in their own country or local community. Nature protection is more valued among women, young and the welleducated. Surprisingly enough, people living in the country do not consider nature protection as important as those living in the urban areas, which is probably due to the fact that nature is part of their everyday life. (Kuisma 2001, cited by Vänttinen 2001:38) Uusitalo (1991) talks about ´free riders´ who want to have a full benefit of other people’s work but who are not willing to participate themselves. According to her, in addition to Finland, these free riders can be found in Ireland and Philippines. This phenomenon is explained in many ways. In Finland we may think that technology is solving the problems, while in other countries people do not see environmental problems so threatening that it would reflect their environmental behaviour. Purpose, data and methodology This paper concentrates on the results of the survey conducted in the biggest rowing event in the world, Sulkavan Suursoudut, organized in July 2001 for the 34th time. One of the main purposes of the survey was to find out about the environmental images of tourists (non-rowers) and participants

5 (rowers) in this special event. The paper focuses on their attitudes towards environmental sustainability and on how these attitudes reflect their consumer behaviour. The questions of the survey dealt with environmental issues such as nature protection, nuclear power, preservation of meadows, the use of car etc. A random sampling method was used. The data was collected during the rowing event by using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire contained five parts to clarify different type of research problems. Environmental awareness was one of these parts consisting of twelve statements, of which ten described the attitudes and two the behaviour. The number of respondents was 375 rowers and 211 non-rowers. The data was processed in statistical groupings. The background of the respondents was as follows: 44 % women, 56 % men among rowers, and 50 % - 50 % among non-rowers. In both groups over 50 % of the respondents had an academic degree. Their level of income was also relatively high. Case study: Sulkavan Suursoudut Rowing Event Sulkava is situated on the shore of Lake Saimaa in the eastern part of Finland. It is a small village of 774 km2 of which water covers about 25 %. Figure 1 shows the relationship between the number of inhabitants in the Sulkava village and the number of participants in the rowing event. In 1991 the amount of rowers outnumbered the inhabitants (Vänttinen 2001). Nowadays, over 20,000 people come to Sulkava to either watch or to participate in the event, a mass tourism event in the Finnish scale. Accordingly, we can talk about rowing tourism as a subcategory of sport tourism.

S u lk a v a R o w in g E v e n t 12000

6

10000 8000 In h a b it a n t s R o w e rs

6000 4000 2000

20 01

19 99

19 97

19 95

19 90

19 85

19 80

19 75

19 70

19 68

0

Figure 1. The relationship between rowers and inhabitants in Sulkava during 1988-2001 (Vänttinen 2001:figure 2)

Results As mentioned above, there were twelve statements to measure environmental awareness and its reflection to the behaviour in the questionnaire. Ten of the statements were measuring the attitudes and two the behaviour of the respondents.

Those concerned about attitudes can be seen as

humanistic (see Pietarinen 1987). According to him, humanism maintains that the natural environment should promote human development in a variety of ways. He continues that environment is not to be seen only as a source of raw materials, but also as a means of attaining ethical, aesthetic, and mental equilibrium (Saarinen 1998). The use of a car as well as a membership in a nature conservation organization, can be seen as a measurement tool of environmental attitudes. In western societies the car is a symbol of freedom and a part of building of our own identity. In this sense, giving up using a car is an excellent means of describing people’s real environmental attitudes. Attitudes and behaviour were measured by using the Likert-scaled statements (5-point, ranging from fully agree (1), to fully disagree (5)). As can be seen in Table 1, the mean scores among rowers and non-rowers are similar. The respondents agreed on the statement ’people should be ready to compromise over their standard of living to relieve the burden on nature’ and the statement ’in terms of biodiversity, it is important to preserve fields and meadows’. The respondents disagreed on the statement ’I would be ready to give up driving my car if it furthered nature conservation’. As these results show, the environmental attitudes are not reflecting the behaviour. However, a slight willingness to join any nature conservation organization can be seen. Quite many means were around three, which can be interpreted in two ways. The respondents were either not willing to say their opinion/ to answer this kind of statements or they really did not know

7 what to say. The latter means that these kind of environmental statements can be seen too difficult to answer. Table 1. Statements measuring the environmental attitudes and behaviour Statement

rowers

non-rowers

People should be ready to compromise over their standard of living to relieve the burden on nature

1,89

1,91

Conservationists are utopians who do not recognize the development needs required in modern society

3,44

3,41

No more nuclear power plants should be built in our country

2,82

2,80

Modern forest use methods, including clear cutting, are acceptable

3,12

3,05

Motor traffic on water is a threat to nature, and thus, should be more strictly restricted and controlled through legislation

2,83

2,79

The building of lakeside cottages should be restricted to preserve piece of nature

2,90

2,86

Too many sites are already included in the national Natura 2000 Network

3,01

3,03

In terms of biodiversity, it is important to preserve fields and meadows

1,89

1,80

To prevent contamination of lake waters tourist traffic on lakes should be restricted

2,73

2,78

I would never join any nature conservation organization

3,16

3,26

Snow mobiles and other motor traffic on Lake Saimaa should be restricted to preserve the natural habitat of the endangered Saimaa seal

2,34

2,31

I would be ready to give up driving my car if it furthered nature conservation

3,74

3,69

n=314

n=176

As there was not a remarkable difference between the rowers and non-rowers, the following analysis concentrates on evaluating more deeply the attitudes and behaviour among the rowers only. It can be assumed that the answers among the non-rowers are somewhat similar. As Figure 2 points out, rowers are not willing to give up driving their car even if it furthered nature conservation. At the same time, they see very important to compromise over their standard of living to relieve the burden on nature. What a conflict! The membership of any nature conservation organization is unimportant, too.

140

N um ber of re s p o n d e n ts

120

v e r y im p o r t a n t

100

v e r y u n im p o r t a n t

8

80 60 40 20 0 P e o p le s h o u ld b e re a d y to c o m p r o m is e o v e r th e ir s ta n d a rd o f l i v in g t o r e l i e v e th e b u rd e n n a tu re

I w o u ld n e v e r j o in a n y n a t u r e c o n s e r v a tio n o r g a n iz a tio n

I w o u ld b e r e a d y to g iv e u p d r i v in g m y c a r i f it fu r th u r e d n a tu re c o n s e r v a tio n

Figure 2. Behavioural statements and standard of living.

When examining more closely how environmental attitudes reflect the general behaviour of rowers, it can be seen in Figure 3 that rowers consider it very important to restrict snow mobile and other motor traffic on Lake Saimaa to preserve the natural habitat of the endangered Saimaa seal. Restrictions on building lakeside cottages were not seen as important whereas motor traffic on water is seen more threatening. Prevention of lake waters from contamination is also considered important. v e r y im p o r t a n t v e r y u n im p o r t a n t 100

Number of respondents

80

60

40

20

0

M o t o r t r a f f ic o n w a t e r is a t h r e a t t o n a tu re , a n d th u s , s h o u ld b e m o r e s t r ic k t ly r e s t r ic t e d a n d c o n t r o lle d t h r o u g h le g is la t io n

T h e b u ild in g o f la k e s id e c o t t a g e s s h o u ld b e r e s t r ic t e d t o p r e s e r v e p ie c e o f n a tu re

Figure 3. Four statements of environmental attitudes

T o p re v e n t S n o w m o b ile s a n d c o n t a m in a t io n o f o t h e r m o t o r t r a f f ic la k e w a t e r s t o u r is t o n L a k e S a im a a t r a f f ic o n la k e s s h o u ld b e s h o u ld b e r e s t r ic t e d t o r e s t r ic t e d p re s e rv e th e n a t u r a l h a b it a t o f th e e n d a n g e re d S a im a a S e a l

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As Figure 4 shows, rowers found it very important to preserve fields and meadows to maintain biodiversity. Modern forest use methods were seen more unimportant than important, Natura 2000 as well as the limitation of nuclear power plants more important than unimportant. Conservationists were not regarded as utopians.

very important very unimportant 160 140 Number of respondents

120 100 80 60 40 20 In terms of biodiversity, it is important to preserve fields and meadows

Too many sites are already included in the national Natura 2000 Network

Modern forest use mehods, including clear cutting, are acceptable

No more nuclear power plants should be built in our country

Conservationists are utopians who do not recognize the development needs required in modern society

0

Figure 4. Five statements of environmental attitudes

Some researchers suggest that the nature experience itself promotes positive attitudes towards responsible environmental behaviour because it leads to the appreciation of the natural environment. (Brown 1991, Gray 1985 cited by Beaumont 2001:321). Accordingly, enjoyable experiences in the natural environment would produce a positive response. Beaumont even sees that the natural environment alone would produce the same response and result in a positive attitude towards nature and its conservation. This raises a crucial question among the rowers: is the natural environment producing this kind of response or not?

10 Figure 5 shows how important/unimportant rowers saw the environment. Environment (lake) is seen as a setting for action and it is interpreted in a functional way for relaxion. They want to row because, at the same time, they want to enjoy nature and the water as an element, admire lake scenery and experience nature. However, the importance of rowing as an environmentally friendly way of moving is not very strong. 140

120

amount of respondents

100

80 v e r y im p o r t a n t v e r y u n im p o r t a n t 60

40

20

0 e n jo y la k e n a tu re

e n jo y w a t e r e le m e n t

a d m ir e la k e s c e n e ry

e x p e r ie n c e n a tu re

e n v ir o n m e n t a l f r i e n d ly w a y o f m o v in g

Figure 5. Experience of lake nature

Conclusions The results of the Sulkava case confirm the findings of earlier researches about attitudes not reflecting behaviour. The free rider phenomenon can also be found. People’s own benefit overrides the environmental behaviour and environmental friendly attitude is just an ‘idea’. Results point out that the environmental awareness of the non-rowers was parallel with that of the rowers. However, the balance between environmental awareness and environmentally friendly behaviour is far and difficult to attain. Environmental awareness and attitudes can be seen more as a cultural or social capital than as a genuine concern of nature. In other words, there is a conscious or subconscious disregard for the environment. Thus, it looks like environmental ethics is partly missing. What kind of future implications can then be expected? With people’s own interests overriding their sustainable behaviour, the visions of sustainability are not very optimistic. The use of one’s own car is a good example of this. Another interesting question, which would need a study of its own, is what kind of environmental effects this mass event causes to Sulkava?

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