Proceedings of the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) 2006 The University of North Carolina at Asheville Asheville, North Carolina April 6–8, 2006

Environmental Paradigm Shifts: Their Causes, Attributes, and Implications for Environmental Sustainability Timothy E. Putnam Department of Environmental Studies The University of North Carolina at Asheville One University Heights Asheville, North Carolina 28804 USA Faculty Advisor: Dr. Dolores (Dee) M. Eggers Abstract Understanding environmental paradigms and the adoption of pro-environmental beliefs will be a critical endeavor in this century as anthropic environmental degradation threatens to drastically diminish the quality of life for all global citizens, including and especially non-human citizens. Lasting, positive change in humanity’s treatment of the environment may not occur until environmentally supportive paradigms replace the underlying paradigms that produce current ecologically destructive actions, requiring a paradigm shift within society. While many studies have investigated the significance of environmental paradigms, the causes of environmental paradigm shifts remain unexamined. This article develops the concept of the environmental paradigm shift (EPS) as a phenomenon whereby an individual socialized with an anti- or non-environmental paradigm undergoes some experience that triggers a shift to a pro-environmental paradigm. This study explores EPS’s in an undergraduate student population through a survey by determining endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm and the Connectedness to Nature Scale, causes of EPS’s, and the frequencies of performing pro-environmental behaviors. The relationships among environmental perspectives (values and beliefs), pro-environmental behavior (action), and paradigm shifting experiences hold implications for utilizing the institutions of society to induce EPS’s within the general public, creating a more sustainability-minded society. This study is a preliminary analysis of the factors, attributes, and prevalence of EPS’s; the results yield a refinement of the EPS as a concept and proposals for more comprehensive assessment methods. Keywords: environmental paradigm shifts (EPS), connecting experiences, pro-environmental behaviors, environmentally responsible behaviors (ERB), New Ecological Paradigm (NEP), Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS)

1. Introduction Environmental paradigms have been studied in both environmental sociology1,2,3,4,5 and environmental psychology6,7, generating a broad base of knowledge about individuals’ values, beliefs, and perceptions concerning the natural world and humanity’s place therein. Various scales have been created to identify patterns within those paradigms, such as the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale8 and the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS)9. Complicating studies of environmental paradigms are the varying aspects of paradigms being explored. Olsen, Lodwick, and Dunlap10 note that paradigms are based upon beliefs, values, and attitudes, which form the basis of much of ecopsychology’s repertoire11,12,13,14, creating a broad range of influences on behavior. The most widely used test of environmental paradigms is the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale15, which is a cognitively based scale16 that attempts to “tap ‘primitive beliefs’ about the nature of the earth and humanity’s relationship with it”17. A recently designed scale, the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS), is “designed to tap an individual’s affective, experiential connection to nature”16. These two scales, like others, use beliefs, values, and feelings to obtain insight into paradigms, which cannot be directly measured.

In investigating environmental paradigms, the literature has focused on correlations between values or beliefs and behavior. Various behavioral scales have been used, but most of those in the literature apply to specifically European cultures, are outdated in terms of ERB’s that are likely to occur in present U.S. society, or are poorly suited to college students18,19,20. Additionally, correlations have been somewhat weak21 due to the “value–action gap,” a disconnection between beliefs and behaviors22,23,24, or because individuals may not have an adequate understanding of environmental issues25,26. Though the NEP Scale and the CNS investigate paradigms, the research does not fully identify or explain what causes individuals to adopt pro-environmental paradigms after being first socialized into the dominant social paradigm, which operates in contradiction to values of environmental sustainability27. Olsen, Lodwick, and Dunlap28 examined internal inconsistencies and external discrepancies as reasons for paradigm shifts. However, such shifts would occur more frequently in society if inconsistencies and discrepancies were causal factors. It is here proposed that experiences are causal in the environmental paradigm shift. For example, a person holds the dominant social paradigm, then has an experience that cognitively, affectively, or otherwise connects one to the environment. The environmental paradigm already exists in the social world, so after the connecting experience, the individual is able to perceive the environmental paradigm as relevant to his/her changing views in the context of inconsistencies and discrepancies. Over time, one’s paradigm shifts to the new pro-environmental paradigm that is consistent with the values generated through the connecting experience. As the shift begins, perhaps by a slow infiltration of the new paradigm with beliefs and values most relevant to that particular individual’s connecting experience, the floodgates are opened to more and more aspects of the environmental paradigm. However, it is the connecting experience that opens the valve, not the internal inconsistencies and external discrepancies.

2. The Environmental Paradigm Shift (EPS) Hypothesis It is here proposed that individuals may experience environmental paradigm shifts (EPS’s), whereby an experience or a set of experiences triggers a shift in paradigm. Unlike the research conducted by social psychologists up to this point, the environmental paradigm shift hypothesis explains the human–nature interaction from a primarily sociological standpoint with the psychological component being largely irrelevant. From this perspective, it may be possible to construct the theoretical framework for society’s role in environmental paradigms, then to add the psychological component back into the mix. Ironically, a number of ecopsychological studies and surveys were used to elicit the broader social paradigms that cannot be measured independently of subjective individuals. In discussing environmental sustainability, the phrase “paradigm shift” is tossed about meaninglessly—it is not defined, nor are processes or ends detailed. Consequently, not much is known about how to cause or encourage the environmental paradigm shift, how to know if and when it is occurring, or even what the results of a paradigm shift will mean for environmental sustainability beyond broad predictions of “better than at present.” Unlike the NEP and CNS, this hypothesis relies on experiences rather than values, beliefs, attitudes, or feelings toward the natural world. It is the experiential process that may forge the connection between individual and environment from which such values, beliefs, attitudes, and feelings may arise. This study differentiates itself from the CNS, for instance, which measures “individuals’ trait levels of feeling emotionally connected to the natural world”29. Reading a thought-provoking book or taking an enlightening course is an influential experience, though not directly dependent upon emotional connection to nature. Cognitive experiences must be incorporated, too, in the attempt to understand environmental paradigm shifts. Respondents who have had EPS’s are predicted to endorse the NEP and rate higher on the CNS, while those who have not had EPS’s and were not socialized into the NEP are predicted to score lower on the NEP Scale and CNS. Both scales function to sort paradigms into anti- and pro-environmental categories of values and beliefs, indicating which individuals have not experienced EPS’s. Though the parameters of the survey are loosely defined, the environmental behavior index should provide an analysis of the types of EPS’s that encourage the greatest action as a result. This will allow future studies to be more narrowly defined and to suggest possible strategies for inducing EPS’s in the general population, creating a more sustainability-minded society. This study explores EPS’s in an undergraduate student population through a survey by determining endorsement of the NEP and CNS, potential causes of EPS’s, and the frequency of performed pro-environmental behaviors.

3. Methodology A survey was administered to 213 undergraduate college students from the four levels of a required general education program as well as from several environmental studies courses. The survey contained 80 items, including

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the NEP scale and CNS, as well as original assessments of environmental behavior and experiences of the environment. The NEP scale, CNS, and behavior items were all on a five-point Likert scale. Questions regarding experiences with the environment were open-ended and asked the respondents to describe any experiences that significantly increased their connection to the environment. If respondents answered this question, then they were coded as having had a connecting experience with the environment; if there was no response, then they were separated into a group without a connecting experience.

4. Results The correlation between NEP and pro-environmental behaviors for the whole sample is r=0.52, p