Sustainability at Sea: Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
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Transcript of Sustainability at Sea: Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
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Mark White, University of VirginiaDan Abel, Coastal Carolina University
Amy Predmore, Charlottesville
Erin Webb, Commerce/ETP ’12Sarah Peterson, Politics ’11
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Sustainability at Sea:Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
Version 2-0
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the margin for action narrows
you are here
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26,000 miles109 days
15 ports in 10 countries
580 students / 32 faculty90 classes250 field practica/trips
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One Earth, One Future
Sustainability is the theme of the Spring 2010 voyage of Semester at Sea. We define sustainability as a “society of permanence” – a world in which humanity ensures its well-being across the generations by improving the stability of ecological and sociocultural systems ...
SOURCE: SAS Voyage Theme, Spring 2010
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DOMINANTSOCIAL PARADIGM
• Support for free enterprise
• Belief in unlimited growth• Commitment to limited
government
• Devotion to private property rights
• Emphasis on individualism
• Faith in science and technology
• Faith in future material abundance and prosperity
• Support for the status quo
NEWECOLOGICAL PARADIGM
• Recognition of limited resources
• Awareness of the fragility of nature’s balance
• Rejection of human exemptionalism
• Ecocentric vs. anthropocentric point of view
• Belief in the probability of an eco-crisis
aka “Spaceship Earth”
Dunlap and van Liere (1978); Dunlap et al. (2000)
6What Did We Do?
Empirical StudySustainability on the Voyage
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field practica
“walking the talk”co-curricular activities
global studies elective courses
evening programs
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Empirical StudyNew Ecological Paradigm (NEP) ScaleDunlap and Van Liere (1978); Dunlap et al. (2000)
Research Questions
1. Are our results comparable with other studies? (validity)
2. How is ecological worldview related to various demographic characteristics?
3. Did participation in the voyage shift students’ ecological worldview and/or environmental attitudes?
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Characteristics of theSample Population• n = 215
• 71% female
• 68% juniors
• variety of disciplines26% business/economics
• diversity of geographic regions,institutional sizes,Sustainability Report Card scores
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50.86 - 57.08 USA studentsHawcroft and Milfont, 2010
Comparisons with Other Studies
56.88 Pre-Survey
57.14 Post-Survey
Range = +15 (weak ecological worldview) to +75 (strong ecological worldview)
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NEP Scoresand Demographic Characteristics
Females Males BusinessMajors
Non-BusinessMajors
WesternRegions
Non-WesternRegions
NEP
Sco
re
15
25
35
45
55
65
75
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Human ingenuity will insure that we do NOT make the earth
unlivable (4)
Humans will eventually learn enough about how nature works
to control it (14)
Human have the right to modify the natural world to suit their
needs (2)
The so-called “ecological crisis” facing humankind has been
greatly exaggerated (10)
The earth has plenty of natural resources if we just learn how to
develop them (6)
1 = Strongly agree, 2 = Mildly agree, 3 = Unsure, 4 = Mildly disagree, 5 = strongly disagree. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.Greater disagreement with even-numbered items indicates greater acceptance of the NEP.
Shifts in Pre- and Post-SurveyEnvironmental Attitudes
0 1 2 3 4 5
Pre-SurveyPost-Survey
Anti-ExemptionAnti-Anthropomorphism
Eco-Crisis
Limits
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Change in NEP Scoresand Report Card Grades
Mea
n Ch
ange
in N
EP
Scor
e
-6.00
-4.00
-2.00
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
Below Average Average Above Average
Sustainability Report Card Grades
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SummaryAround-the-world sustainability-themed voyage
Learning objective = changed worldview
Integrated curricular and co-curricular activities
Survey evidence
Behavioral evidence
Anecdotal evidence
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“Now, let me share with you one word, “sustainability” … I cannot possibly share with you all that I have learned about our environmentally twisted planet from these past four months but I can give you a summary. We’re on the wrong track. The state of
this planet both environmentally andsocially is heading down a road thatwe probably shouldn’t be on …Environmentally, the planet is heating up. Like a bowl of microwaveable Easy-Mac,bad things happen when you let it gettoo hot. To identify only a few concerns from the extensive list of issues, watersare rising, extinction is becoming toocommon, and many lives, both humanand not, are at risk.
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“Each day in the classroom we were pummeled and overwhelmed with information regarding the unstable conditions of our planet. We
saw current problems, potential future ones, and learned of catastrophic possibilities. I won’t lie to you -- we didn’t stop global
warming. We didn’t eradicate hunger or end poverty. In fact, we may have only shot one tiny bullet in this battle for the improvement of our planet. But as the old saying goes, “knowledge is power!” It is.
Trust me. What we learned from this program was all the weapons and coat of arms we need to have a chance in winning this fight. By
arming us with knowledge for both now and the future, 586 students disembarked yesterday with a firm grasp on what needs to be
done to support the soil we stand on.”
-- Chris Constantinehttp://chrisconstantinesas.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html
Environmental Attitudesin Germany and the USA
•US business students will be less likely to support the NEP than German business students; neither group will strongly support the NEP
•American students will express more support for the DSP tenets of human exemptionalism, exaggeration of ecocrises, and anthropocentrism
•The difference between the two groups on the issue of limits to human growth will be less distinct
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John Locke, 1632-1704
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778
Sarah Peterson, Harrison Award (2010-11)
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White, M. A., Abel, D. & A. Predmore (2011). Transformative Sustainability Education in a Shipboard Living-learning Community. Forthcoming in World Trends in Education for Sustainable Development, W. Leal, Ed., Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
White, M. A., Predmore, A. and D. Abel. (2011). Effectiveness of a Seagoing Global Immersion Program in Fostering Ecological Awareness. Working paper. Under review at the Journal of Environmental Education
Dunlap, R. E., & van Liere, K. D. (1978). The ‘New Environmental Paradigm’: A Proposed Measuring Instrument and Preliminary Results. Journal of Environmental Education, 9, 10-19.
Dunlap, R. E., van Liere, K. D., Mertig, A. G., & Jones, R. E. (2000). Measuring Endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm: A Revised NEP Scale. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 425-442.
Hawcroft, L. J., & Milfont, T. L. (2010). The Use (and Abuse) of the New Environmental Paradigm Scale over the Last 30 years: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30, 143-158.
If You’d Like to Learn More ...
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Mark White, University of VirginiaDan Abel, Coastal Carolina University
Amy Predmore, Charlottesville
Erin Webb, Commerce/ETP ’12Sarah Peterson, Politics ’11
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Sustainability at Sea:Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
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