93
A few steps need to be taken in order to holistically form the antecedents for
Environmental Citizenship in Europe and beyond:
• A unified strategy of how the relevant policies would be put into practice needs
to be developed in order to promote Environmental Citizenship through various
societal driving factors (through media, education, communities and in the
family).
• Educational and informational tools need to be developed and used in order to
form factual and relevant beliefs about pro-environmental actions and to foster
the development of values relating to Environmental Citizenship.
Perhaps the most efficient way to readily promote Environmental Citizenship
here and now is through education. Citizenship education already is an integral part
of the educational process, and various NGOs are already engaged in educating
individuals to be more engaged in societal matters; thus, in many cases, formal and
informal means for the education for Environmental Citizenship are already readily
available. What might be lacking is a sense of direction and a unified methodology
as well as a set of unified educational materials and shared goals. While many
organisations engage in efforts that can be considered Education for Environmental
Citizenship (ENEC 2018), these efforts, as they are now, are suboptimal because
they do not work in unison with other areas of education. One of the key factors in
effectively and robustly changing beliefs and forming values is consistency and
multimodality of the stimuli used in this process (Bardi and Schwartz 2013; Bardi
et al. 2009). In other words, the development of educational policies and curricula
geared towards promoting Environmental Citizenship – actively transforming an
individual’s values and mindset – are needed in order to provide a whole-school
approach towards the development of Environmental Citizenship at various stages
of their personal development. As part of such curricula development, there is a
pressing need to promote active social engagement programmes and incorporate
service learning modules into the curriculum, all of which promote environmental
literacy and environmental responsible behaviour.
Acknowledgements This chapter is based on work from COST Action ENEC – European
Network for Environmental Citizenship (CA16229) supported by COST (European Cooperation
in Science and Technology).
References
Abrahamse, W., & Steg, L. (2013). Social influence approaches to encourage resource conservation: A meta-analysis. Global Environmental Change, 23(6), 1773–1785. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.07.029.
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision
Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T.
Bailey, I., & Wilson, G. A. (2009). Theorising transitional pathways in response to climate
change: Technocentrism, ecocentrism, and the carbon economy. Environment and Planning A:
Economy and Space, 41(10), 2324–2341. https://doi.org/10.1068/a40342.
6 Values, Beliefs and Environmental Citizenship
A few steps need to be taken in order to holistically form the antecedents for
Environmental Citizenship in Europe and beyond:
• A unified strategy of how the relevant policies would be put into practice needs
to be developed in order to promote Environmental Citizenship through various
societal driving factors (through media, education, communities and in the
family).
• Educational and informational tools need to be developed and used in order to
form factual and relevant beliefs about pro-environmental actions and to foster
the development of values relating to Environmental Citizenship.
Perhaps the most efficient way to readily promote Environmental Citizenship
here and now is through education. Citizenship education already is an integral part
of the educational process, and various NGOs are already engaged in educating
individuals to be more engaged in societal matters; thus, in many cases, formal and
informal means for the education for Environmental Citizenship are already readily
available. What might be lacking is a sense of direction and a unified methodology
as well as a set of unified educational materials and shared goals. While many
organisations engage in efforts that can be considered Education for Environmental
Citizenship (ENEC 2018), these efforts, as they are now, are suboptimal because
they do not work in unison with other areas of education. One of the key factors in
effectively and robustly changing beliefs and forming values is consistency and
multimodality of the stimuli used in this process (Bardi and Schwartz 2013; Bardi
et al. 2009). In other words, the development of educational policies and curricula
geared towards promoting Environmental Citizenship – actively transforming an
individual’s values and mindset – are needed in order to provide a whole-school
approach towards the development of Environmental Citizenship at various stages
of their personal development. As part of such curricula development, there is a
pressing need to promote active social engagement programmes and incorporate
service learning modules into the curriculum, all of which promote environmental
literacy and environmental responsible behaviour.
Acknowledgements This chapter is based on work from COST Action ENEC – European
Network for Environmental Citizenship (CA16229) supported by COST (European Cooperation
in Science and Technology).
References
Abrahamse, W., & Steg, L. (2013). Social influence approaches to encourage resource conservation: A meta-analysis. Global Environmental Change, 23(6), 1773–1785. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.07.029.
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision
Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T.
Bailey, I., & Wilson, G. A. (2009). Theorising transitional pathways in response to climate
change: Technocentrism, ecocentrism, and the carbon economy. Environment and Planning A:
Economy and Space, 41(10), 2324–2341. https://doi.org/10.1068/a40342.
6 Values, Beliefs and Environmental Citizenship