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society; the increasing political apathy of post-socialist citizens; and radical or
egoistic individualism, social anomie, amoral cynicism, paternalism’ (Petrova and
Tarrow 2007, p.76). Thus, while drafting educational programmes in CEE countries,
these sociopolitical contexts should be taken into consideration.
An interesting study is the Flash Eurobarometer survey of ‘Attitudes of Europeans
towards building the single market for green products’ (Flash Eurobarometer 367
2013). This report focuses on the attitudes of EU citizens to sustainable development (SD) in six sections, of which the first examines citizens’ behaviours and
attitudes towards environmentally friendly products and the second looks at the
influence of environmental considerations on their consumption habits. The results
indicate that across the EU, a very high proportion of citizens (80%) buy environmentally friendly products; about a quarter of them (26%) purchase these regularly
and about half of them (54%) purchase these occasionally. Twenty percent of EU
citizens do not buy environmentally friendly products. Europeans support taking a
variety of actions for environmental reasons, and they are increasingly changing
their behaviour for environmental reasons.
Policies that seek to promote pro-environmental behavioural change will need to
engage with the social context that shapes and constrains social action as much as it
addresses mechanisms of individual choice (Jackson 2005). Kollmuss and Agyeman
(2002) suggest that factors important in pro-environmental (green behaviour) fall
under three headings: demographics, external and internal. External factors include
infrastructure, economic, social and cultural factors. Internal factors include variables in the cognitive and affective domains such as environmental knowledge,
motivation, values, attitudes, environmental awareness and perception of control.
Attempting to understand the relationships among these and how they impact peoples’ behavioural decisions is the focus of extensive social-psychological research
and is addressed in the following section (see Sect. 8.3).
8.3 Behaviour Models
Many different models of environmental behaviour can be found in the theoretical
and empirical literature. They consider a broad range of aspects of the person whose
behaviour is under consideration (i.e. internal, also termed personality or psychosocial factors) and the situation in which they are acting (i.e. external, also termed
contextual factors or situational factors). This section presents several theories (i.e.
models) of behaviour. While it does not attempt to be a conclusive review of theories relevant to environmental behaviour (which is beyond the scope of this chapter), it is organised in a manner that attempts to reflect development in the research
and understanding of factors that influence our behaviour and should inform the
development of educational interventions. While any attempt for categorisation of
the existing models is at risk of oversimplification, three groups of models may be
identified according to the factors they highlight.
8 Education for Environmental Citizenship and Responsible Environmental Behaviour
society; the increasing political apathy of post-socialist citizens; and radical or
egoistic individualism, social anomie, amoral cynicism, paternalism’ (Petrova and
Tarrow 2007, p.76). Thus, while drafting educational programmes in CEE countries,
these sociopolitical contexts should be taken into consideration.
An interesting study is the Flash Eurobarometer survey of ‘Attitudes of Europeans
towards building the single market for green products’ (Flash Eurobarometer 367
2013). This report focuses on the attitudes of EU citizens to sustainable development (SD) in six sections, of which the first examines citizens’ behaviours and
attitudes towards environmentally friendly products and the second looks at the
influence of environmental considerations on their consumption habits. The results
indicate that across the EU, a very high proportion of citizens (80%) buy environmentally friendly products; about a quarter of them (26%) purchase these regularly
and about half of them (54%) purchase these occasionally. Twenty percent of EU
citizens do not buy environmentally friendly products. Europeans support taking a
variety of actions for environmental reasons, and they are increasingly changing
their behaviour for environmental reasons.
Policies that seek to promote pro-environmental behavioural change will need to
engage with the social context that shapes and constrains social action as much as it
addresses mechanisms of individual choice (Jackson 2005). Kollmuss and Agyeman
(2002) suggest that factors important in pro-environmental (green behaviour) fall
under three headings: demographics, external and internal. External factors include
infrastructure, economic, social and cultural factors. Internal factors include variables in the cognitive and affective domains such as environmental knowledge,
motivation, values, attitudes, environmental awareness and perception of control.
Attempting to understand the relationships among these and how they impact peoples’ behavioural decisions is the focus of extensive social-psychological research
and is addressed in the following section (see Sect. 8.3).
8.3 Behaviour Models
Many different models of environmental behaviour can be found in the theoretical
and empirical literature. They consider a broad range of aspects of the person whose
behaviour is under consideration (i.e. internal, also termed personality or psychosocial factors) and the situation in which they are acting (i.e. external, also termed
contextual factors or situational factors). This section presents several theories (i.e.
models) of behaviour. While it does not attempt to be a conclusive review of theories relevant to environmental behaviour (which is beyond the scope of this chapter), it is organised in a manner that attempts to reflect development in the research
and understanding of factors that influence our behaviour and should inform the
development of educational interventions. While any attempt for categorisation of
the existing models is at risk of oversimplification, three groups of models may be
identified according to the factors they highlight.
8 Education for Environmental Citizenship and Responsible Environmental Behaviour