84
refers to pro-environmental actions both in public (consumption patterns, political
actions, active participation, etc.) and private (recycling, conserving resources, etc.)
domains performed by citizens and induced by the belief in fairness of the distribution of public resources (Dobson 2007). It becomes increasingly obvious that efforts
need to be made on a local level (regional, national, in one’s home town, in one’s
neighbourhood, etc.) so that we can achieve global sustainability goals.
Environmental Citizenship is an umbrella term that encompasses an array of characteristics such as the skills, knowledge, attitudes, values and beliefs needed to
address environmental problems (Takahashi et al. 2017). Thus, educating European
society to become Environmental Citizens is a crucial step that needs to be taken
quickly, systematically and with a strong evidence basis for actions. If we are to
educate individuals not only to act pro-environmentally but also to understand the
urgency of environmental issues and to integrate pro-environmental actions into the
core of their political participation and citizenship expressions, we need to tackle all
of the aspects of Environmental Citizenship. Moreover, all aspects that comprise
Environmental Citizenship need to be tackled specifically and with precision. In this
chapter, we will discuss how beliefs and values relate to Environmental Citizenship
and how we can target these aspects in order to educate Environmental Citizens in
Europe and worldwide.
We will give particular focus to beliefs, because they are arguably at the core of
all human behaviour (Fishbein and Ajzen 2011). There are many ways individuals
form beliefs, but belief formation is mostly a function of the interaction of environmental factors and innate traits (Poškus 2017; Fishbein and Ajzen 2011). Thus,
beliefs can be formed through systematic means, such as education, but they can
also develop naturally through observing one’s surroundings. However, the end
result will still be different for different individuals, since individual characteristics
and subsequent subjective experiences and interpretations influence the way we perceive the information that we receive from the external environment (Poškus 2017).
To address the individual difference perspective, we will also discuss values as
individual characteristics or, to put it in evolutionary terms, as factors that lead to
typical strategies to achieve the proximal and ultimate goals (Poškus 2018;
Lindenberg and Steg 2013) that are formed through the interaction between individuals and their environment (Feather 1979), as well as through the socialisation
process. Values can function as heuristics that determine how individuals approach
situations and what goals they put above others (Schwartz 1992). Values can potentially be formed and changed through education (Myyry et al. 2013; Krishnan 2008;
Chatard and Selimbegovic 2007). This is key for educating Environmental Citizens,
since, despite some innate components that are associated to personality traits, most
individuals have the capacity for change in their value orientations, adapting them
based on how their environmental influences change. For example, Inglehart and
Baker (2000) in their study of 65 societies have found that economic development
was linked to value shift towards ‘…increasingly rational, tolerant, trusting, and
participatory’. For Environmental Citizenship to thrive, we need to make salient the
appropriate values and provide alternative, environmentally friendly behavioural
strategies that lead to environmentally friendly belief formation when faced with
A. Balundė et al.
refers to pro-environmental actions both in public (consumption patterns, political
actions, active participation, etc.) and private (recycling, conserving resources, etc.)
domains performed by citizens and induced by the belief in fairness of the distribution of public resources (Dobson 2007). It becomes increasingly obvious that efforts
need to be made on a local level (regional, national, in one’s home town, in one’s
neighbourhood, etc.) so that we can achieve global sustainability goals.
Environmental Citizenship is an umbrella term that encompasses an array of characteristics such as the skills, knowledge, attitudes, values and beliefs needed to
address environmental problems (Takahashi et al. 2017). Thus, educating European
society to become Environmental Citizens is a crucial step that needs to be taken
quickly, systematically and with a strong evidence basis for actions. If we are to
educate individuals not only to act pro-environmentally but also to understand the
urgency of environmental issues and to integrate pro-environmental actions into the
core of their political participation and citizenship expressions, we need to tackle all
of the aspects of Environmental Citizenship. Moreover, all aspects that comprise
Environmental Citizenship need to be tackled specifically and with precision. In this
chapter, we will discuss how beliefs and values relate to Environmental Citizenship
and how we can target these aspects in order to educate Environmental Citizens in
Europe and worldwide.
We will give particular focus to beliefs, because they are arguably at the core of
all human behaviour (Fishbein and Ajzen 2011). There are many ways individuals
form beliefs, but belief formation is mostly a function of the interaction of environmental factors and innate traits (Poškus 2017; Fishbein and Ajzen 2011). Thus,
beliefs can be formed through systematic means, such as education, but they can
also develop naturally through observing one’s surroundings. However, the end
result will still be different for different individuals, since individual characteristics
and subsequent subjective experiences and interpretations influence the way we perceive the information that we receive from the external environment (Poškus 2017).
To address the individual difference perspective, we will also discuss values as
individual characteristics or, to put it in evolutionary terms, as factors that lead to
typical strategies to achieve the proximal and ultimate goals (Poškus 2018;
Lindenberg and Steg 2013) that are formed through the interaction between individuals and their environment (Feather 1979), as well as through the socialisation
process. Values can function as heuristics that determine how individuals approach
situations and what goals they put above others (Schwartz 1992). Values can potentially be formed and changed through education (Myyry et al. 2013; Krishnan 2008;
Chatard and Selimbegovic 2007). This is key for educating Environmental Citizens,
since, despite some innate components that are associated to personality traits, most
individuals have the capacity for change in their value orientations, adapting them
based on how their environmental influences change. For example, Inglehart and
Baker (2000) in their study of 65 societies have found that economic development
was linked to value shift towards ‘…increasingly rational, tolerant, trusting, and
participatory’. For Environmental Citizenship to thrive, we need to make salient the
appropriate values and provide alternative, environmentally friendly behavioural
strategies that lead to environmentally friendly belief formation when faced with
A. Balundė et al.