Pro Environmental Environment Essay

Our environment is crucial to the survival of the human race, providing key energy resources such as food, water and fuel for our everyday lives. Without this resource, the human race would suffer significantly so it begs the question, why are we slowly destroying it? Problems like overpopulation, deforestation and pollution are all man made creations which are destroying our environments. Weber (2010) highlights one of the main reasons why the public’s perception of climate change is so poor is down to psychological influences. People either do not believe or choose to ignore the consequences of their actions on the environment. It is important we analyse what are the most important psychological barriers to pro-environmental action in order

Someone’s belief can be seen as how much responsibility or control they have over a situation, which can be internal or external control (Rotter, 1966). This is an important barrier to people taking action as they believe that other people will take on the responsibility of caring for the environment. For example Gigliotti (1994) found that some students were less willing to participate in pro-environment behaviours as they believed advancements in technology will solve their problems. The public show high levels of external control, meaning they rely on other people and inventions to solve their environmental problems. It is an important psychological barrier because it highlights how difficult it is to change an individual’s beliefs. If we cannot change the public’s beliefs then pro-environmental action will not occur. Another psychological barrier to pro-environmental action is the attitude of the public. For example Stern, Dietz and Kalof (1993) found that when the

An individual’s motivation will affect their processing of information as their goals and desires will shape their overall decision (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Motivation is a key psychological process that effects our behavioural characters, more over it can influence the reason behind a lack of pro-environmental action. Gifford (2011) would argue that pro-environmental acts like recycling or buying energy saving items are not part of the public’s motivations in life. Individuals may perform low level acts of helping the environment but it is not part of their goals or long term plans. Whitmarsh (2009) makes an interesting suggestion that government initiatives are not motivating the public enough in order to reduce the damage being down on the environment. Humans are not innately programmed to protect the environment therefore an external influence, like the government, are needed so a change can be made. This is an important psychological barrier because a lack of motivation will not only lead to no action, but will mean that more and more damage will continue to occur for the environment. In addition, it can be argued that fear is important component to why we lack motivation to make pro-environmental action. Festinger (1959) argues that if someone is forced to change their opinion it can affect their beliefs and actions. This can be applied to environmental action