An Exploratory Case Study of Dutch Children's Attitudes Toward Consumption: Implications for Environmental Education

Abstract

This critical essay based on empirical study draws upon research on the differences in attitudes toward consumption among Dutch upper-elementary school children with different socioeconomic backgrounds. This article examines two strands of theory: critical literature on the conceptualization and practice of sustainable consumption, and the theory of postmaterialist values. By synthesizing these strands of theory the author outlines a number of paradoxes and challenges in theory and practice of consumption and lays a foundation for teaching sustainable consumption at the upper-elementary school level. The Cradle-to-Cradle framework is proposed as a form of strategically significant environmental education that can be used for teaching consumption.

Keywords:

• Cradle-to-Cradle
• environmental education (EE)
• postmaterialist theory
• sustainable consumption
• The Netherlands
• upper-elementary schools

Notes

1. The choice of small samples and largely qualitative research methods reflects the researcher's interest in the in-depth and contextually rich exploration of the children's attitudes to consumption.

2. While the product, such as biological, ecological, or free-range chicken, may be indeed slightly better for the life of the chicken (although the margins are blurry, as the non-biological chicken may just have a square meter more space and still be held indoors in compound quarters, and may be still fed growth hormones that are marginally less than the “normal” chicken), other factors such as transport and packaging involved in distributing “the product” remain unchanged.

3. Inglehart (1995) did provide an explanation for the surprisingly high levels of public concern for the environment in poor nations and indicated similar levels of willingness to pay higher taxes for environmental protection. Brechin (1999, p. 794) created a created a two-factor explanation called “objective problems–subjective values” (OPSV): “In the South, it is derived from citizens experiencing directly pollution and other environmental degradation. In the North, it is derived from citizens experiencing a shift in their subjective or cultural values.… “According to the critique by Dunlap and York, this explanation is basically nonfalsifiable, for if environmental concern is found to be higher among residents of wealthy nations, it is attributed to their postmaterialist values; whereas if it is found to be higher among residents of poor nations, it is attributed to their reactions to high levels of pollution. They also argued that Inglehart's (1971) explanation for the increasingly global spread of environmental concern is surprising in its emphasis on the importance of objective environmental conditions, as these were downplayed in his earlier analyses of the emergence of environmentalism in wealthy nations. Following Inglehart's (1977) logic, Dunlap and York (2008) have pointed out, empirically, we would expect poor nations to only care about their own local issues such as water pollution and not global problems, which based on a number of international case studies, does not seem to be the case. Opposing Brechin (1999) Dunlap and York argue that “the environmental concerns of the poorer countries appear to be based on a broader set of values and effects than those generated simply from direct experiences.” (Dunlap & York, 2008, pp. 536–537).