The Association Between Environmental Perspective and Knowledge and Concern With Species Diversity

Abstract

As communities continue to engage in debate surrounding land use and preservation, insight into stakeholder knowledge and concern with local species becomes increasingly important. This project explores the association between individual knowledge/concern with species diversity as related to environmental perspective, measured through the New Ecological Paradigm scale. We aim to understand whether concern with local species diversity is associated with species-specific knowledge and/or ecocentric outlooks more generally. Results from a mail survey in Boulder, CO reveal that individuals with ecocentric perspectives place greater priority on species preservation relative to those with anthropocentric perspectives, regardless of species knowledge. These results imply that to engage local publics in issues of biodiversity, outreach should not simply provide background specific to local species, but also demonstrate the significance of ecological integrity and biological diversity more broadly.

Keywords:

• biodiversity
• Boulder Colorado
• environmental concern
• environmental knowledge
• environmental perspective
• environmental values
• new ecological paradigm
• survey

This work was funded by the City of Boulder, Colorado's Open Space and Mountain Parks Department, where Matt Jones was especially helpful. Also, Amy Weiner provided valuable research assistance, and we further acknowledge the insightful comments of three anonymous SNR reviewers.

Notes

^a Question wording: “Listed below are statements about the relationship between humans and the environment. For each one, please indicate whether you STRONGLY AGREE, MILDLY AGREE, are UNSURE, MILDLY DISAGREE, or STRONGLY DISAGREE with it.”

^b Agreement with the eight odd-numbered items and disagreement with the seven even-numbered items indicate pro-NEP responses.

^c SA = strongly agree, MA = mildly agree, U = unsure, MD = mildly disagree, and SD = strongly disagree.

^d Item-total correlations reflect the correlation between the single item and the total score of the scale excluding itself. Typically, 0.30 is seen as a threshold value below which the item is not considered a good indicator of the overall scale.

^a NEP = “New Ecological Paradigm,” with higher scores representing more ecocentric outlooks. Potential range = 1 to 5.

*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

^a NEP = “New Ecological Paradigm,” with higher scores representing more ecocentric outlooks. Potential range = 1 to 5.

^a NEP = “New Ecological Paradigm,” with higher scores representing more ecocentric outlooks. Potential range = 1 to 5.

Note. To ease interpretation, loadings of 0.30 and above are presented in bold.