Societal attitudes toward and values placed on wildlife are in transition. Increasing public and environmental group involvement in decision making has resulted in conflicts with established users of the natural environment. Resolution of such conflicts may be aided by identification of people's environmental values and beliefs. The article examines the new environmental paradigm (NEP) scale, which focuses on and assesses generic environmental dispositions or primitive beliefs. It reports the application of the scale to three sample populations in a study of conflicts between fishing interests and marine mammal protection in British Columbia.Environmentalists and the general public exhibited strong support for the NEP and the ecologically benign world view that it embodies. Commercial fishers, however, displayed a strong rejection of all aspects of the NEP scale. It is suggested that the NEP provides a useful referential framework of environmental beliefs in which to understand attitudes and to attempt resolution of wildlife management conflicts.

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Although the challenges facing geography postgraduates have been receiving increasing attention of late, British academics have largely neglected to examine the North American education system where a number of procedures are in operation which may be of benefit to Britain. This paper compares the aims, structure and methods of postgraduate training in Britain, Canada and the United States and discusses some common problems confronting students. It is suggested that the introduction of some course work and the wider adoption of supervisory committees might smooth the abrupt transition from undergraduate to postgraduate life in Britain, and aid in improving completion rates without sacrificing the quality of Ph.D.s produced.