Environmental Beliefs and Endorsement of Sustainable Development Principles in Water Conservation

Abstract

It is thought that a dichotomy exists between two apparently contradictory belief systems: the so-called “Human Exception Paradigm” (HEP)—an anthropocentric belief system—and the “New Environmental Paradigm” (NEP), of ecocentric nature. The aim of this article was to test the presence of an integrative, nondichotomic, New Human Interdependence Paradigm (NHIP) and its influence on water conservation practices. The NHIP envisages interdependence between human progress and nature conservation and conceives it as a dynamic process of integration and incorporation of human needs into natural processes. Seven hundred and fifty-nine individuals living in cities of France, Italy, Mexico, and India responded to items of a purposively developed measuring instrument (the NHIP scale), as well to items of the HEP-NEP scale. They also self-reported the frequency of water conservation actions at their households. The NHIP coherently emerged from its observed indicators and it was a slightly better predictor of water conservation than the HEP-NEP scale.

Analysis of Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors: An Exploratory Study With a Sample of Brazilian University Students

“…The same idea is materialized in the origin of the New Human Interdependence Paradigm (CORRAL-VERDUGO, CARRUS, BONNES, MOSER, & SINHA, 2008;GÄRLING, BIEL, & GUSTAFSSON, 2002;HERNÁNDEZ, SUAREZ, CORRAL-VERDUGO,& HESS, 2012).…”

“…In general terms, the former tend to view these relationships in a two-fold conflicting manner, while there seems to be a more holistic view of such relationships in a Latin American context. The studies conducted by Bechtel, Corral-Verdugo, and Pinheiro (1999); Corral-Verdugo and Armendariz (2000); and Hernández, Corral-Verdugo, Hess, and Suarez (2001) are a reference on this regard. In these studies, negative correlations between ecocentric (NEP) and anthropocentric (HEP, Human Exemptionalism Paradigm) views in countries like Canada, Spain and the USA have been found, while positive correlations have been detected in countries like Brazil and Mexico, thereby suggesting that both dimensions, far from being opposed, may indeed be reconciled.…”

Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors in the Philippines

“…631-633). The attitudinal amalgamations of seemingly opposing worldviews can also be found elsewhere in the developing world as previous research in Zimbabwe and Mexico had shown (Corral-Verdugo, et al, 2008;Van Petegem & Blieck, 2006). Such findings of the 'dynamic combination and integration of anthropocentrism with ecocentrism is touted as even being superior to the sole endorsement of an ecocentric worldview in guiding conservation behavior, particularly when these anthropocentric views are able to determine the necessity of human planned and regulated ways for more sustainable use of natural resources' avoiding the dichotomous conflict with the idea of environmental conservation' (Corral-Verdugo et al, 2008, pp.…”

“…Overall, Hadler and Haller (2013) had observed three trends that have occurred across 16 countries that participated in the ISSP: First, a homogenization in both public and private behaviors; Second, increasing prosperity, increasing international ties, and better political opportunity structures can have negative effects to behaviors; and third, the growing gap between the two behaviors seem to indicate a shift from public to private environmental behaviors. Other researchers (such as Aoyagi-Usui, et al, 2003;Corral-Verdugo, et al, 2008) using varied datasets had also found significant relationships between behavior with latent dimensions of environmental attitudes and values, together discovering similar patterns among certain countries.…”

“…Among the fourteen questions utilized in prior research, eight were available in the ISSP 1993, 2000, and 2010 modules, while six were found in the analysis to be grouped consistently, which were then subsequently utilized in this paper to represent the public environmental attitudes of Filipinos. Other studies had also analyzed these attitudinal items using factor analyses (Aoyagi-Usui, Vinken, & Kuribayashi, 2003;Corral-Verdugo, Carrus, Bonnes, Moser, & Sinha, 2008;Van Petegem & Blieck, 2006) to find underlying dimensions, these are also often combined with willingness and efficacy variables and considered as "Environmental concern". Franzen and Meyer (2010) operationalized concern with other substantial variables such as postmaterialism, specific dangers, environmental knowledge and demographics as predictors.…”