Grounded by Mother Nature’s Revenge

Abstract

Abstract. Leisure air travel is a popular form of tourism, but its emissions are a major contributor to anthropogenic climate change. Restrictions to leisure air travel have previously received little support; however, the same restrictions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 have been popular. This support is unlikely to persist in a postpandemic world, highlighting the need for alternative ways to improve support for reducing leisure air travel. Anthropomorphism of nature has consistently predicted proenvironmental behavior, which has been mediated by guilt felt for harm to the environment. This research is the first empirical study to explore this relationship in the context of COVID-19, where it examined support for restricting leisure air travel to help mitigate (1) COVID-19 and (2) climate change. In an experimental online study, Australian residents ( N = 325, Mage = 54.48, SDage = 14.63, 62% women) were recruited through social media. Anthropomorphism of nature in the context of COVID-19 (AMP-19) was manipulated through exposure to a news article. Participants then completed measures of environmental guilt and support for restricting leisure air travel to mitigate COVID-19 (LAT-19) and to mitigate climate change (LAT-CC). A significant indirect effect was observed in both models, such that AMP-19 predicted environmental guilt which in turn predicted LAT-19 ( f2 = .26; BCI [0.66, 3.87]) and LAT-CC ( f2 = .45; BCI [0.84, 5.06]). The results imply that anthropomorphism of nature in the context of COVID-19 can improve attitudes toward this proenvironmental behavior, with greater support when this was to mitigate climate change. Implications are discussed.

Evolving Narratives in Tourism and Climate Change Research: Trends, Gaps, and Future Directions

“…Some studies also sought to examine the sector's resilience from climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, while other studies focussed on obtaining insights into the sector's future under the two challenges of COVID-19 and climate change [74][75][76][77][78][79]. Over the same period, interest has grown in understanding the human health impact of climate change and COVID-19, with the focus also extended to mental health [80].…”