Religious Beliefs and Environmental Behaviors in China

Yu, Yang; Shi-zhi, Huang

doi:10.3390/rel9030072

Cited by 35 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…This ranking is supported by Gutsche [60], since this paper finds a significant impact of Christianity (i.e., Catholics and Protestants) only for minor pro-environmental behaviors, such as purchases of food and clothes; but it is in contrast with Hwang [61], where CHR > BUD, although this paper refers to pro-environmental intentions rather than observed behaviors. This ranking is partially supported by Arli and Tjiptono [62] (i.e., ISL > CHR) for impacts of intrinsic religiousness on attitudes towards environmental issues; and it is partially confirmed by Yang and Huang [63] (i.e., BUD > CHR) for public pro-environmental behaviors, such as donating to environmental protection, and participating in environmental activities organized by governmental and non-governmental organizations. Finally, the statistical results confirm the theoretical insights on Judaism (i.e., a less negative impact on sustainability) and on Christianity (i.e., a non-significant impact on sustainability).…”

Section: Appendix D Statistical Resultsmentioning

confidence: 84%

Comparing Religious Environmental Ethics to Support Efforts to Achieve Local and Global Sustainability: Empirical Insights Based on a Theoretical Framework

Zagonari

2020

Sustainability

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This paper develops a theoretical framework to assess the feasibility of environmental sustainability solutions, at local and global levels, based on the religious environmental ethics of several key religions: Hinduism (including Jainism), Buddhism (including Confucianism and Daoism), Judaism, Christianity (Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism), and Islam. Solutions are defined in terms of consumption (measured by GDP), environment use (measured by the ecological footprint), and welfare for representative individuals. Empirical insights for alternative religious environmental ethics focus on the relative importance attached to the consumption of goods (α) vs. involvement in a (local/global) community, and on the importance attached to the environment within the (local/global) community (μ). In terms of feasibility for national environmental problems (i.e., pairs of α and μ achieving sustainability, in countries where the religion is a majority) and consistency (i.e., coherence with the religion’s precepts) of policies for national environmental problems: Hinduism = uddhism > Islam > Judaism. Christianity produced no feasible solutions. In terms of effectiveness for global environmental problems (i.e., pairs of α and μ achieving global sustainability, if inequalities among nations are reduced in the future) and replicability for local environmental problems (i.e., pairs of α and μ achieving sustainability in countries where the religion is a minority): Hinduism = Buddhism > Judaism > Islam.

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Section: Appendix D Statistical Resultsmentioning

confidence: 84%

Comparing Religious Environmental Ethics to Support Efforts to Achieve Local and Global Sustainability: Empirical Insights Based on a Theoretical Framework

Zagonari

2020

Sustainability

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“…In this article, we mainly use religious identity as a predictor of religion. After carefully reviewing the current studies on religion and environmental behavior in China and the West, we found that some scholars have focused on the natural relationship between religion and environmental behavior (Woodhouse et al 2015;Du et al 2014;Yang and Huang 2018). However, whether there are group differences in the influence of religion on environmental behavior remains to be further discussed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fifth, we found that political participants with a religious identity are more willing to participate in public pro-environmental behavior than those without a religious identity and religious people who exhibit political participation are more willing to engage in public pro-environmental behavior. Some scholars have confirmed that there is a connection between religion and politics (Yang and Huang 2018). It is not too difficult to find that political participants will pay attention to various public issues, including environmental protection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The data we used in this article is from the 2013 version of the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS 2013), which has been a member (on behalf of the mainland) of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) since 2007 (Yang and Huang 2018). The Chinese General Social Survey conducted by the National Survey Research Center at Renmin University of China (NSRC) started in 2003 and is the earliest national, comprehensive, and continuous academic survey project in China.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Third, researchers have tried to use empirical data in China to test the influence of religion on environmental behavior. Some scholars found that religious beliefs have a significant positive effect on public pro-environmental behavior, but no significant positive effect on private pro-environmental behavior, after dividing comprehensive environmental behavior into private pro-environmental behavior and public pro-environmental behavior (Yang and Huang 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Religious Identity and Public Pro-Environmental Behavior in China: The Mediating Role of Environmental Risk Perception

Zeng

Liu

2020

Religions

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Although the positive relationship between religion and environmental behavior has aroused heated debate, empirical research on the relationship between religion and public pro-environmental behavior is still relatively insufficient. This paper aims to explore the group differences in the influence of religious identity on public pro-environmental behavior and the mediating role of environmental risk perception in religious identity and public pro-environmental behavior. Using the Chinese General Social Survey data of 2013 for empirical analysis, this study’s results show that there are group differences in the impact of religious identity on public pro-environmental behavior. Women with a religious identity are more willing to engage in public pro-environmental behavior than those without a religious identity. Additionally, people over the age of 45 with a religious identity are more willing to participate in public pro-environmental behavior than those without a religious identity. Furthermore, political participants with a religious identity are more willing to practice public pro-environmental behavior than those without a religious identity. In addition, we found that environmental risk perception can act as partial mediation in religion and public pro-environmental behavior. In other words, religious identities are deeply embedded in local political and social culture. In order to correctly understand the relationship between religion and public pro-environmental behavior, it is necessary to consider religious identity in a specific cultural background.

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Human–wildlife coexistence on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau: The correlation between Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and avian community composition

Wangjie,

Lou,

Song

et al. 2024

People and Nature

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Tibetan Buddhist monasteries are widely distributed throughout the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and are significant locations for human–wildlife coexistence. Given the significance of their historical and contemporary social influence, it is crucial to ascertain whether there exists a non‐negligible correlation between these monasteries and their surrounding wildlife. In contrast to sacred mountains and lakes, there have been few studies that have examined the relationship between Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and wildlife communities. Using birds as a model ecological community, generalized mixed effect models (GLMM) were employed to examine relationships between the presence of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and the number of individuals (relative abundance), avian species richness and diversity, using data from bird‐watching checklists (n = 262) obtained from the China Bird Report. Our models also included landscape‐wide environmental factors, including the ratio of woodland habitat, grassland habitat and open habitats, human footprint index, distance to nearest human occupation (villages), distance to water, altitude, time, presence of monastery and their interactions. Observation time was included as a model covariate. The presence of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and the interactions between the presence of monasteries and environmental variables exhibit a significant correlation with the number of individual birds recorded (relative abundance), but not with observed species richness or diversity. Moreover, the relative abundance of birds was found to be significantly higher in areas around monasteries compared to those without monasteries. The abundance of species from eight families, namely Accipitridae, Corvidae, Columbidae, Passeridae, Leiothrichidae, Friningillidae, Musciapidae and Turidae, was significantly positively correlated with the presence of monasteries. Notably, the positive correlation of Accipitridae with the presence of celestial burial grounds around monasteries suggests a relationship between celestial burial practices and Accipitridae abundance at these sites. Our study reveals a significant positive correlation between Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and aspects of avian community composition in the eastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, thus highlights their potential role in the preservation of avian populations in fragmented landscape habitats. We encourage the government and relevant national parks stakeholders to implement targeted management strategies that take into account the unique patterns of human–wildlife coexistence in these areas, and to leverage the cultural advantages of the region to promote ecological conservation. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Religious Beliefs and Environmental Behaviors in China

Cited by 35 publications

References 41 publications

Comparing Religious Environmental Ethics to Support Efforts to Achieve Local and Global Sustainability: Empirical Insights Based on a Theoretical Framework

Comparing Religious Environmental Ethics to Support Efforts to Achieve Local and Global Sustainability: Empirical Insights Based on a Theoretical Framework

Religious Identity and Public Pro-Environmental Behavior in China: The Mediating Role of Environmental Risk Perception

Human–wildlife coexistence on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau: The correlation between Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and avian community composition

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