title: Environmental Behavior's Dirty Secret: The Prevalence of Waste Management in Discussions of Environmental Concern and Action.
abstract: Humankind and the planet face many thorny environmentally related challenges that require a range of responses, including changing behaviors related to transportation, eating habits, purchasing, and myriad other aspects of life. Using data from a 1201-person survey and 14 Community Listening Sessions (CLSs), we explore people's perceptions of and actions taken to protect the environment. Our data indicate a striking prevalence of waste management-related actions. Survey respondents described actions and concerns related to trash, recycling, and composting as the most common environmental behaviors; similarly, participants in CLSs discussed waste-related topics, for which we did not prompt, as frequently as those topics for which we specifically prompted. Explanations for this prevalence emerging from the data include (1) the nature of waste-related behaviors (concrete, supported by infrastructure, simple, compatible with lifestyle); (2) norms and social dynamics (family interactions, feelings of belonging/participation, government policy); and (3) internal psychological processes (internalized norms and environmental concern). We also found that many waste-related discussions were relatively superficial, focusing on immediate waste-related issues (e.g., litter or recycling) rather than larger issues such as consumption. Our results may provide insight into future efforts to encourage pro-environmental behavior. Given that most pro-environmental behavior involves tasks more complex and lifestyle-changing than those related to simple aspects of waste management, we suggest focusing on the latter two intertwined categories that our data suggest are important: encouraging social dynamics and related development of norms concerning environmental behavior (category 2), and fostering internalized norms and environmental concern (category 3).
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Education and Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. rgould@uvm.edu.|Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, The University of Vermont, 81 Carrigan Drive, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA. rgould@uvm.edu.
authors.forename: Rachelle K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Gould
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Education and Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Ardoin
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Education and Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Matt
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Biggar
authors.affiliation: Gould Center for Conflict Resolution, Stanford Law School, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Amanda E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Cravens
authors.affiliation: Career and Professional Development Center, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Box 90331, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
authors.forename: Deb
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wojcik
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D033161:Government Regulation; D006801:Humans; D010465:Perception; D059027:Recycling / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D066262:Social Norms; D012945:Social Values; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018505:Waste Management / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Environmental education; Litter; Pro-environmental behavior; Recycling; Self-efficacy; Social norms