Transcript Sustainability at Sea - Slides

Sustainability at Sea:
Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
Mark White, University of Virginia
Dan Abel, Coastal Carolina University
Amy Predmore, Charlottesville
Erin Webb, Commerce/ETP ’12
Sarah Peterson, Politics ’11
Version 2-0
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the margin for
action narrows
you are here
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580 students / 32 faculty
90 classes
250 field practica/trips
26,000 miles
109 days
15 ports in 10 countries
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One Earth, One Future
Sustainability is the
theme of the Spring 2010
voyage of Semester at Sea.
We define sustainability as
a “society of permanence” –
a world in which humanity
ensures its well-being
across the generations by
improving the stability of
ecological and sociocultural
systems ...
SOURCE: SAS Voyage Theme, Spring 2010
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DOMINANT
SOCIAL PARADIGM
• Support for free enterprise
• Belief in unlimited growth
• Commitment to limited
government
• Devotion to private property
rights
• Emphasis on individualism
• Faith in science and
technology
• Faith in future material
abundance and prosperity
NEW
ECOLOGICAL PARADIGM
• Recognition of limited
resources
• Awareness of the fragility of
nature’s balance
• Rejection of human
exemptionalism
• Ecocentric vs. anthropocentric
point of view
• Belief in the probability of an
eco-crisis
aka “Spaceship Earth”
• Support for the status quo
Dunlap and van Liere (1978); Dunlap et al. (2000)
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Sustainability on the Voyage
Empirical Study
What Did We Do?
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global studies
elective courses
field practica
evening programs
co-curricular activities
“walking the talk”
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Empirical Study
New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale
Dunlap and Van Liere (1978); Dunlap et al. (2000)
Research Questions
1. Are our results comparable with other studies? (validity)
2. How is ecological worldview related to various demographic
characteristics?
3. Did participation in the voyage shift students’ ecological
worldview and/or environmental attitudes?
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Characteristics of the
Sample Population
• n = 215
• 71% female
• 68% juniors
• variety of disciplines
26% business/economics
• diversity of geographic regions,
institutional sizes,
Sustainability Report Card scores
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Comparisons with Other Studies
56.88
50.86 - 57.08
57.14
Pre-Survey
USA students
Hawcroft and Milfont, 2010
Post-Survey
Range = +15 (weak ecological worldview) to +75 (strong ecological worldview)
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NEP Scores
and Demographic Characteristics
75
65
NEP Score
55
45
35
25
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Females
Males
Western NonRegions Western
Regions
Business NonMajors Business
Majors
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Shifts in Pre- and Post-Survey
Environmental Attitudes
Human ingenuity will insure
that we do NOT make the earth
unlivable (4)
Anti-Exemption
Anti-Anthropomorphism
Humans will eventually learn
enough about how nature works
to control it (14)
Human have the right to modify
the natural world to suit their
needs (2)
The so-called “ecological crisis”
facing humankind has been
greatly exaggerated (10)
Eco-Crisis
The earth has plenty of natural
resources if we just learn how to
develop them (6)
Pre-Survey
Limits
Post-Survey
0
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1 = Strongly agree, 2 = Mildly agree, 3 = Unsure, 4 = Mildly disagree, 5 = strongly disagree.
Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.
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Change in NEP Scores
and Report Card Grades
Mean Change in NEP Score
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
-2.00
-4.00
-6.00
Below Average
Average
Above Average
Sustainability Report Card Grades
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Summary
Around-the-world sustainability-themed voyage
Learning objective = changed worldview
Integrated curricular and co-curricular activities
Survey evidence
Behavioral evidence
Anecdotal evidence
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“Now, let me share with you one word, “sustainability” … I cannot
possibly share with you all that I have learned about our
environmentally twisted planet from these past four months but I can
give you a summary. We’re on the wrong track. The state of
this planet both environmentally and
socially is heading down a road that
we probably shouldn’t be on …
Environmentally, the planet is heating up.
Like a bowl of microwaveable Easy-Mac,
bad things happen when you let it get
too hot. To identify only a few concerns
from the extensive list of issues, waters
are rising, extinction is becoming too
common, and many lives, both human
and not, are at risk.
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“Each day in the classroom we were pummeled and overwhelmed
with information regarding the unstable conditions of our planet. We
saw current problems, potential future ones, and learned of
catastrophic possibilities. I won’t lie to you -- we didn’t stop global
warming. We didn’t eradicate hunger or end poverty. In fact, we may
have only shot one tiny bullet in this battle for the improvement of
our planet. But as the old saying goes, “knowledge is power!” It is.
Trust me. What we learned from this program was all the weapons
and coat of arms we need to have a chance in winning this fight. By
arming us with knowledge for both now and the future, 586 students
disembarked yesterday with a firm grasp on what needs to be
done to support the soil we stand on.”
-- Chris Constantine
http://chrisconstantinesas.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html
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Environmental Attitudes
in Germany and the USA
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Sarah Peterson, Harrison Award (2010-11)
• US business students will be less likely to
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778
support the NEP than German business
students; neither group will strongly
support the NEP
• American students will express more
support for the DSP tenets of human
exemptionalism, exaggeration of
ecocrises, and anthropocentrism
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompr essor
are needed to see this picture.
• The difference between the two groups
on the issue of limits to human growth
will be less distinct
John Locke, 1632-1704
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If You’d Like to Learn More ...
White, M. A., Abel, D. & A. Predmore (2011). Transformative Sustainability Education in a
Shipboard Living-learning Community. Forthcoming in World Trends in Education for
Sustainable Development, W. Leal, Ed., Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
White, M. A., Predmore, A. and D. Abel. (2011). Effectiveness of a Seagoing Global Immersion
Program in Fostering Ecological Awareness. Working paper. Under review at the Journal
of Environmental Education
Dunlap, R. E., & van Liere, K. D. (1978). The ‘New Environmental Paradigm’: A Proposed
Measuring Instrument and Preliminary Results. Journal of Environmental Education, 9, 1019.
Dunlap, R. E., van Liere, K. D., Mertig, A. G., & Jones, R. E. (2000). Measuring Endorsement of the
New Ecological Paradigm: A Revised NEP Scale. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 425-442.
Hawcroft, L. J., & Milfont, T. L. (2010). The Use (and Abuse) of the New Environmental
Paradigm Scale over the Last 30 years: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Environmental
Psychology, 30, 143-158.
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Sustainability at Sea:
Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
Mark White, University of Virginia
Dan Abel, Coastal Carolina University
Amy Predmore, Charlottesville
Erin Webb, Commerce/ETP ’12
Sarah Peterson, Politics ’11
Version 1-8
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