Identity and the Natural Environment: The Psychological Significance of NatureSusan Clayton, Susan Opotow The often impassioned nature of environmental conflicts can be attributed to the fact that they are bound up with our sense of personal and social identity. Environmental identity—how we orient ourselves to the natural world—leads us to personalize abstract global issues and take action (or not) according to our sense of who we are. We may know about the greenhouse effect—but can we give up our SUV for a more fuel-efficient car? Understanding this psychological connection can lead to more effective pro-environmental policymaking. Identity and the Natural Environment examines the ways in which our sense of who we are affects our relationship with nature, and vice versa. This book brings together cutting-edge work on the topic of identity and the environment, sampling the variety and energy of this emerging field but also placing it within a descriptive framework. These theory-based, empirical studies locate environmental identity on a continuum of social influence, and the book is divided into three sections reflecting minimal, moderate, or strong social influence. Throughout, the contributors focus on the interplay between social and environmental forces; as one local activist says, "We don't know if we're organizing communities to plant trees, or planting trees to organize communities." |
Contents
Introduction Identity and the Natural Environment | 1 |
Some Lives and Some Theories | 25 |
Experiencing Nature as Individuals | 43 |
Environmental Identity A Conceptual and an Operational Definition | 45 |
Human Identity in Relation to Wild Black Bears A NaturalSocial Ecology of Subjective Creatures | 67 |
Moralizing Trees Anthropomorphism and Identity in Childrens Relationships to Nature | 91 |
The Development of Environmental Moral Identity | 113 |
Childrens Environmental Identity Indicators and Behavioral Impacts | 135 |
Identity Involvement and Expertise in the Inner City Some Benefits of TreePlanting Projects | 205 |
Representations of the Local Environment as Threatened by Global Climate Change Toward a Contextualized Analysis of Environmental Identity in ... | 227 |
Experiencing Nature as Members of Social Groups | 247 |
Identity and Exclusion in Rangeland Conflict | 249 |
Group Identity and Stakeholder Conflict in Water Resource Management | 273 |
Constructing and Maintaining Ecological Identities The Strategies of Deep Ecologists | 297 |
Identity and Sustained Environmental Practice | 317 |
About the Contributors | 343 |
Other editions - View all
Identity and the Natural Environment: The Psychological Significance of Nature Susan D. Clayton,Susan Opotow No preview available - 2003 |
Identity and the Natural Environment: The Psychological Significance of Nature Susan Clayton,Susan Opotow No preview available - 2003 |
Identity and the Natural Environment: The Psychological Significance of Nature Susan Clayton,Susan Opotow No preview available - 2003 |