The “environment–economy trade-off” is a key question in research on public opinion on environmental policies. While evidence from Western economies suggests that individuals are more supportive of environmental initiatives when the macroeconomic situation is favorable, little is known about how environmental policy preferences are shaped by economic factors in East and Southeast Asian countries. Using a survey dataset consisting of 12 countries based on the fourth wave of the Asian Barometer Survey (ABS), we investigate how environmental policy preferences are associated with multiple aspects of economic consideration. In a pooled multilevel analysis, we find that personal economic conditions and perceptions are more consistently associated with greater support for environmental initiatives than objective and subjective national economic conditions. However, an analysis of the heterogeneous effect shows that the effect of individual economic situations is only partially identifiable among lower-middle or upper-income countries in our sample, signaling the complexity of qualifying the relationship between economic considerations and environmental attitudes in a cross-country context.

Studies on climate change mitigation and environmental degradation suggest that lifestyle changes in high-income countries can help promote environmental sustainability. Such changes may include material sacrifices on the part of the individual. Yet, accepting material sacrifices can be a challenging task for both individuals and countries. Can publicly provided economic protection facilitate the acceptance of such sacrifices? This study examines whether social insurance generosity is likely to make people more willing to accept material sacrifices for the sake of environmental protection. Using multilevel regression modelling to analyse data on social insurance programmes and attitudes towards material sacrifices in nineteen high-income countries, the results of the study suggest that social insurance generosity has a positive effect on attitudes towards accepting material sacrifices, with some variation across programmes and social groups.

Could an individual’s perception of the possibility of a future ecological crisis be linked to their level of political trust? Studies of environmental attitudes have identified political trust as an important predictor of support for environmental taxation or risk perceptions surrounding specific local environmental hazards, but less is known about its role when environmental risks are perceived as diffuse and distant. Using original survey data from Ecuador, this article finds that political distrust predicts heightened ecological crisis perceptions and that higher educational attainment intensifies this relationship. A follow-up analysis of the AmericasBarometer’s Ecuador survey shows that political distrust also predicts higher concern about climate change. These findings suggest that when evaluations of political institutions reflect perceptions of environmental risks, individuals blame the government for environmental failures. The implications of this study are particularly relevant for political institutions in developing economies, where the public sector often spearheads development efforts.

Engaging and exciting students about the environment remains a challenge in contemporary society, even while objective measures show the rapid state of the world's environment declining. To illuminate the integration of drama and environmental education as a means of engaging students in environmental issues, the work of performance companies Evergreen Theatre, Leapfish and Eaton Gorge Theatre Company, the ecological oratorio Plague and the Moonflower, and a school-based trial of play-building were examined through survey data and participant observations. These case studies employed drama in different ways — theatre-in-education, play-building, and large-scale performance event. The four case studies provide quantitative and qualitative evidence for drama-based activities leading to an improvement in knowledge about the environment and understandings about the consequences of one's actions. In observing and participating in these case studies, we reflect that drama is a means of synthesising and presenting scientific research in ways that are creative and multi-layered, and which excite students, helping maintain their attention and facilitating their engagement.

Numerous solutions have been proposed to slow the accelerating loss of biodiversity. Thinking about biodiversity conservation has not, however, been incorporated into the everyday activities of most individuals and nations. Conservation scientists need to refocus on strategies that reshape ethical attitudes to nature and encourage pro-environmental thinking and lifestyles. Religions are central to basic beliefs and ethics that influence people's behaviour and should be considered more seriously in biodiversity discourse. Using data from the World Religion Database we conducted an analysis of the spatial overlap between major global religions and seven templates for prioritizing biodiversity action. Our analysis indicated that the majority of these focal areas are situated in countries dominated by Christianity, and particularly the Roman Catholic denomination. Moreover, the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches appear to have the greatest per capita opportunity to influence discourse on biodiversity, notwithstanding the role of other religious communities in some key biodiversity areas.

The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale has been extensively used to measure adults’ environmental attitudes. However, it has only recently been adapted for use with children. This paper presents a Spanish version of the NEP Scale for Children, examines children’s ecological beliefs according to socio-demographic variables as well as the relationship between children’s ecological beliefs and pro-environmental behavior. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted, followed by confirmatory factor analysis. In addition, the instrument’s internal consistency was studied and links between environmental attitudes, age, and ecological behavior in children were examined through correlation analyses. The results show that children’s ecological worldviews can be described by a dimension called “overall ecocentrism”. Analysis of variance demonstrated that children from rural areas exhibit a more ecocentric worldview than those from urban areas. The results also denote gender differences.

People may behave in environmentally friendly ways because they gain psychologically from their experiences in natural environments. Psychological benefits of nature experience may also underlie concerns about personally harmful effects of environmental problems. Cross-sectional survey data from 1413 Norwegian adults were used to assess the relationship between use of natural environments for psychological restoration and ecological behaviour, as mediated by personal environmental concern. Mediation tests with hierarchical regression analyses provided evidence of partial mediation; the use of natural environments for restoration remained a significant predictor of ecological behaviour after the entry of environmental concern into the analysis. These associations held independently of age, gender, education, household income, size of community of upbringing, size of community of current residence and distance of current residence from an outdoor recreation area. Among sociodemographic variables, only gender had a significant association with the use of natural environments for restoration, suggesting that their use transcends several important social categories in Norway. In short, positive experiences in natural environments may promote ecological behaviour.

Organic farmers throughout Austria were asked in 1999 if, once the first agri-environmental program (ÖPUL) ends, they intended to commit themselves to a further five-year period of organic farming. The study presented here addresses those farmers who expressed in the survey the intention to end their participation in organic farming under ÖPUL, or who were undecided at that time. The aim was to compare and analyze the intended behavior with actual behavior. The research was based on material from, and analyses of, the 1999 survey and the survey conducted in 2002. Additional information regarding the reasons for abandoning (or continuing) organic farming and the decision-making process itself was collected through a series of telephone interviews in 2004. The comparison revealed a connection between actual behavior and the intentions expressed in the 1999 survey. However, there were no clear differences in terms of the reasons given in 1999 for potentially discontinuing with organic farming between those farms that remained organic and those that reverted to conventional farming methods. There were differences between those reasons given in the 1999 survey for potentially leaving organic agriculture and the reasons that determined the actual decision, as cited in telephone interviews in 2004. In the 1999 survey, economic issues were the main reasons for potentially ceasing to farm organically. When it came to the actual decision, problems concerning organic guidelines and inspections were more prominent. The environmental attitudes and the social embedding of the farmers within organic agriculture played a decisive role on those enterprises that chose to continue farming organically. The analysis indicates that the presence of a successor is also a stabilizing factor for organic farming.

Reform of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), especially through Regulation 2078/92, provided a dual role for farmers as food producers and stewards of the environment and the countryside. Implementation of integrated pest management (IPM) in greenhouse enterprises in Greece is a part of this effort. In this study, the effectiveness of the adoption and implementation of IPM practices in greenhouse vegetable cultivation in Central Macedonia (Greece) was assessed. Eighty-six farmers enrolled in an IPM programme and 28 conventional greenhouse farmers were selected and interviewed in 1997, using a questionnaire designed to assess their behaviour in the greenhouse and examine their attitudes towards the environment. Wide adoption of IPM was found still to face many hindrances, mainly due to the lack of appropriate technical and advisory support by the agricultural local services, and farmers' low level of knowledge of IPM. Comparisons between IPM and conventional farmers revealed that: (1) the two groups' behaviour did not differ significantly in greenhouse production practices, but (2) IPM farmers were more aware of the new environmental dimension of the CAP, and (3) they expressed more concern about the negative effects of modern agriculture on nature, than conventional farmers.