Print PageWhen ecological ideas entered public consciousness a half century ago, issues of pollution, technology and exponential population growth framed a sobering question: “Can the natural environment absorb the impact of human influence”? Between then and now, a gradual reframing has emerged, namely: “Can human consciousness comprehend our relation to the living world”? This shift from a ‘carrying-capacity’ to a ‘consciousness-capacity’ perspective has produced a vast multidisciplinary landscape of environmental research on individual attitudes, social models of decision-making, as well as broad, socio-demographic and cross-national comparisons. These studies reveal important findings at all levels: (1.) People do hold core value orientations and attitudes that significantly influence environmentally responsible behavior and orientation toward sustainability; (2.) A substantial degree of ecological impact is associated with family, household and community choices and actions; and (3.) broader still, when basic levels of food, shelter and material affluence are met, it appears that a post-material orientation may emerge -- across diverse social and national contexts –- with positive, pro-environmental consequences. The list goes on, but the point is clear. Environmental knowledge and beliefs are important components of a sustainability transition. Their dimensions are woven throughout the processes of change at societal, economic and policy levels.
Results/Conclusions
There is another side to this coin -- beyond empirical methods or statistical measurement. Leopold and Carson were among the first to spark this domain. It is the place from which Paul Sears presaged a half-century ago that, perhaps, ecology would be a ‘subversive subject’. Strains of this orientation lie in the phenomenology of environmental insights, counter-intuitive methods of ecological attitude change and marketing, and the creative potentials of participatory, collaborative leadership. It is at the heart of conservation psychology’s search for the sources of human caring -- and the means for stimulating them -- required by conservation biology. This is the borderland between psychological science and the art of psychotherapy. It is where the irrational forces of unconscious defense mechanisms reside along with the highest aims of human creativity and inspiration. These ideas will be explored in this part of this presentation.
In sum, sustainability is a complex concept. Some aspects arouse empathy, inspire responsibility and stimulate change; other dimensions are threatening and invite all fashion of cognitive distortions. Resolution of current challenges will require understanding and integrating these dimensions – along with bona fide creative leadership -- to realize the potentials of a meaningful and livable future.
