It is often assumed that individuals who are knowledgeable and concerned about the environment will engage in environmentally responsible behavior (ERB). We use data from a large scale Web survey hosted on National Geographic’s Web site in 2001-2002 to investigate this premise. We examine whether reading three classic environmental books (Walden, A Sand County Almanac, and Silent Spring) is associated with the likelihood of engaging in ERB. Conceptualizing this activity as a formative experience and a source of environmental knowledge, we hypothesized that reading such literature would be a stronger predictor of ERB than sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., gender, education, and political orientation), general environmental attitudes (as measured by the New Ecological Paradigm), and concern about specific environmental risks. The results indicated that while reading environmental literature was a stronger predictor of ERB than background characteristics and the NEP, environmental concern was an even stronger predictor. We offer reasons for these findings and make suggestions for environmental education and future research.
Ajzen, I. ( 1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior . In J. Kuhl & J. Beckmann (Eds.), Action control: From cognition to behavior (pp. 11-29). Germany: Springer.
2.
Ajzen, I. ( 1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211.
3.
Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. ( 1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall .
4.
Alvarez, R.M., Sherman, R.P., & VanBeselaere, C. (2003). Subject acquisition for Web-based surveys. Political Analysis, 11, 23-43.
5.
Bamberg, S., & Moser, G. ( 2007). Twenty years after Hines, Hungerford and Tomera: A new meta-analysis of psycho-social determinants of pro-environmental behavior . Journal of Environmental Psychology, 27, 14-25.
6.
Bandilla, W., Bosnjak, M., & Altdorfer, P. ( 2003). Survey administration effects? A comparison of web-based and traditional written self-administered surveys using the ISSP environmental module. Social Science Computer Review, 21, 235-243.
7.
Berrens, R.P., Bohara, A.K., Jenkins-Smith, H., Silva, C., & Weimer, D.L. ( 2001). The advent of Internet surveys for political research: A comparison of telephone and Internet samples. Political Analysis, 11, 1-22.
8.
Bixler, R., Floyd, M.F., & Hammitt, W.E. ( 2002). Environmental socialization: Quantitative tests of the childhood play hypothesis. Environment and Behavior, 34, 795-818.
9.
Blake, D. ( 2001). Contextual effects on environmental attitudes and behavior . Environment and Behavior, 33, 708-725.
10.
Bratt, C. ( 1999). The impact of norms and assumed consequences on recycling behavior. Environment and Behavior, 31, 630-656.
11.
Carson, R. ( 1962). Silent spring. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
12.
Chawla, L. ( 1998). Significant life experiences revisited: A review of research on sources of environmental sensitivity [Electronic version]. Journal of Environmental Education, 29, 11-21.
13.
Chawla, L. ( 1999). Lifepaths into effective environmental education. Journal of Environmental Education, 31, 15-26.
14.
Corral-Verdugo, V. ( 1997). Dual realities of conservation behavior: Self-reports vs. observations of re-use and recycling behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 17, 135-145.
15.
Corral-Verdugo, V., & Armendariz, L.I. (2000). The "new environmental paradigm" in a Mexican community. Journal of Environmental Education, 31, 25-31.
16.
Corral-Verdugo, V., Bechtel, R.B., & Fraijo-Sing, B. (2003). Environmental beliefs and water conservation: An empirical study. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 23, 247-257.
17.
Cottrell, S.P. ( 2003). Influence of sociodemographic and environmental attitudes of general responsible environmental behavior among recreational boaters. Environment and Behavior, 35, 347-375.
18.
Couper, M.P. ( 2000). Web surveys: A review of issues and approaches. Public Opinion Quarterly, 64, 464-494.
19.
DeChano, L.M. ( 2006). A multi-country examination of the relationship between environmental knowledge and attitudes. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 15, 15-28.
20.
DeRuiter, D.S., & Donnelly, M.P. (2002). A qualitative approach to measuring determinants of wildlife orientations. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 7, 251-271.
21.
Dietz, T., Stern, P.C., & Guagnano, G.A. (1998). Social structural and social psychological bases of environmental concern. Environment and Behavior, 30, 450-471.
22.
Duffy, M.E. ( 2002). Methodological issues in web-based research. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 34, 83-88.
23.
Dunlap, R.E., & Van Liere, K.D. (1978). The "new environmental paradigm": A proposed measuring instrument and preliminary results. Journal of Environmental Education, 9, 10-19.
24.
Dunlap, R.E., & Van Liere, K.D. (1984). Commitment to the dominant social paradigm and concern for environmental quality. Social Science Quarterly, 65, 1013-1028.
25.
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, 425-442.
26.
Earthlight Magazine. (2007). EarthSaints and the EarthSaints special issue. Retrieved April 30, 2007, from http://www.earthlight.org/earthsaints.html
27.
Farr, C.K. ( 2005). Reading Oprah: How Oprah’s book club changed the way America reads. Albany, NY: SUNY.
28.
Fishbein, M.A., & Ajzen, I. ( 1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
29.
Gamba, R.J., & Oskamp, S. ( 1994). Factors influencing community residents’ participation in commingled curbside recycling programs. Environment and Behavior, 26, 587-612.
30.
Gardner, G.T., & Stern, P.C. ( 1996). Environmental problems and human behavior. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
31.
Griswold, W., McDonnell, T., & Wright, N. ( 2005). Reading and the reading class in the twenty-first century . Annual Review of Sociology, 31, 127-141.
32.
Griswold, W., & Wright, N. ( 2004). Cowbirds, locals, and the dynamic endurance of regionalism . American Journal of Sociology, 109, 1411-1451.
33.
Hawthorne, M., & Alabaster, T. ( 1999). Citizen 2000: Development of a model of environmental stewardship. Global Environmental Change, 9, 25-43.
34.
Hines, J.M., Hungerford, H.R., & Tomera, A.N. ( 1986/1987). Analysis and synthesis of research on responsible environmental behavior. Journal of Environmental Education, 18, 1-8.
35.
Hsu, S.J., & Roth, R.E. ( 1998). An assessment of environmental literacy and analysis of predictors of responsible environmental behavior held by secondary teachers in the Hualien area of Taiwan. Environmental Education Research , 4, 229-246.
36.
Hungerford, H.R., & Volk, T.L. ( 1990). Changing learner behavior through environmental education . Journal of Environmental Education, 21, 8-21.
37.
Johnson, C.Y., Bowker, J.M., & Cordell, H.K. ( 2004). Ethnic variation in environmental belief and behavior: An examination of the new ecological paradigm in a social psychological context . Environment and Behavior, 36, 157-186.
38.
Kaiser, F.G., Wolfing, S., & Fuhrer, U. ( 1999). Environmental attitude and ecological behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 19, 1-19.
39.
Kraus, S.J. ( 1995). Attitudes and the prediction of behavior: A meta-analysis of the empirical literature. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 58-75.
40.
Leopold, A. ( 1949). A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There. New York: Oxford University Press.
41.
Long, D. ( 2001). A Sand County Almanac: Storylines Midwest Discussion Guide No. 7Washington, DC: American Library Association. Retrieved April 17, 2007, from http://www.ala.org/ala/ppo/currentprograms/storylines/sandcounty.pdf
42.
Manfredo, M.J., & Shelby, B. ( 1988). The effect of using self-report measures in tests of attitude-behavior relationships. Journal of Social Psychology , 128, 731-743.
43.
Manfredo, M.J., Yuan, S.M., & McGuire, F.A. ( 1992). The influence of attitude accessibility on attitude-behavior relationships: Implications for recreation research. Journal of Leisure Research, 24, 157-170.
44.
Mayer, F.S., & Frantz, C.M. ( 2004). The connectedness to nature scale: A measure of individuals’ feeling in community with nature. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24, 503-515.
45.
Millar, M.G., & Millar, K.U. ( 1996). The effects of direct and indirect experiences on affective and cognitive responses and the attitude-behavior relation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 32, 561-579.
46.
Monroe, M.C. ( 2003). Two avenues for encouraging conservation behaviors. Human Ecology Review, 10, 113-125.
47.
National Audubon Society. (2007). Champions of conservation. Retrieved August 12, 2007, from http://magazine.audubon.org/century/champion.html
48.
Nunnally, J.C. ( 1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
49.
Olli, E., Grendstad, G., & Wollebaek, D. ( 2001). Correlates of environmental behavior: Bringing back social context. Environment and Behavior, 33, 181-208.
50.
Ostman, R.E., & Parker, J.L. ( 1987). Impact of education, age, newspapers and television on environmental knowledge, concerns and behaviors. Journal of Environmental Education, 19, 3-9.
51.
Rideout, B.E., Hushen, K., McGinty, D., Perkins, S., & Tate, J. ( 2005). Endorsement of the new ecological paradigm in systematic and e-mail samples of college students. Journal of Environmental Education, 36, 15-23.
52.
Samdahl, D.M., & Robertson, R. ( 1989). Social determinants of environmental concern: Specification and test of the model. Environment and Behavior, 21, 57-81.
53.
Schmidt, W. ( 1997). World-Wide Web survey research: Benefits, potential problems and solutions. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers, 29, 274-279.
54.
Schwartz, S.H. ( 1977). Normative influences on altruism. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 10, pp. 221-279). New York: Academic Press.
55.
Scott, D., & Willits, F.K. ( 1994). Environmental attitudes and behavior: A Pennsylvania survey. Environment and Behavior, 26, 239-260.
56.
Sia, A.P. ( 1984). An investigation of selected predictors of overt responsible environmental behavior. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
57.
Sia, A.P., Hungerford, H.R., & Tomera, A.N. ( 1985/1986). Selected predictors of responsible environmental behaviors: An analysis. Journal of Environmental Education, 17, 31-40.
58.
Sivek, D., & Hungerford, H.R. (1990). Predictors of responsible environmental behavior in members of three Wisconsin conservation organizations . Journal of Environmental Education, 21, 35-40.
59.
Sjoberg, L. ( 2000). Factors in risk perception. Risk Analysis , 20, 1-11.
60.
Slimak, M.W., & Dietz, T. ( 2006). Personal values, beliefs, and ecological risk perception . Risk Analysis, 26, 1689-1705.
61.
Stables, A. ( 1996). Reading the environment as text: Literary theory and environmental education. Environmental Education Research , 2, 189-195.
62.
Stables, A., & Bishop, K. ( 2001). Weak and strong conceptions of environmental literacy: Implications for environmental education. Environmental Education Research, 7, 89-97.
63.
Stern, P.C., & Dietz, T. ( 1994). The value basis of environmental concern. Journal of Social Issues, 50, 65-84.
64.
Stern, P.C. ( 2000). Toward a coherent theory of environmentally significant behavior. Journal of Social Issues, 56, 407-424.
65.
Stern, P.C., Dietz, T., & Guagnano, G.A. (1995). The new ecological paradigm in social-psychological context. Environment and Behavior , 27, 723-743.
Tanner, T. ( 1980). Significant life experiences. Journal of Environmental Education, 11, 399-417.
68.
Tarrant, M.A., Bright, A.D., & Cordell, H.K. ( 1997). Attitudes toward wildlife species protection: Assessing moderating and mediating effects in the value-attitude relationship. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 2, 1-20.
69.
Thapa, B. ( 2001). Environmental concern: A comparative analysis between students in recreation and parks management and other departments. Environmental Education Research, 7, 39-53.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (2000). Profile of general demographic characteristics: 2000, Geographical area: United States. Retrieved November 12, 2007, from http://censtats.census.gov/data/US/01000.pdf
72.
Uzzell, D. ( 1999). Education for environmental action in the community: New roles and relationships. Cambridge Journal of Education , 29, 397-413.
73.
Van Liere, K.D., & Dunlap, R.E. ( 1980). The social bases of environmental concern: A review of hypotheses, explanations and empirical evidence. Public Opinion Quarterly, 44, 181-197.
74.
Weaver, A.A. ( 2002). Determinants of environmental attitudes: A five county comparison. International Journal of Sociology, 32, 77-108.
75.
Wells, N.M., & Lekies, K.S. ( 2006). Nature and the life course: Pathways from childhood nature experiences to adult environmentalism. Children, Youth and Environment, 16, 1-24.
76.
Whitherspoon, S., & Martin, J. ( 1992). What do we mean by green? In R. Jowell, L. Brook, G. Prior, & B. Prior (Eds.), British social attitudes: The 9th report (pp. 1-26). Aldershot , UK: Dartmouth.
77.
Witte, J., Mobley, C., Hawdon, J., & Pargas, R. ( 2001). Instrument effects of images in web surveys: A research note. Social Science Computer Review, 22, 363-369.
78.
Xiao, C., & McCright, A.M. (2007). Environmental concern and sociodemographic variables: A study of statistical models. Journal of Environmental Education, 38, 3-14.
79.
Zelezny, L.C., Chua, P.P., & Aldrich, C. ( 2000). Elaborating on gender differences in environmentalism . Journal of Social Issues, 56, 443-457.
