Environmental Values in American Culture

By Willett Kempton, Jennifer A. Hartley, James S. Boster

Book Overview

How do Americans view environmental issues? From EarthFirst members to sawmill workers, this study by a team of cognitive anthropologists offers both good and bad news for those addressing environmental issues in the public arena. On the one hand it reveals surprising similarities in the way different groups of Americans view long-term global environmental change, and on the other it shows that Americans have serious misunderstandings about these issues, which skews public support for policies. Using research techniques developed in the study of other cultures, Environmental Values in American Culture explores the reasons for the recent increase in environmental sentiments among Americans, and shows that current views attributing public environmentalism to a single cause are greatly oversimplified. It investigates the components of public environmentalism: beliefs (what people think the world is like), values (what is moral or desirable), and cultural models (the organization of beliefs or values into explanations or justifications). The authors document how scientific information on such issues as global warming, ozone depletion, and species extinctions is interpreted and transformed by the public, and how underlying beliefs and values influence preferences for or against environmental policies. The interviews with and surveys of groups such as EarthFirst , Sierra Club members, the general public, congressional staff, coal miners, and sawmill workers yield rich insights about how people conceptualize - and misconceptualize - major environmental issues. They also reveal public beliefs and values that differ sharply from those of environmental scientists and economists, identify what is shared by Americans and what is idiosyncratic to extreme groups, and show that religious and spiritual values concerning the environment and concerns for one's descendants are as important as economic tradeoffs.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262611236
• ISBN13: 9780262611237
• Release Date: August 1996
• Publisher: MIT Press
• Length: 334 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

What do Americans really think about environmental issues?

Kempton has done a real service to students and activists on all sides of environmental issues, by going out to find out what people "in the street" really think. With surveys and interviews, presented simply and clearly (without a jungle of tables and graphs) this study shows us just how deeply environmental values have penetrated the national consciousness. This book shows that environmental conservation is a majority, mainstream issue in the USA today. Americans from all walks of life, even people who make their living from cutting down forests and fishing our lakes and rivers, are now "environmentalists." And most are willing to make economic sacrifices to improve the state of the natural environment. The book has already had an impact on Washington. After this book came out, the Republican party suddenly dropped its anti-environmental rhetoric (though not its policies), and stopped trying to gut the EPA.