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There has been little research on the differential aspects of local/global dichotomy, yet there is every suggestion that such a distinction could be crucially important in terms of understanding the public's perception and attitudes towards environmental problems as well as understanding their subsequent behaviour. This research sought to address three questions. First, are people only able to relate to environmental issues if they are concrete, immediate and local? Second, do people consider environmental problems to be more serious at a global or a local level? Third, what is the effect of the public's perceptions of the seriousness of environmental problems on their sense of responsibility for taking action?Three studies were undertaken in Australia, England, Ireland and Slovakia. The results of each study consistently demonstrate that respondents are not only able to conceptualise problems at a global level, but an inverse distance effect is found such that environmental problems are perceived to be more serious the farther away they are from the perceiver. An inverse relationship was also found between a sense of responsibility for environmental problems and spatial scale resulting in feelings of powerlessness at the global level. The paper concludes with a discussion of various psychological theories and perspectives which informs our analysis and understanding of what might seen as environmental hyperopia.

This article extends social psychological research on the motivations for sustainable consumption from the predominant domain of ecologically conscious consumer behaviour to socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviours. A UK-based survey study examines relationships between socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviours and Schwartz's value types, personal and socio-political materialism, and demographics among the general public. Socially conscious consumer behaviour, like its ecological counterpart, appears to be an expression of pro-social values. In contrast, frugal consumer behaviour relates primarily to low personal materialism and income constraints. As such, it does not yet represent a fully developed moral challenge to consumerism.

In an effort to contribute to greater understanding of norms and identity in the theory of planned behaviour, an extended model was used to predict residential kerbside recycling, with self-identity, personal norms, neighbourhood identification and injunctive and descriptive social norms as additional predictors. Data from a field study (N=527) using questionnaire measures of predictor variables and an observational measure of recycling behaviour supported the theory. Intentions predicted behaviour, while attitudes, perceived control, and the personal norm predicted intention to recycle. The interaction between neighbourhood identification and injunctive social norms in turn predicted personal norms. Self-identity and the descriptive social norm significantly added to the original theory in predicting intentions as well as behaviour directly. A replication survey on the self-reported recycling behaviours of a random residential sample (N=264) supported the model obtained previously. These findings offer a useful extension of the theory of planned behaviour and some practicable suggestions for pro-recycling interventions. It may be productive to appeal to self-identity by making people feel like recyclers, and to stimulate both injunctive and descriptive norms in the neighbourhood. AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank Guildford Borough Council, who sponsored the research reported here; Kristopher Preacher for helpfully providing the required SPSS command macros; and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.Keywords: theory of planned behaviour; norms; environmental behaviour; identity Attitudes, norms, identity and environmental behaviour: Using an expanded theory of planned behaviour to predict participation in a kerbside recycling programmeThe theory of planned behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1991) and its predecessor, the theory of reasoned action (TRA; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) have had a prominent but somewhat problematic history as a predictive model of behaviour. One shortcoming of the theory -at least from a social-psychological perspective -is its rather individualistic view of human behaviour, which does not explicitly take into account the role of identity and remains underdefined with regard to the functioning of norms. Building on findings from Terry, Hogg and White (1999), the study described here attempts to expand the TPB by elaborating on the social aspects of behaviour, including social and self-identities as well as social and personal norms. Like the study reported by Terry and colleagues, the present work focused on household waste recycling by kerbside collection, where communal interest and visibility give an especially prominent role to the social antecedents of behaviour.The TPB (Ajzen, 1988(Ajzen, , 1991 addresses the oft-observed discrepancy between attitudes and behaviour (for a review, see Ajzen & Fishbein, 1977) by suggesting that attitude is just one of several determinants of behaviour, and not even its most direct antecedent.Instead, the theory suggests th...

The personal assessments of the current and expected future state of the environment by 3232 community respondents in 18 nations were investigated at the local, national, and global spatial levels. These assessments were compared to a ranking of each country’s environmental quality by an expert panel. Temporal pessimism (“things will get worse”) was found in the assessments at all three spatial levels. Spatial optimism bias (“things are better here than there”) was found in the assessments of current environmental conditions in 15 of 18 countries, but not in the assessments of the future. All countries except one exhibited temporal pessimism, but significant differences between them were common. Evaluations of current environmental conditions also differed by country. Citizens’ assessments of current conditions, and the degree of comparative optimism, were strongly correlated with the expert panel’s assessments of national environmental quality. Aside from the value of understanding global trends in environmental assessments, the results have important implications for environmental policy and risk management strategies

In the study reported in this paper the role of social cohesion, residential satisfaction and place identification are examined for their effect on place-related social identity and its consequential impact on attitudes to environmental sustainability. Two neighbourhoods in Guildford, Surrey, England were selected on the basis of their social histories, housing types and socio-economic composition. Ninety residents in each neighbourhood were sampled. Research methods included cognitive mapping and a questionnaire survey. A structural equation model was used to analyse the co-variances between the different factors. The results show clear differences between both neighbourhoods in terms of residential satisfaction, with only some differences in terms of identification and social cohesion and sustainability. Conclusions drawn which suggest an important relationship between identity and sustainability behaviour which is suggestive for future research.

Despite national plans to deploy smart meters in small and medium businesses in the UK, there is little knowledge of occupant energy use in offices. The objectives of the study were to investigate the effect of individual feedback on energy use at the workdesk, and to test the relationship between individual determinants, energy use and energy reduction. A field trial is presented, which monitored occupant energy use and provided individual feedback to 83 office workers in a university. The trial comprised pre- and post-intervention surveys, energy measurement and provision of feedback for 18 weeks post-baseline, and two participant focus groups. The main findings were: statistically significant energy reduction was found, but not for the entire measurement period; engagement with feedback diminished over time; no measured individual variables were related to energy reduction and only attitudes to energy conservation were related to energy use; an absence of motivation to undertake energy reduction actions was in evidence. The implications for energy use in offices are considered, including the need for motivations beyond energy reduction to be harnessed to realise the clear potential for reduced energy use at workdesks. © 2013 The Authors

Understanding the diversifying role of civil society in Europe’s\ud sustainability pathway is a valid proposition both scientifically\ud and socially. Civil society organisations already play a\ud significant role in the reality of cities, what remains to be\ud explored is the question: what is the role of civil society in the\ud future sustainability of European cities? We first examine the\ud novelty of new forms of civil society organization based on a\ud thorough review of recent case studies of civil society initiatives\ud for sustainable transitions across a diversity of European\ud projects and an extensive literature review. We conceptualize a\ud series of roles that civil society plays and the tensions they\ud entail. We argue that, civil society initiatives can pioneer new\ud social relations and practices therefore be an integral part of\ud urban transformations and can fill the void left by a retreating\ud welfare state, thereby safeguarding and servicing social needs\ud but also backing up such a rolling back of the welfare state. It\ud can act as a hidden innovator—contributing to sustainability\ud but remaining disconnected from the wider society. Assuming\ud each of these roles can have unintended effects, such as being\ud proliferated by political agendas, which endanger its role and\ud social mission, and can be peeled off to serve political agendas\ud resulting in its disempowerment and over-exposure. We\ud conclude with a series of implications for future research on the\ud roles of civil society in urban sustainability transition