Attitudes toward Environmental Democracy among Urban Communities

Abstract

With global warming and climate change, the demands for food and water have challenged governments and civil societies. In environmental democracy, governments’ transparent processes will see positive citizen-centric developments. Through quantitative research design 384 questionnaires were administered to residents in Johor Bharu, Johor, Malaysia. The findings revealed significant, positive attitude towards environmental democracy. From the three variables, community knowledge is rated the most influential predictor towards environmental democracy. The implication from this study showed that the communities are concerned with environmental issues in the district as participation and volunteerism will ensure the wellbeing of their flora and fauna.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies, Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: environmental democracy; sustainable development; civil society; attitude

Exploring Civic Ecology Practice: Composting program in Subang Jaya

“…However, practice theory scholars diverge on the aspects of practice worthy of study (Gram-Hanssen, 2011). For example, authors variously describe the elements of holding practices together as understandings, procedures, engagement, and items of consumption (Warde, 2005); practical knowledge, rules, and general beliefs (Schatzki, 2002); sayings, doings, and relating (Kemmis and Mutton, 2012); Practice theory adds to these explanations by helping us understand the factors involved in the emergence and growth of new social processes such as grassroots or social innovations (Seyfang et al, 2010) as communities are becoming more environmentally concerned (Hashim et al, 2016). In this study, we ask how do elements such as competencies, meanings, and physical resources of a community's composting activities relate to each other and contribute to defining the civic ecology practice of study?…”