Uncertainty, Risk, Trust, and Information: Public Perceptions of Environmental Issues and Willingness to Take Action

Abstract

Environmental policymaking has remained an important issue in American public policy for many years. While many individuals have proenvironmental attitudes, they remain unwilling to take the actions necessary to achieve environmental goals. Many variables have been used to explain support for environmental policymaking. This study looks at the effect of uncertainty about environmental quality, perception of risk from environmental hazards, and trust in government and university scientists on willingness to take environmental action. The study examines the impact of these three variables on two environmental issues—tap water and nuclear power. The data were collected from a national sample of 400 individuals. This article presents the results of this research and examines the complex relationships among risks, trust, uncertainty, and willingness to take environmental action. The conclusions improve our understanding of environmental attitudes as well as have practical implications for policymakers who need to build public support for policies designed to improve the environment.

The Roles of Knowledge, Threat, and PCE on Green Purchase Behaviour

“…The findings reveal that the threat perceived due to environmental problems is a better indicator to explain all the environmental practices compared to the demographic variables. Subsequently, other researchers have reported the similar findings which have indicated that the perceived environmental threat is an important determinant of pro-environmental behaviours (Axelrod and Lehman, 1993;Johnson and Scicchitano, 2000). In addition, perceived environmental threat is also reported to have a positive and significant correlation with environmental attitudes (Walsh Daneshmandi and MacLachlan, 2000;Pahl, Harris, Todd and Rutter, 2005).…”

Simulating resistances in innovation diffusion over multiple generations: an agent-based approach for fuel-cell vehicles

“…All these perceived risks seem to play a major role concerning eco-innovations. Even so, respondents tend to describe themselves far more ecological aware than their actual actions support this statement, which can be explained due to social pressure on the topic of ecological awareness (Johnson and Scicchitano 2000).…”

Institutional Evolution in Lake Okeechobee Management in Florida: Characteristics, Impacts, and Limitations

“…The proliferating adversarial relations between not just the various interest groups, but also the management institutions, led to the enormously expensive and time-consuming "litigation, negotiation and legislation cycle," which began in 1988, when the Federal government filed a lawsuit against the SFWMD, contending that its practice of back-pumping agricultural runoff into Lake Okeechobee was in violation of the Clean Water Act, and continued into the 1990s (Guest 2001). The lack of public trust in the State including its various institutions magnifies the effect of uncertainty in the definition, as well as potential solutions of environmental problems, leading, therefore, to passivity towards environmental issues (Johnson and Scicchitano 2000). The "top-down" approach of Lake Okeechobee management continued through the 1970s to 1990s, while degradation of the Lake and other related South Florida ecosystems went largely unchecked.…”