Under the Dome: Air Pollution, Wellbeing, and Pro-Environmental Behaviour Among Beijing Residents

Abstract

T he conflict between economic development and environmental protection has been made salient by increasingly severe air pollution in China, a visible consequence of the costs of rapid economic progress. How does air pollution affect people's psychological experiences? How are newly rich Chinese beginning to think about this social dilemma and are they willing to take any action to deal with the problem? Are there individual differences that contribute to the effect of air pollution on mental experience and concern for environmental protection? The present work explores answers to these questions through two studies among convenience samples of participants residing in Beijing, which is the capital of China and plagued by toxic haze. Study 1 recruited 50 undergraduates and applied a 10-day experience sampling method. Results revealed that the real-time objective air pollution index was negatively associated with immediate subjective wellbeing (SWB) but positively associated with eudaimonic wellbeing (EWB). Study 2 investigated a sample of 288 working adults living in Beijing for their perceptions of air quality, wellbeing, pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) intentions, future orientation, and place attachment. Results revealed that perceived air pollution could not predict general SWB but improved the sense of purpose and meaning in life (i.e., EWB). Furthermore, this association was heightened in individuals who were future-orientated. In addition, perceived air pollution increased PEB intentions, partially through the promotion of EWB, and this effect was stronger in those who were more emotionally attached to Beijing.Keywords: air pollution, subjective wellbeing, eudaimonic wellbeing, pro-environmental behaviour, future orientation, place attachmentAir pollution is a serious environmental problem around the world. The World Health Organization's (WHO) urban air quality database, which covers 1,600 cities across 91 countries, revealed that only 12% of the people living in cities that report on air quality reside in cities where this complies with WHO air quality guideline levels; this issue is particularly prominent in cities in developing countries (WHO, 2014a). In early 2015, a documentary titled Under the Dome aroused widespread concern and hot discussion in Chinese public spheres because of the portrait it presented of severe air pollution in mainland China. Since the economic reform and opening up of China, rapid industrialisation and urbanisation has accelerated the problem of air pollution in mainland China. For example, official data showed that there were up to 161 days of heavy air pollution in 2014 in Beijing, the capital city of China. This means people who were living in Beijing breathed healthy air on only 56% of the days of the year. On the one hand, the growing air pollution will definitely interfere with a better life for people; on the other hand, the rising GDP, Address for correspondence : Dr Fang Wang, School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, P.R. China. Email: fwang@bnu.ed...

Place attachment influence on human well-being and general pro-environmental behaviors

“…Therefore, they are more likely to engage in local and global actions. Finally, Gu, Huang, Zhang, and Wang () postulated that place attachment leads people to experience a higher sense of meaning and purpose in life and thus stimulate eudemonic well‐being. It may also improve people's willingness to engage in general pro‐environmental behaviors.…”

Environmental attitudes in China: The roles of the Dark Triad, future orientation and place attachment

“…Positive environmental attitude often means that an individual identifies the sacrifice of short‐term interests to protect long‐term benefits. Previous studies have found that future orientation was consistently and positively related to general environmental attitudes, pro‐environmental behaviour intentions and involvement in pro‐environmental activities (e.g., Gu, Huang, Zhang, & Wang, ; Milfont et al, ). Therefore, when individuals scoring high on the Dark Triad traits encounter the trade‐offs between short‐term interests and future environmental benefits, they might tend to satisfy their immediate interests at the expense of the future environment due to their low level of future orientation, which is eventually expressed as negative environmental attitudes.…”

“…Vorkinn and Riese () found that place attachment positively predicted attitudes about local environmental issues. Research has also indicated that place attachment was positively associated with a series of pro‐environment behaviours, including picking up litter in the park, protecting natural landscapes and fighting against air pollution (e.g., Gu et al, ; Walker & Ryan, ). Therefore, we predicted that the Dark Triad traits were associated with environmental attitudes through place attachment.…”

Influence of Haze-Fog on Consumers’ Desire for Money

“…Understanding the effects of haze-fog on human health is important for enhancing people's well-being in a rapidly urbanizing country [14]. Although the findings are very encouraging, there are still some limitations.…”