We've talked a lot about racial and cultural identity in our previous posts, but not very much about how our social views intersect with our environmental ones. This is an extremely important topic to explore, so we hope you can gain more awareness on it through this read!
To start, differing identities influence our environmental behavior. One identity that is "positively associated with pro-environmental behaviour is a sense of self as part of and connected with nature" with a "sense of self" being how we view ourselves, whether that's through social class, race, worldly interactions, or cultural messages ("Environmental").
Now, ecological harm arises we, as humans, view ourselves superior to nature. This can be compared to socioeconomic identity conflicts, or when a certain racial, social, or class group views themselves as better than another because of disparities in income or education. In the past and even modernly, there are racial discrepancies determining an individual's opportunities, fair treatment, and more. In Asian subgroups alone, different ethnicities - while certainly not everyone within the ethnicity - hold a perspective that their values, beliefs, and heritage may be superior over another's. When talking about environmental issues, people who view themselves as above our climate hold the entitlement that "the natural world exists for [them] to exploit for [their] own ends" ("Environmental"). This leads to environmental degradation, and, sadly, is a far-reaching view rooted in contemporary society. We can even see the negative effects of such an identity through global responses to climate change, or global warming. According to a study by the US fourth national climate assessment, between "93% to 123% of observed 1951-2010 warming was due to human activities" (Hausfather). While it is true that climate change is inevitable through industrialization and human civilization, too many of us do not have the moral regard needed to effectively decrease the disastrous effects of the environmental state we are currently in, which is climate imbalance.
Thus, our environmental identity and factors affecting it such as social, racial or cultural identity, must be tackled to combat the ecological issues pervading our planet today. We always have the power to catalyze change and initiate reform - but doing so is not easy. But, through education, support, and solidarity, it is more than possible.
For more resources, check out the following sources:
Hausfather, Zeke. "Analysis: Why scientists think 100% of global warming is due to humans." Carbon Brief, 13 Dec. 2017, www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-why-scientists-think-100-of-global-warming-is-due-to-humans.
"Environmental Identity." Climate Psychology Alliance, www.climatepsychologyalliance.org/handbook/281-environmental-identity.
Andrews, N. (2018). How cognitive frames about nature may affect felt sense of nature connectedness. Ecopsychology Journal, 10(1).
Clayton, S. (2003). Environmental identity. In Clayton, S. and Opotow, S. (Eds.). Identity and the natural environment: the psychological significance of nature, (pp.60-86). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Deci, E.L. and Ryan R.M. (2000). The ‘‘what’’ and ‘‘why’’ of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behaviour. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227–268.
Hasbach, P.H. (2012). Ecotherapy. In Kahn, P.H. and Hasbach, P.H. Hasbach, (Eds.). Ecopsychology: science, totems, and the technological species, (pp.115-140). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Totton, N. (2011). Wild therapy: undomesticating inner and outer worlds. Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books.
WWF (2011). Natural change: catalysing leadership for sustainability. WWF Scotland.
- Brianna Zhao
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