Does culture travel? Cultural influences on environmentalism in Taiwan in comparison to the United States

Abstract

This study investigates how the grid-group two-dimensional cultural theory (CT) of Douglas and Wildavsky, demographic attributes, and partisan identification are associated with environmentalism in Taiwan, in comparison to the Weather, Society, and Government survey collected in the United States. Results reveal that partisan identification better explains environmental attitudes and concerns in Taiwan, but its explanatory power is not comprehensive. Gender and age explain environmental concerns in Taiwan but not environmental attitudes. The impact of CT on environmentalism appears in the Taiwanese environmentalist’s group but not in the public, whereas CT has satisfactory power in explaining environmentalism in the United States.     

环境伦理学：深层生态学思想及理论旨趣

深层生态学是西方环境伦理学界提出的一个与浅层生态学相对应的非人类中心主义流派之一。它强调不仅仅从人出发,而应该从包括人与自然关系在内的整个生态系统角度,把人—自然作为统一整体来认识、处理和解决生态问题。其理论宗旨是批判和反思现代工业社会在人与自然关系上的种种失误及其背后的深层根源,目的在于寻找人类生活的真正价值及现代社会的合理构建。     

Validity Evidence against the Children’s New Ecological Paradigm Scale

Abstract

The Children’s New Ecological Paradigms scale was originally developed for children ages 10–12 and was presented as valuable for comparing that age group with older participants. This study uses cognitive interviews and measurement invariance testing to investigate how well the scores maintain the same meaning between these two age groups. The qualitative and quantitative results were consistent in revealing that at least 20% of the items function differently than expected when we use it for this purpose. The findings revealed similarities with critiques of the adult NEP and questioned the validity of the use of this instrument in its present form.     

Preservice science teachers’ ecological value orientation: A comparative study between Indonesia and Korea

Abstract

The current study aimed to examine differences in ecological values between Indonesian and Korean preservice science teachers. Fifteen items from revised-New Ecological Paradigm based on value orientations were used as the research instrument. Two hundred seventy-three preservice science teachers participated in the study. Rasch analyses of dimensionality, item fit, and differential item functioning were used to explore the validity of the instrument. The independent-sample T-test and Pearson’s correlation test were utilized to compare data from the two countries. Preservice science teachers from the two different countries showed significant differences in only one of the three value orientations, which is egoistic value. Relationships among cultural, educational, and economic factors, as well as environmental values in these countries are discussed to fully explore the findings.     

环境伦理学：非人类中心范式及其启示录

环境伦理学研究中关于非人类中心范式的形成和发展,具有深厚的生态学根基和厚重的伦理学底蕴。这一范式所适时提出的新的思想观点,看待问题的新的审视维度,对人类重新认识由于忽视本来自身生存发展其中的世界,以及忽视自我与自然之间内在深层逻辑关联等传统观念提出了严峻挑战,透视这种挑战背后所力图探寻在后工业时代解决生态危机、改变人类生存方式的新的时代出路,是值得我们认真玩味和深层体认的。特别是在促使生态文明观念在全社会牢固树立的今天,精致梳理其生成过程和来龙去脉,并深度揭示其积极的借鉴成分和有益的启示因素,具有可能的学术价值和现实意义。     

The “New Environmental Paradigm” in a Mexican Community

Abstract

A sample of 422 Mexicans from a medium-sized city responded to the New Environmental Paradigm-Human Exception Paradigm (NEP-HEP) scale, which assesses peoples' beliefs about human-environment relations. The NEP scale contains questions referring to the need for a “natural balance” and “limits to human impact on nature.” In contrast, implicit in the HEP scale is a view of humankind as different from and with control over nature. The responses of the interviewees revealed higher levels of adherence to the NEP than to the HEP. However, confirmatory factor analysis showed the covariances between pro-NEP and pro-HEP factors to be high and significant, indicating that the participants did not see the two paradigms as mutually exclusive, as do members of some industrialized societies. The results point to a more holistic view of human relations with the environment, in contrast to the dualistic vision of some western countries.     

Greenhouse affect: the relationship between the sustainable design of schools and children’s environmental attitudes

This study aims to determine if primary school children’s environmental attitudes can be predicted by whether their school had been designed or adapted for sustainability. A New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale for children was adopted to measure attitudes, with supplementary questions added to align this scale to the Australian context of the study. In addition, the original adult NEP scale was used to determine relationships between children’s environmental attitudes, their School Design and their Parents’ and Teachers’ Environmental Attitudes. Data collected from grade 4, 5 and 6 primary school children, their parents and teachers were analysed via three multiple regressions. The results indicate that sustainable design in schools improves the environmental attitudes of children towards perceptibly green building features, such as solar panels, the use of recycled water, natural daylighting and outdoor classrooms including food-producing gardens.     

自由市场环保主义与当代美国环保政策

针对传统的命令-控制型环境管制政策以及以往环保过头的趋势,自由市场环保主义通过发挥市场机制在环境保护中的作用,一定程度上兼顾了企业和环保主义者的要求,不失为美国在环保政策上所进行的制度创新。     

Of Daffodils and Farmers: Literature,Agriculture Students and Ecological Awareness

In a small Midwestern liberal arts college, a class focusing on ‘Farming and Rural Life in Literature’ attracted a large number of agriculture students. Although many disliked and avoided reading, these students began to use literature as a way to understand the natural world, their role in it and the experiences they shared with other farmers half a world away. They were experiencing the transformative power of poetry that Thomas Auxter urges us to consider in his essay, ‘Poetry and Self‐Knowledge in Rural Life’. Many critics have argued that the structure of the traditional curriculum reinforces environmentally unsustainable beliefs and practices by discouraging both understanding and creative problem solving. Yet while they advocate for innovative cross‐disciplinary models, these critics pay little attention to the role of the humanities in developing the desired grasp of human interconnectedness. The students’ performance and testimony is persuasive evidence that the study of literature helps agriculture students cultivate greater appreciation of nature and their membership in a global community. Teachers of English, at all grade levels, should be aware that they can play a key role in encouraging ecological literacy in the generation of farmers who must confront the world’s environmental challenges and feed its burgeoning population.     

The Relationship Between Academic Major and Environmentalism Among College Students: Is it Mediated by the Effects of Gender,Political Ideology and Financial Security?

Several studies have found a relationship between college students’ academic majors and their environmental attitudes and behaviors. Results from this study of incoming first-year students at a medium-sized public university suggest that students majoring in different programs of study were likely to have different environmental attitudes and behaviors. There were also differences in the proportions of women, political liberals, and financially secure students in each of the different majors. When controlling for the effects of gender, political ideology, and financial security, incoming business majors scored lower on two of the four measures of environmentalism than incoming students in the other majors. The findings in this study suggest that incoming students choose majors that are consistent with their worldviews.     

论当前我国英语教学的新范式

范式是一个特定社团的成员共同接受的信仰,公认的价值和技术的总和。我国课程与教学改革的全方位推进,为逐渐形成新的英语教学范式创造了理论与实践基础。语言与文化是现代英语教学的基本观念范式,活动与参与是现代英语教学的过程范式,系统是现代英语教学的方法范式,回归生活状态是现代英语教学的质量范式。     

Development and validation of scales to measure environmental responsibility,character development,and attitudes toward school

This investigation examines the use of structural equation modeling (SEM) procedures to develop and validate scales to measure environmental responsibility, character development and leadership, and attitudes toward school for environmental education programs servicing middle school children. The scales represent outcomes commonly of interest to environmental education programs and also to after‐school and positive youth development activities. First, we developed the scales using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and then we used multi‐group longitudinal CFA to cross‐validate the model with data collected before participation in the environmental education program, immediately after the program, and three months later. The results support a three‐factor model, producing three scales that appear to be valid and reliable.     

决策研究的进化论范式述评

回顾了决策心理学历史上的三种研究范式,着重讨论决策心理学中的进化论范式和进化论范式的理论基础生态理性理论,详细介绍其所提出的快速节俭启发式,并对进化论范式做出了简单评价。     

How do teachers perceive environmental responsibility?

Environmental responsibility can be collective or individual. In environmental education, private-sphere responsibility is often promoted. However, emphasising individual pro-environmental behaviour may cause problems, such as feelings of guilt and powerlessness, a focus on ineffective activities, and gendered responsibility. In this article, I discuss the perceptions of 13 environmentally minded Finnish teachers concerning environmental responsibility. Results suggest that the individualisation of environmental responsibility may limit educational possibilities at school. Although the interviewees are well aware of significant environmental behaviours, they perceive their pupils’ range of action possibilities as narrow. Based on the results, I suggest that collective responsibility be promoted in environmental education, and practitioners should develop easy options for youth participation.     

环境危机与中国小说批评新质的确立——中国当代生态小说研究述评

对环境危机与中国小说批评新质的确立之间的关系进行了阐述,分别从生态小说的概念与内涵、中国生态小说观念的更迭、生态小说批评的方法等三个角度探讨了生态小说的既有研究成果,并指出其存在的弊端及发展趋势。     

中国高等教育质量标准演变历程及反思

高等教育质量管理问题是关系国家教育发展的重要问题,与高等教育理念、管理以及环境息息相关。基于学术—保证—问责三维分析框架对中国高等教育质量管理制度变迁历程进行分析发现,政府规约、国际化冲击及自身发展等多重压力共同塑造了中国高等教育质量管理模式之独特性,政策化取向及大学文化功利主义倾向是高等教育质量管理制度变迁的主因。新时代中国高等教育管理应在国家调控、院校自治和市场调节三种力量之间平衡张力,使中国大学治理转向中国特色高等教育质量管理之新范式。     

Are Environmental Professors Unbalanced? Evidence From the Field

Most outcomes assessment in higher education has focused on content knowledge or skills development; however, attitudinal change is also a legitimate focus of assessment. We use the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) to test whether courses designed to meet the same university environmental literacy requirement changed student environmental attitudes, and whether these changes resulted from instructor and/or course-content effects. We found student environmental attitudes did change significantly but in different directions depending upon who taught the course. The ability to measure such changes adds to the discussion in the environmental education community on the desired nature of attitudinal change and of the responsibilities of higher education instructors.