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Environmental Value Considerations in Public Attitudes About Alternative Energy Development in Oregon and Washington
The 2013 Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy signed by the Governors of California, Oregon and Washington and the Premier of British Columbia, launched a broadly announced public commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through multiple strategies. Those strategies include the development and increased use of renewable energy sources. The initiative recognized that citizens are both a central component in abating greenhouse gas emissions with regard to their energy use behaviors, and are important participants in the public policymaking process at both state and local levels of government. The study reported here examines whether either support or opposition to state government leadership in the development of alternative energy technologies can be explained by environmental values as measured by the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP). The research results are based on mail surveys of randomly selected households conducted throughout Oregon and Washington in late 2009 and early 2010. Findings suggest that younger and more highly educated respondents are significantly more likely than older and less educated respondents to either support or strongly support government policies to promote bioenergy, wind, geothermal, and solar energy. Those respondents with higher NEP scores are also more supportive of government promotion of wind, geothermal and solar technologies than are those with lower NEP scores. Support for wave energy does not show a statistical correlation with environmental values; maybe a reflection of this technology’s nascent level of development. The paper concludes with a consideration of the implications of these findings for environmental management.Keywords: New Ecological Paradigm (NEP), Public acceptance of energy technology, Renewable energy policy, Environmental valuesKeywords: New Ecological Paradigm (NEP), Public acceptance of energy technology, Renewable energy policy, Environmental value
Sustaining Community Through Collaboration: The Value of Conflict Management Training for Community Leaders
Many Americans seem fearful that all is not well in their world despite material abundance and a prolonged period of uninterrupted economic expansion. A great deal of discussion occurs in coffee shops, classrooms, office corridors, and on factory floors about signs of civic deterioration and loss of confidence in public institutions. We see this discussion echoed in the popular media and in research efforts by academics alike. Concerns are articulated about a decline in civility1, a disconnect between citizens and their government2, social values which erode social and ecological sustainability3, the shrinking of wilderness areas, and the scarcity of serene public places4. Farmlands and families are giving way to spreading subdivisions.5 Young people are facing threats in their lives that might have been stuff of stock fiction only a decade or so ago. Co-workers, families, and friends too often lament drive-by shootings, drug abuse, road rage, domestic violence, human predators, ethnic and racial bigotry, political corruption, poor educational performance, and the often intense pressures associated with balancing family and workplace demands in the contemporary high-stress work environment. A wave of publications and workshops reflect a profuse hunger for greater simplicity, social stability, and a sense of connectedness
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