Micro and Macro Approaches to Environmental Education

The root cause of the majority of environmental problems lies not in surface manifestations such as carbon dioxide and ozone, but with social and cultural factors that encourage people to consume far more than they need. Environmental education can be divided into two main kinds: micro approaches, which the majority of current approaches fall under, and macro approaches, which are currently emerging. Micro environmental education considers environmental problems in terms of surface manifestations, and proposes micro-changes such as recycling to address them, without questioning the possibility of a cultural shift away from consumerism. This form of environmental education typically seeks to change the behaviour of social actors by building and appealing to their environmental consciousness in the expectation that they will act rationally. It is argued here that this expectation fails to recognise that social actors are subject to plural rationalities and that their behaviour is driven by complex interrelationships with other social actors. As a result, micro environmental education, despite its best intentions, often fails to adequately address and change the environmentally unsustainable behaviour of the social actors it targets. This thesis firstly aims to uncover why micro approaches to environmental education exist and persist. Primary qualitative research with environmental educators drawn from formal, free-choice and accidental channels of environmental education was conducted and is presented alongside a review of the historical development of environmental education. The second aim of this thesis is to argue against a reliance on micro approaches to environmental education and environmentalism in general and propose instead that environmental education becomes embedded within a wider macro approach. Macro approaches seek to change behaviour through the development of a critical understanding of interrelationships among social actors, leading ultimately to environmentally positive changes in them. Findings from the primary research also help reveal the conditions necessary for macro approaches to emerge from the current environmental education infrastructure. The thesis concludes that macro environmental education is both necessary and possible and calls for further research into its development and practice

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The Impact of Cultural Competence Training on Rural Human Service Professionals

Cultural competence among human service professionals is imperative given the rapidly changing American demographics. Current inadequacy in the delivery of culturally responsive social services is due to insufficient cultural competence training for human service professionals. This research study investigated the extent to which constructivist based cultural competence training influenced rural human service professionals’ perceived level of cultural competence. In three regions of Tennessee, rural human service professionals (n = 44) completed an electronic survey which included the adapted California Brief Multicultural Scale (CBMCS). Using a correlational descriptive design by surveying participants, the researcher discovered rural human service professionals perceive themselves as being culturally competent. The variable, training quantity, was a significant predictor of perceived cultural competence

The use of geoscience methods for aquatic forensic searches

There have been few publications on the forensic search of water and fewer still on the use of geoforensic techniques when exploring aqueous environments. Here we consider what the nature of the aqueous environment is, what the forensic target(s) may be, update the geoforensic search assets we may use in light of these, and provide a search strategy that includes multiple exploration assets. Some of the good practice involved in terrestrial searches has not been applied to water to-date, water being seen as homogenous and without the complexity of solid ground: this is incorrect and a full desktop study prior to searching, with prioritized areas, is recommended. Much experimental work on the decay of human remains is focused on terrestrial surface deposition or burial, with less known about the nature of this target in water, something which is expanded upon here, in order to deploy the most appropriate geoforensic method in water-based detection. We include case studies where detecting other forensic targets have been searched for; from metal (guns, knives) to those of a non-metallic nature, such as submerged barrels/packages of explosives, drugs, contraband and items that cause environmental pollution. A combination of the consideration of the environment, the target(s), and both modern and traditional search devices, leads to a preliminary aqueous search strategy for forensic targets. With further experimental research and criminal/humanitarian casework, this strategy will continue to evolve and improve our detection of forensic targets

Perfect weddings abroad

Approximately 16% of UK couples are currently married abroad. However, academic or practitioner focused research that explores the complex nature of a couple’s buying preferences or the development of innovative marketing strategies by businesses operating within the weddings abroad niche sector, is almost non-existent. This exploratory paper examines the role and relevance of marketing within the weddings abroad sector. The complex nature of customer needs in this high emotional and involvement experience, are identified and explored. A case study of Perfect Weddings Abroad Ltd highlights distinctive features and characteristics. Social networking and the use of home-workers, with a focus on reassurance and handholding are important tools used to develop relationships with customers. These tools and techniques help increase the tangibility of a weddings abroad package. Clusters of complementary services that are synergistic and provide sources of competitive advantage are identified and an agenda for future research is developed

The use of geoscience methods for aquatic forensic searches

There have been few publications on the forensic search of water and fewer still on the use of geoforensic techniques when exploring aqueous environments. Here we consider what the nature of the aqueous environment is, what the forensic target(s) may be, update the geoforensic search assets we may use in light of these, and provide a search strategy that includes multiple exploration assets. Some of the good practice involved in terrestrial searches has not been applied to water to-date, water being seen as homogenous and without the complexity of solid ground: this is incorrect and a full desktop study prior to searching, with prioritized areas, is recommended. Much experimental work on the decay of human remains is focused on terrestrial surface deposition or burial, with less known about the nature of this target in water, something which is expanded upon here, in order to deploy the most appropriate geoforensic method in water-based detection. We include case studies where detecting other forensic targets have been searched for; from metal (guns, knives) to those of a nonmetallic nature, such as submerged barrels/packages of explosives, drugs, contraband and items that cause environmental pollution. A combination of the consideration of the environment, the target(s), and both modern and traditional search devices, leads to a preliminary aqueous search strategy for forensic targets. With further experimental research and criminal/humanitarian casework, this strategy will continue to evolve and improve our detection of forensic targets

Ranking Objections to Christian Theism: A Survey of Subjective Declarations and their Correlations with Expert Opinions

There have been numerous books written on the top objections to Christianity—sometimes stated as “common,” “major,” “frequent,” “every day,” “cultural,” “tough,” “difficult” objections. However, there is a dearth of behavioral studies in the literature that show how and given population ranks objections to Christianity. As such, the apologist has had to rely on expert opinions from the books that have been authored. These expert opinions are based on familiarity with the literature in the field and contact with laity from university, church, and other speaking engagements. The purpose of this study is to document trends in how people report the relative strength of objections to Christian theism.[1] We analyze whether these trends correlate with popular works of Christian apologists—our baseline for expert opinion. Further, we determine whether there are any statistically significant relationships between reported demographics, rankings, and attitudes. Summary of Results and Analysis. Subjective declarations of respondents of the questionnaire showed that most participants were either 18-24 (marginally more than 55-64 and 65-74), male (marginally more than female), had some college (marginally more than bachelor’s, master’s degrees), lived in a suburban community, or lived in the South. In comparing the expert opinion baseline with the aggregate survey ranking results, we see similar rankings between the objection that “God is unloving/immoral” and that the “Bible is not inerrant” (ranked by both as 1st and 2nd, respectively) at the higher end of the spectrum. We found that those identified as agnostic seem to have the closest potential correlation to expert opinion (baseline). The mean of their rankings produced four objections that closely approximated the baseline, one objection that was about one rank removed from the baseline, and three objections that were about two ranks from the baseline. For demographics and rankings, we found statistically significant relationships between religious identification and the objection “God does not exist” with those who identified as atheists, giving it an average ranking of 3.74 (on a scale of 1-13; 1 = highest, 13 = lowest). For demographics and attitudes, we found statistically significant relationships between religious identification and age, religious discussion importance, and attitude toward Christian theism. (See “Analysis” section.) [1] The study was done under the School of Divinity Department at Liberty University in compliance with Liberty University’s Internal Review Board (Research Ethics Office). IRB-FY21-22-12. Policy: Post-2018 Rule. Submitted 07-06-2021. Last approved 09-07-2021, no expiration date applicable