One of the most important intercultural understandings is how distinct cultures view the environment. The authors use the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) to compare across cultures each environmental worldview (Dunlap et al. 2000). By comparing pairs of countries, the authors find those countries were both similar and dissimilar in their environmental worldviews. The most similar pairing was the Navajo Nation and Brazil in environmental worldviews. The next most similar in pairings were the Navajo Nation with Greece and then the Navajo Nation with the US. Brazil compared with Greece, then Brazil compared with the US were only slightly similar. However, these similarities were not statistically significant meaning the similarities across the countries were weak and not meaningful. It was the dissimilarity comparison that showed meaningful differences statistically. The most dissimilar rankings were Morocco compared with the Navajo Nation, then Morocco compared with Brazil, and lastly Morocco with US. France followed these dissimilarity rankings with the Navajo Nation, then France with the US, and lastly France with Brazil. The NEP score and culture (defined as individualist versus collective) had a statistically significant impact on explaining the differences between countries (F = 5.582, sig. = .018, df = 887). Countries that had different cultures also had different NEP scores, but culture only moderately explained the difference (Cohen’s d = −.483). Ideology of the learner (defined as liberal to conservative) played a role in understanding environmental worldviews. Ideology was a statistically significant factor that correlated to environmental worldviews but generally was a weak predictor. The two NEP questions that stand out from the rest in being considered a moderate correlation with ideology were Q5—“Humans are severely abusing the environment” (Pearson’s r = .535, sig. = <.001) and Q15—“We will soon experience a major ecological catastrophe” (Pearson’s r = .516, sig = <.001). This was somewhat surprising that the identification of ideology was not more strongly linked to the environmental worldview of the learner. These results are vital for understanding the potential intercultural barriers that may be encountered when implementing the SDGs.

错误:搜索内容不能为空,请输入英文关键词
错误:关键词超出字数限制,请精简
高级检索

Intercultural Learning About Sustainability and the Role of Environmental Worldviews

  • Kelly A. Tzoumis,
  • Henry Fowler,
  • Karima Khalil,
  • Aamna Fasihi,
  • Danielle Nickaf

摘要

One of the most important intercultural understandings is how distinct cultures view the environment. The authors use the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) to compare across cultures each environmental worldview (Dunlap et al. 2000). By comparing pairs of countries, the authors find those countries were both similar and dissimilar in their environmental worldviews. The most similar pairing was the Navajo Nation and Brazil in environmental worldviews. The next most similar in pairings were the Navajo Nation with Greece and then the Navajo Nation with the US. Brazil compared with Greece, then Brazil compared with the US were only slightly similar. However, these similarities were not statistically significant meaning the similarities across the countries were weak and not meaningful. It was the dissimilarity comparison that showed meaningful differences statistically. The most dissimilar rankings were Morocco compared with the Navajo Nation, then Morocco compared with Brazil, and lastly Morocco with US. France followed these dissimilarity rankings with the Navajo Nation, then France with the US, and lastly France with Brazil. The NEP score and culture (defined as individualist versus collective) had a statistically significant impact on explaining the differences between countries (F = 5.582, sig. = .018, df = 887). Countries that had different cultures also had different NEP scores, but culture only moderately explained the difference (Cohen’s d = −.483). Ideology of the learner (defined as liberal to conservative) played a role in understanding environmental worldviews. Ideology was a statistically significant factor that correlated to environmental worldviews but generally was a weak predictor. The two NEP questions that stand out from the rest in being considered a moderate correlation with ideology were Q5—“Humans are severely abusing the environment” (Pearson’s r = .535, sig. = <.001) and Q15—“We will soon experience a major ecological catastrophe” (Pearson’s r = .516, sig = <.001). This was somewhat surprising that the identification of ideology was not more strongly linked to the environmental worldview of the learner. These results are vital for understanding the potential intercultural barriers that may be encountered when implementing the SDGs.