Emotional bonds with nature as determinant of environmental awareness

Views of nature are part of human world views, and take part in defining the way people perceive themselves in relation to the natural environment, i.e. views of nature influence their environmental ethics. It is hypothesised in this paper that a deep emotional bond with nature positively influences a person’s environmental awareness. The thesis investigates if this hypothesis can be maintained, in the context of Germany. An online-questionnaire was distributed and four semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted. The analytical framework specifies environmental awareness as consisting of the three sub-concepts environmental knowledge, environmental attitude, and environmental behaviour. As theoretical background, an overview of different views of nature is presented, and a short review of historical influences shaping European worldviews and therewith environmental ethics is given. As an alternative environmental ethic suggesting a relationship to nature on a cognitive basis, the fields of deep ecology and ecopsychology are brought forward. The study makes use of nominal data from 96 replies to an online-questionnaire covering views of nature, attitudes on environmental protection, and emotional relationship to nature. The results show clear correlations between emotional bonds to nature and increased environmental sensitivity, which supports the hypothesis. In order to further intensify the discussion, four in-depth interviews were conducted in order to intensify the understanding of what environmental bonds to nature are in the first place, and in which ways they possibly influence environmental awareness. Correlation between emotional bonds to nature and particularly environmental attitudes can be shown from the questionnaire results. It is discussed to what extent environmental attitude translates into environmental behaviour. It is argued that a deep emotional bond to nature, in combination with ecological knowledge, can create an ecological consciousness. An ecological consciousness fosters environmental behaviour. It is concluded that an emotional bond to nature per se does not make an environmentalist, but can constitute a strong contribution. LUMES Master Thesis 2003 Tobias Schmitt