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The present research examined the relations between people's self-reported recycling and waste reduction behaviors, their reasons or justifications for engaging in these behaviors, and their future orientation. The most engaging results of the project pertained to the observed relations between the consideration of future consequences and respondents' self-reported recycling and waste-reduction behavior. The findings indicate that respondents' concern for the future and their ratings of the importance of various justifications were related to recycling behaviors in a consistent manner. The relations between the same predictors and waste-reduction behaviors, however, were more complex. The findings also revealed that respondents' tendencies to engage in waste-reduction behaviors were unrelated to their tendencies to recycle; that is, persons who perform one set of behaviors are not necessarily likely to perform the other. Some practical implications of these findings are also presented for developers of programs designed to increase public awareness of the need to reduce waste.

This study assessed the applicability of Tyler and Lind's (1992) relational model of authority to the context of local government policies on solid waste management. Tests of the hypothesized relations proposed by Tyler and Lind, accomplished through structural equation modeling, revealed that our data supported the relations between the various constructs of the model. Perceptions of both process control and relational process were found to be positively related to procedural fairness judgments, while procedural fairness judgments were weakly related to evaluations of government entities. Contrary to our expectations, a similar structural equation model test of an extension of the Tyler and Lind model showed that the model constructs were unrelated to respondents' opinions of public policies. The results also indicated that respondents living in communities with different infrastructures and political climates differed slightly in their perceptions of procedural justice and related constructs, but did not differ in their endorsement of the various solid waste management policies.

The experiment was an educational intervention that promoted and described an ongoing environmental tagging program located in a chain of three local grocery stores. Model Community. a nonprofit community organization, originated the environmental product tagging program that was present throughout the experimental educational intervention and was also responsible for sponsoring educational efforts in the local elementary schools and in the media. Over the period of a year, the experimental intervention was expected to stimulate self-reported environmentally conscious consuming above the level generated by the tagging program alone and above the levels reported by shoppers who did not shop at the experimental stores. Environmentally conscious consuming or precycling implies buying products packaged in recyclable materials, buying least waste packaged (bulk or minimally packaged) products, and buying 'safer earth' (nontoxic or alternatives to harsh chemicals) products. Contrary to expectations, there was no significant interaction effect of year (preintervention vs. postintervention) and group (experimental store vs. control group) on self-reported environmentally friendly consuming, implying that the experimental educational intervention did not have an effect. An investigation of the significant main effect of shopping at the environmentally tagged stores showed a significant positive effect on purchasing less toxic products, knowledge about Model Community, and awareness of the environmental tagging program. An examination of more aggressive educational campaigns in future studies is warranted because of more overall positive (although not significant) environmental shopping behaviors reported in 1990, when there was an active education program for Model Community, than in 1991, when the program ceased.

A study investigates medium-sized city households' general environmental concern, specific recycling attitudes and behavior as recycling opportunities increased over time. Surveys show an increase in actual volume of recycled materials as the number of households indicating that they recycled increased. General environmental concern and pro-environmental attitudes are more popular with recyclers than nonrecyclers.

Independent samples of forest managers, members of an environmental group, and a regional public constituency were asked either to respond to a hypothetical forest management problem or to predict how a member of one of the other groups would respond. Decisions and emotions of the environmental group and public sample were similar to each other but both different from those of the managers. Decisions were predicted accurately by all three groups, but managers and environmental group members perceived the public sample to be less emotional than it actually was. These results are interpreted in terms of a functional model of emotion and environmental decision making, and implications for public involvement programs are discussed.

Knowledge and motivational factors represent important but neglected topics in the study of recycling behavior. This article examines differences in knowledge, motives, and demographic characteristics of people who have the opportunity to recycle voluntarily. Information on these variables was obtained for 197 households in Illinois. The results indicated that recyclers in general were more aware of publicity about recycling and more knowledgeable about materials that were recyclable in the local area and the means for recycling these materials than were nonrecyclers. While both recyclers and nonrecyclers were motivated by concerns for the environment, nonrecyclers were more concerned with financial incentives to recycle, rewards for recycling, and with matters of personal convenience. Few demographic characteristics distinguished recyclers from nonrecyclers.

Conservation organizations undertaking ecological restoration and the lands they manage constitute a social-ecological system (SES). We implemented SES analysis to examine the relationship between diversity in organizational structure and restoration planning processes, and vegetation outcomes on the ground. Understanding the restoration consequences of multiple approaches to planning and implementation is relevant to assessing the resilience of this SES, especially if disagreements about the effectiveness of some approaches lead to conflict in the socio-political arena. We studied 10 conservation organizations in the Chicago Wilderness region that are restoring Midwestern oak woodlands of global conservation concern. Despite the institutional diversity of these organizations, we found little relationship between restoration planning and vegetation outcomes. This result has implications for the resilience of restoration as an SES, since similar outcomes from diverse processes should increase resilience of this SES, especially when controversial restoration practices are employed, and when priorities and funding levels change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A survey of several communities was conducted to investigate the public's response to solid waste issues. This study examines the relation between respondents' beliefs about environmentally responsible consumerism and environmental attitudes, motives, and self-reported recycling behavior. The study addressed (a) the public's perception of environment-related product attributes; (b) a sociodemographic characterization of environmentally concerned consumers; and (c) the depiction of the relations between attitudes, motives, recycling behavior, and environmental consumerism. The results indicated that respondents were most concerned about product toxicity and least concerned about product packaging. The data showed that only age and gender were predictive of respondents' ratings. Several measures of general environmental concern, recycling attitudes, and recycling motives were found to be related to both categories of product attributes; when the measures were examined in combination, different measures were found to be related to each category. Respondents' self-reported recycling behaviors were found to be related to source reduction and recycling.

Humans are surrounded by threats to the environment, many of their own making. The severity of environmental problems will not decrease unless action is taken to develop and encourage greater environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) in the general populace. Environmental education (EE) is one method for strengthening precursors to ERB such as knowledge and attitudes, but research on the connection is currently unclear. In this paper we present the results of a study investigating the role played by rewards in encouraging ERB precursors for adults and children involved in a zoo-based Nature Swap program. We used semistructured interviews to question 91 participants, including 38 children, 38 adult guardians, and 15 staff members regarding the importance of rewards in the program. We content analyzed the interviews to identify and describe major themes and then coded them. We found that adult guardians and Play Partners perceived intrinsic and extrinsic rewards as aiding in maintaining motivation and interest in the nonformal Nature Swap program. In addition, both children and adult companion participants in the program mentioned strengthened precursors to ERB. Overall we found that adult companions perceived that children who participated in the program spent more quality time outdoors and had a heightened awareness of their surroundings as a result of program-based rewards. Implications for other EE and conservation education programs are discussed. Zoo Biol 28:361-376, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managers' emotions play a significant role in natural resource decision-making processes relative to conflict. Although conflict and emotion are present in many aspects of most resource managers' careers, the role of the primary decision maker's emotions in natural resources decision-making processes is neither well understood, nor well documented. The ideas presented in this article derive from a literature review and an independent four-year qualitative study of the USDA Forest Service. The major finding of the study was that natural resources managers' emotions do indeed have an influence on their decision-making processes and in conflict situations. Furthermore, communication is a component of decision making; conflict is a component of decision making; and communication is a component of conflict. The authors review the literature in neuroscience and psychology on emotion and conflict. We explain how this information is important to any decision-making process, and then relate emotions and decision making to conflict at the USDA FS. We offer insights and suggestions as to how managers might manage their own emotional responses gracefully while under fire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]