WE don’t all have to love the environment the same way

Written By Peter Allan

Research by UBC professor Emily Huddart Kennedy shows everyone cares about the environment. Hiking with her son, Ollie. Photo by Emily Huddart Kennedy

 

By Patricia Lane & Emily Huddart Kennedy

These in-their-own-words pieces are told to Patricia Lane and co-edited with input from the interviewee for the purpose of brevity.

Emily Huddart Kennedy’s research shows everyone cares about the environment. The University of British Columbia professor’s recent book Eco-Types helps us understand five ways of relating to the natural world and invites us to approach each other from a place of compassion and respect.

Tell us about the book.

Based on personal interviews with 63 people from all walks of life and a large survey, I compare the strength of connection people feel to nature, the degree to which they think we face catastrophic breakdown, how strong a moral imperative they feel to act, and whether they think they can effect change. The results reveal everyone has a caring relationship to the natural world.

There are some striking similarities between people who allowed me to group people into five kinds of connection. Those I call “Eco Engaged” experience a fragile planet in need of protection from human destruction and disregard. They believe strongly that, as individuals, we all have a moral obligation to make environmentally friendly choices and this matters. Those I named “Self Effacing” share this concern, and admire the “Eco Engaged” but doubt their own efficacy. “Optimists” believe they live on a planet that is so strong and resilient that humans are largely inconsequential. “Fatalists” worry about environmental degradation and are angry with what they perceive to be corporate abuse of the natural world, but they don’t trust government or business to do what is needed. They see individual efforts, even done collectively, as insignificant in light of this power. Finally, the “Indifferent” love the natural world but don’t see it as their task to be informed or to act to protect it.

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Peter Allan
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