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Awareness of the individual's harmful impact on the environment has been rising in recent years. One example of harmful impact is the littering of public spaces – which is significantly hazardous to ecosystems. A possible solution to the problem is a shift of emphasis. Rather than reinforcing external responsibility embodied in bins, cleaning staff, inspectors and authorities, emphasis should be placed on fostering the personal responsibility of citizens to collect the garbage they produce and transport it for safe, organized disposal. This approach is at the heart of a new initiative – Take the Garbage with You. This qualitative study examines how adults and adolescents perceive environmental responsibility – in general and, more specifically, regarding the littering of public spaces. We interviewed 24 participants divided into four groups: environmentally inclined adults, indifferent adults, environmentally inclined teens, and indifferent teens. Both inclined and indifferent, adults and teens alike, believe that others litter because there is someone in charge of cleaning and that the greater a person's sense of social belonging, the greater the efforts they take to protect the environment. Our findings also show that only environmentally inclined adults believe that Take the Garbage with You stands a good chance to succeed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In order to foster e-waste recycling, it is necessary to identify the factors that affect consumers' recycling of e-waste and to determine the degree to which these factors influence recycling behavior. We propose that environmental motivation and behavioral costs are the two determinants of e-waste recycling, but only behavioral costs can be manipulated effectively in the short term. We conducted two field trails and tested the effects of direct approaches (i.e., structural improvements such as curbside collection and deposit containers) and indirect approaches (i.e., material and social enticements) that were designed to reduce behavioral costs. Results showed that the direct approach led to more than a 14-fold increase in e-waste recycling compared to the control condition. This effect increased even further in the second field trial in which behavioral costs were indirectly decreased through a combination of social enticements that addressed social norms, group identity, and social commitment. These findings show that expensive structural improvements (e.g., setting up deposit containers for e-waste) can be outperformed by e-waste collection campaigns that address social motives. Highlights • In two field trials e-waste recycling was fostered by reducing behavioral costs. • Behavioral costs can be reduced both by structural and psychological interventions. • E-waste recycling rates were increased up to a factor of 14. • Social enticements were most effective to increase e-waste recycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we investigate licensing behavior across and within sustainability domains. In a survey study based on a random sample of residents of the state of Maine, USA (N = 668), we find that an individual’s choice in a future policy scenario was significantly impacted by recalling his/her own previous sustainable behavior. We find evidence of domain-specific licensing in the energy realm, where individuals who participated in past sustainable energy behaviors are less likely to support a proposed public policy investment in energy efficiency/renewable energy. We employ a novel environmental motivation scale and determine that licensing impacts are mediated by an individual’s internal environmental motivation. Our results suggest that care must be taken in how we encourage sustainable behavior, without triggering licensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present results from a large-scale study performed in Flanders, focusing on the effectiveness of the eco-schools project. We surveyed 2152 students and 1374 teachers in 101 primary and secondary schools that are actively engaged in the eco-schools program at different stages (including control schools), focusing on their environmental values, knowledge and motivation. The results show that as the schools progress in becoming a certified eco-school, their students’ environmental outcomes change; the eco-schools project thus clearly has an educational impact. The main effects are observed for theoretical knowledge, and to a lesser extent, applied knowledge. We also observed a drop in utilization values and in amotivation. On the other hand, the controlled motivation of students is stimulated by the project as it is implemented, suggesting that students act pro-environmentally due to external pressures rather than because of intrinsic reasons. We also explicitly moved beyond comparing schools based on their eco-schools labels and studied the process factors that contribute to learning outcomes. Our results highlight the importance of the approach to didactics for environmental education, the making of environmental education policy in the schools, and the presence and use of natural green elements at the school campuses. For each of these school-level variables, the impact on students’ environmental learning outcomes are studied and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim is to analyse the motivations that encourage environmental management (EM) in the medium-sized metal-mechanic companies located in the municipality of Querétaro, Mexico. Eleven companies were selected randomly and the instrument of data collection was the semi-structured interview in four categories: implementation of the system; environmental investments; personnel training; provisioning. The results allow to generate an explicit idea about the exercise of EM and the type of environmental actions that are executed in this industry. Four groups of companies were classified according to their maturation level of EM and its environmental commitment. It is concluded that the economic- financial profit motivates the integration of EM in its working system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faculty plays a critical role in the growing trend of internationalization in higher education. Thus, it is important to understand the factors that drive faculty members to get involved in internationalization. Employing structural equation model with data gathered from questionnaire, this study attempts to explore how faculty engagement in internationalization is motivated based on a survey in China, and institution type is also considered in our model. Our findings suggest that in the overall sample, both individual and environmental motivations positively relate to faculty engagement in internationalization, and individual motivation is the more critical predictor. One striking result is that individual motivation plays a complete mediating factor between environmental motivation and faculty engagement in internationalization, suggesting the significance of transferring institutional incentives to faculty's individual competence and efficacy. Institution type significantly accounts for environmental motivations. As to key university, the result was consistent with above. In general institution, however, the effect of environmental motivation is insignificant, indicating that sufficient funding is indispensable for the internationalization ambition of institutions. The implications for research and policy conclude this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A goal of most environmental education is to motivate students toward environmentally friendly behaviour change. This article describes a study that elucidates how such motivation can be fostered in the classroom. It compared students’ development of environmental motivation in a conventional post-secondary environmental biology course and a similar course guided by self-determination theory (SDT). Students in the SDT-guided course experienced less amotivation after the course than students in the comparison section. This article presents a preliminary empirical examination of the utility of SDT in a formal environmental education setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fostering environmental motivation to perform proenvironmental behaviors is an implicit goal of most environmental education (EE) programs. However, an inadequate amount of research has offered insight into how educators can foster environmental motivation through instruction, and the few studies that address this topic share a single theoretical perspective. The present author explored self-determination theory (SDT) as an alternative research paradigm to fostering environmental motivation in the EE classroom. The author describes SDT's theoretical underpinnings, discusses its potential application to EE, and proposes 3 potentially fruitful avenues of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]