Abhinaya Vijayakumar Living with Environmental Change

Understanding Environmental Change: Need for a Social and Cultural Approach

Concern about global environmental change has become widespread across the globe. Human activities are responsible for the most pressing environmental challenges of our day, including climate change and the loss of biodiversity (IHDP). Yet, we do not fully understand the reason behind this, and little do we know on how to redirect humanities towards a more sustainable pathway. As environmental issues lie at the interface of complex human and natural systems, to understand them, we should know not only the science involved, but also the social and cultural factors that are the driving forces behind human activities causing these problems (Keen et al., 2005). Though all living beings are affected by environmental change, only human beings can act to address this challenge. However, the question is Is it possible to do this without bringing about a fundamental alteration in human behavior, both individually and collectively? Drivers of Human Behavior Social and cultural aspects, which form the basic nature of a society, can direct individual and group behaviors which in turn influence environmental change through the use of goods and services that directly affect the environment (environmental consumption), which is linked to expenditures on goods and services known as economic consumption (Swim et al., 2010). Consumption and acquisition rituals (e.g., shopping) in most cases, are naturalized as sources of self-identity, goods are avidly desired for non-utilitarian reasons such as mere envy provocation and status seeking (Zhao & Belk, 2008). This kind of behaviour may satisfy psychological needs, however it may lead to environmental degradation. Though cultures can affect consumption by influencing peoples view of what is a necessity versus a luxury, in some cases, the boundaries can shift over time and they can also create real needs (Swim et al., 2010). For instance, products that were once considered as luxuries (e.g. cars), have at present become necessities for most of the people. In addition, social and cultural forces can have an effect on population by influencing the reproductive decisions of individuals in the society. It is implied by the evidence that women often have more children than what they report ideally wanting (Lule et al., 2007). Social and cultural approach has become prominent for the understanding and management of environmental issues (Keen et al., 2005; Pahl-Wostl, 2006), which takes into consideration more than the individual in understanding environmental change. This approach emphasizes the need for public involvement, because the effectiveness of various environmental policies require civic engagement and social support (Pahl-Wostl, 2007) and it is our duty to support such a cause as we all are part of the global environment and are likely to be affected by the consequences of its change. Active participation of the human community as a whole is crucial, as it aids in identifying the views of different people, improves their knowledge about the changing environment and also provides an opportunity to interact and come up with new ideas and possible solutions. Therefore, one cannot deny the fact that social and cultural approach is necessary to understand how human behavior affects the environment, how the environmental changes in turn affect them and how to respond to these changes. In fact, a fundamental change in both these aspects has now become inevitable, to deal with the complexities and uncertainties associated with environmental change. For this, it is important that we view this global problem as a social and societal challenge for successful adaptation and management practices.

What can to be done? An approach to environmental management that supports integrative, participatory, negotiable and collective action directed towards improving the human and environmental interrelations is the need of the hour.

References

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