Early literature in the field of environmental ethics suggests that environmental problems are not technological problems requiring technological solutions, but rather are problems deeply rooted in Western value systems calling for a reorientation of our values. This dissertation examines what resources are available to us in reorienting our values if this starting point is correct. Three positions can be observed in the environmental ethics literature on this issue: 1. We can go back and reinterpret our Western canonical texts and figures to determine if they can be useful in providing fresh insight on today's environmental challenges; 2. We abandon the traditional approaches, since these are what led to the crisis in the first place, and we seek to establish entirely new approaches and new environmental identities to face the environmental challenges of the 21st century; 3. We look outside of the Western tradition for guidance from other cultures to see how they inhabit and interact with the natural world. This dissertation presents and evaluates these three options and ultimately argues for an approach similar to the third option, suggesting that dialogue with indigenous cultures and traditions can help us to reorient our values and assist in developing more sustainable environmental identities.

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Play is a pivotal part of a child’s life. Outdoor play fosters opportunities for creativity, imagination, social connections, and learned behaviors. There are two types of outdoor playscapes: natural and constructed. Natural playscapes offer sensory stimulation and physical diversity which is critical for childhood experiences outdoors. Through careful design, constructed playscapes can be greened to simulate natural playscapes. Greening is the integration of natural elements and processes in a playscape. Children’s direct social and individual experiences in nature in early to middle childhood during the “developmental window of opportunity” between the ages of three and twelve years help shape their environmental identity and guide their environmental actions. Outdoor play in greened playscapes has a positive effect on children’s social development, motor skill development, attention, and activity level. It also can provide children with experiences in naturalistic landscapes which could impact their morals, values and actions. School yards have the ability to assist in teaching children and act as a safe-haven where parental concerns for safety and risk do not inhibit play. Understanding the relationships between play, experiences in nature, environmental identity, the health, learning, attention, and development benefits of outdoor play, and the evolution of playscape design, a series of guidelines can be created to provide better childhood playscapes. / Master of Landscape Architecture

This ethnographic case study investigates the diverse means and processes by which environmental identities were produced by five first grade students as they participated in an emergent, public school garden space. The children's histories, choices, personal and social experiences, expressions, and corresponding narratives are explored alongside the garden structure and social context to unpack the individualized and layered nature of children's environmental identity and care development. To locate and analyze children's engagements in the garden space, ethnographic, discourse, and narrative analysis methods are employed. The figured world concept is used to theorize and study the caring, environmental identities taken up and enacted by the children in this context. Through participation in emergent provocations, the creation and leveraging of garden artifacts, and investments in caring relationships, the children in this study shaped and cared for the garden space while it simultaneously shaped and cared for them. The environmental identity stories presented in this work broaden the definition of environmental identity to be more inclusive and less normalizing, thus, creating new spaces and moments for children to identify as environmentalists. The stories also raise implications for environmental education researchers to utilize more rigorous frameworks for investigating environmental care and identity development in the field. Findings from this research indicate that emergent garden spaces are potential sites for children to build relationships with nature in the public school. This is a significant practice for schools, as children today lack spaces in which to form environmental identities that implicate environmental care behaviors. / Ph. D.

The goal of this study is to develop an understanding of how participants express their environmental identities during an environmental learning program. Past research on the outcomes of environmental learning programs has focused primarily on changes in knowledge and attitudes. However, even if knowledge or attitudes can be accurately measured, they do not necessarily directly predict outcomes of environmental learning programs but rather serve as a proxy. Environmental identity is proposed as an alternative way to understanding participants' experiences in an environmental learning program. This study borrows a theoretical framework for environmental identity from the field of environmental campaigning and applies the field of environmental learning in a new way. This framework is based on known aspects of human identity from psychological research and allows environmental identity to be explored in a new and unique manner. A thematic analysis approach allows for the description of how six middle school students express their environmental identities around the themes of values and life goals, group membership, and fears and threats related to environmental issues. Findings indicate that the environmental identities of the participants in this study appear to be continuously developing and changing to account for new experiences and ideas related to the environment. Over the course of the program, some of the participants expressed that their environmental identities had strengthened due to their participation in the environmental learning program. The theoretical framework is used to describe what a strong environmental identity would look like as well as to characterize three of the participants' environmental identities. The affordances and limitations of the framework are shared and suggestions are made for how the framework could be strengthened for use in understanding participants' environmental identities during environmental learning programs.

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative research paper was to explore how consumers with an environmental identity evaluate new, environmentally friendly substitutes for meat, with edible insects given as an example. Problem: An increasing number of Swedish consumers show an overall negative attitude towards consuming meat, mainly due to environmental concerns, and express this by identifying themselves as vegetarians or flexitarian. Edible insects possess the potential to become an environmentally friendly, nutritious and innovative meat substitute in Sweden. Although the demand for new environmentally friendly meat substitutes is high, the intentions of consuming edible insects are low in Western societies. This causes researchers to ask why this conflict is.                                                                                                                               Methodology: In order to fulfill the purpose and to answer the research question, a qualitative research approach was adopted. Eight semi-structured interviews were used in the empirical data collection process. The chosen target group was vegetarians and flexitarians of Generation Y, and the sample was chosen through judgmental sampling.                                                                                                                                 Findings: This empirical study examines an extensive confusion and conflicted standpoints among consumers when evaluating edible insects. However, the authors examine a high willingness and positive attitude towards consuming edible insects. Five key factors that influence the evaluation of edible as a meat substitute have been identified: the animalistic qualities of insects, if insects are perceived as meat or vegetarian, if edible insects are ‘green’, proof and facts, and what product category edible insects belong to.

This study examines the environmental identity processes of Philadelphians involved in volunteer local everyday urban environmental stewardship through tree plantings and prunings, urban gardening, and neighborhood cleanups. A hybrid theoretical framework for environmental identities that simultaneously incorporates structural, discursive, and material concerns through the ground of everyday life was adapted from the political ecology of the body developed by Hayes-Conroy and Hayes-Conroy (2013). Three qualitative methodological techniques were performed: in depth interviews, participatory observation, and neighborhood walking tours. Results highlight the emotional and affective connections that participants held with their neighborhoods, neighbors and other participants, and trees and other nonhuman others. / Geography

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:30:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 6074.pdf: 1437302 bytes, checksum: 5fc2a5e80507f630027eded49174f043 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-06 / Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos / This research was linked to the ProMEA Network project: an alternative to overcome some difficulties of environmental education (EE) in primary education. One of its methodological strategies consisted in selecting teachers to articulate municipal schools and the community in EE actions. Thus, a working group was formed/created, consisting of basic education teachers, educational managers / supervisors and this work´s author in the development of her doctoral research. We understand that the way it was designed and developed, especially with regard to reflection and dialogue on the practices among all participants, ProMEA Network also meant a process of formation of environmental educators imbedded in the scope of their activity. The objective of this research was to understand the ways in which a process of EE in a public school can contribute to the formation and construction of the identities of teachers as environmental educators. We also sought to understand the contributions of some specific aspects of the project: the environmental mappings and diagnosis and the watershed approach. The research project was approved by the Ethics Committee on Human Research of UFSCar (Decision 09/2012). The theoretical framework was the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer and the dialogic pedagogy of Paulo Freire, according to which, we assume an intersubjective epistemology, in which knowledge is constructed on dialogue between the subjects about their experiences. Methods and techniques that allow dialogue between the subject and the interpretation of their language were used. The main trajectories of approximation of basic school teachers to EE have been the specialization and / or extension courses and the introduction of EE in their teaching practices. It is also important to emphasize the role of personal experiences and interpersonal relations that acquire new meanings in this process. The acting of environmental educators in the formal education needs to have an institutionalization that values EE in school and facilitates their work within the current structure. The dialogical and critical perspective of EE was highly valued because cooperation, dialogue and reflection among teachers about their practices and their role in school and in society as a whole were mentioned as important aspects in a formative environmental process. This process also needs to produce joy and satisfaction in school life, which favors changes in the professional and personal educators practices. From their EE practice, teachers build an ecological identity, notwithstanding heterogeneous and provisional, depending on opportunities for action, leading them to identify with the environmental ideals not only in the professional context, but also taking these ideas and practices for their personal daily lives. Therefore, in the school context, EE becomes a pathway to the environmental field, and the institutionalization of EE in basic education is essential for the continuity of the construction of this identity by the teachers and consequently environmental educational activities. / A presente pesquisa esteve vinculada ao projeto ProMEA na Rede: uma alternativa para superar algumas dificuldades da educação ambiental (EA) no ensino básico. Uma das suas estratégias metodológicas consistiu na seleção de professoras/es para atuação como articuladoras/es da EA entre as escolas municipais e a comunidade. Para tanto, foi constituído um grupo de trabalho, formado por professoras do ensino básico, gestoras educacionais e a autora deste trabalho no desenvolvimento da sua pesquisa de doutorado. Entendemos que, da maneira como foi concebido e desenvolvido, especialmente no que se refere à reflexão e ao diálogo sobre as práticas entre todas as participantes, o ProMEA na Rede também se constituiu em um processo de formação de educadoras ambientais em seu âmbito de atuação. Assim, o objetivo dessa investigação foi compreender as maneiras pelas quais um processo de atuação em EA em uma rede pública de ensino pode contribuir com a formação e a construção das identidades de professoras como educadoras ambientais. Também buscamos compreender as contribuições de algumas dimensões específicas do projeto: os mapeamentos e diagnósticos socioambientais e a abordagem da bacia hidrográfica. O projeto de pesquisa foi aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa em Seres Humanos da UFSCar. Utilizamos como referencial teórico a hermenêutica filosófica de Hans-Georg Gadamer e a pedagogia dialógica de Paulo Freire, segundo os quais, assumimos uma pesquisa com epistemologia intersubjetiva, na qual o conhecimento é construído a partir do diálogo entre os sujeitos sobre as suas experiências. Foram utilizados métodos e técnicas que permitem o diálogo entre os sujeitos, bem como a interpretação da sua linguagem. As principais trajetórias de aproximação das professoras do ensino básico com a EA têm sido os cursos de especialização e/ou extensão na área e a inserção da EA na sua prática pedagógica. Também é importante ressaltar o papel das vivências pessoais e das relações intersubjetivas que adquirem novos significados nesse processo. A atuação de educadoras/es ambientais no ensino formal precisa contar com uma institucionalização que valorize a EA na escola e facilite o trabalho da/o educador/a dentro da estrutura vigente. A perspectiva dialógica e crítica da EA também foi bastante valorizada, pois a cooperação, o diálogo e a reflexão entre as professoras sobre suas práticas e seu papel na escola e na sociedade como um todo foram mencionados por elas como aspectos importantes em um processo formativo ambiental. Este também precisa ser produtor de alegria e satisfação no cotidiano escolar, o que favorece mudanças nas práticas profissionais e pessoais das/os educadoras/es. A partir da atuação em EA, as professoras constroem uma identidade ecológica, ainda que heterogênea e provisória, sujeita às oportunidades de atuação, passando a se identificar com o ideário ambiental não apenas no contexto profissional, mas também levando essas reflexões e práticas para suas vidas pessoais cotidianas. Portanto, no contexto escolar, a EA torna-se uma via de acesso para o campo ambiental, sendo que a institucionalização da EA no ensino básico é essencial para permitir a continuidade da construção dessa identidade por parte das/os professoras/es e consequentemente das ações educativas ambientais.

Stakeholder demands on corporations to take environmental responsibilities are increasing and an environmentally responsible image could add values such as competitive advantage and a better reputation. To create a favorable image the corporation needs to develop a strong and sincere environmental identity that involves the whole organization. The identity is the way that the organization perceives itself and its self-expression and an environmental identity is one of the multiple identities that an organization can have. Communication is important both internally for establishing the identity and externally to create an environmentally responsible image. The organizational members need to be informed and involved in the responsibilities that the corporation is taken to be able to communicate them further to important external stakeholder groups. This thesis connects theories on corporate and organizational identities with organizational communication, culture and image to explain how the environmental identity and image is constructed. A case study has been conducted on a large Swedish company in the building and property management industry, Riksbyggen. The empirical material has mainly been gathered from interviews and also from participant observations. Nineteen employees and one consultant involved in the environmental communication process were interviewed individually or in focus group. The results showed that the case study organization had created a strong corporate environmental identity with clear visions and symbolic representations. However, the organizational environmental identity where the organizational members identify with the environmental activities was not yet developed fully. One reason behind this is the lack of dialogue opportunities in the organization, which means that the corporate identity is communicated from a top-down perspective. An environmentally responsible image was not established at organizational level either, even if some local initiatives had been successful.

Human-nature connection is recognized for its importance for our well-being, development of our environmental identity, and potentially leading to pro-environmental behaviour due to the support of an individual’s intrinsic values. However, the fostering of this connection is not supported and being implemented within society at large. This research set out to explore the causes of the weak relation to nature and identify potential design interventions to enable the recuperation of nature as part of our identity.  For this exploration, Speculative Design and Transition Design were chosen. In particular, Design Fiction as a method was adopted, not only it allowed us to speculate the future, but also materialise and explore the human-nature connection in ‘objects’. Transition Design was used due to its flexibility to explore interdisciplinary research and solutions, providing ground for the 'constructed reality’ and enabling the built-up of a roadmap towards this preferable future.  Drivers that caused this problem were identified, and it showed how they are closely intertwined and influenced by, or are a result of, each other. One of these is how control and illusion of control plays a role in our weak human-nature connection. Through qualitative fieldwork, some of the ‘characteristics of nature’ and factors that influence human-nature connection were mapped, and they were embodied into objects situated in a ‘constructed reality’. These material objects have taken the form of home products in a product catalogue (‘diegetic prototype’) as human-nature connection can potentially be fostered at home as well as in nature.  The response showed a potential in how a speculative ‘diegetic prototype’ can influence a person's sense of identity in relation to nature. Proving that the ‘diegetic prototype’ has an actual effect on the sense of identity would be impossible due to the complex nature of identity development as many different factors play a role. This research also provided a list of factors for designers to explore with regards to enhancing our human-nature connection through design. It has also shown the potential role of food and home in establishing human-nature connection, on which further research is needed.