Mark White, University of Virginia
Dan Abel, Coastal Carolina University
Amy Predmore, Charlottesville
Erin Webb, Commerce/ETP ’12
Sarah Peterson, Politics ’11
Version 2-0

the margin for action narrows

Sustainability is the theme of the Spring 2010 voyage of Semester at Sea.
We define sustainability as a “society of permanence” – a world in which humanity ensures its well-being across the generations by improving the stability of ecological and sociocultural systems ...
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SOURCE: SAS Voyage Theme, Spring 2010

DOMINANT
SOCIAL PARADIGM
• Support for free enterprise
• Belief in unlimited growth
• Commitment to limited government
• Devotion to private property rights
• Emphasis on individualism
• Faith in science and technology
• Faith in future material abundance and prosperity
• Support for the status quo
NEW
ECOLOGICAL PARADIGM
• Recognition of limited resources
• Awareness of the fragility of nature’s balance
• Rejection of human exemptionalism
• Ecocentric vs. anthropocentric point of view
• Belief in the probability of an eco-crisis aka “Spaceship Earth”
Dunlap and van Liere (1978); Dunlap et al. (2000)
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Sustainability on the Voyage
Empirical Study
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global studies elective courses field practica evening programs co-curricular activities “walking the talk”
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New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale
Dunlap and Van Liere (1978); Dunlap et al. (2000)
Research Questions
1.
Are our results comparable with other studies? (validity)
2.
How is ecological worldview related to various demographic characteristics?
3.
Did participation in the voyage shift students’ ecological worldview and/or environmental attitudes?
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• n = 215
• 71% female
• 68% juniors
• variety of disciplines
26% business/economics
• diversity of geographic regions, institutional sizes,
Sustainability Report Card scores

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56.88 Pre-Survey
50.86 - 57.08 USA students
Hawcroft and Milfont, 2010
57.14
Range = +15 (weak ecological worldview) to +75 (strong ecological worldview)
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75
65
35
25
55
45
15
Females Males Western
Regions
Non-
Western
Regions
Business
Majors
Non-
Business
Majors
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Human ingenuity will insure that we do NOT make the earth unlivable (4)
Anti-Exemption
Anti-Anthropomorphism
Humans will eventually learn enough about how nature works to control it (14)
Human have the right to modify the natural world to suit their needs (2)
The so-called “ecological crisis” facing humankind has been greatly exaggerated (10)
The earth has plenty of natural resources if we just learn how to develop them (6)
0 1 2
1 = Strongly agree, 2 = Mildly agree, 3 = Unsure, 4 = Mildly disagree, 5 = strongly disagree.
Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.
Greater disagreement with even-numbered items indicates greater acceptance of the NEP.
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Limits
4
Eco-Crisis
Pre-Survey
Post-Survey
5
15

6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
-2.00
-4.00
-6.00
Below Average Average Above Average
Sustainability Report Card Grades
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Around-the-world sustainability-themed voyage
Learning objective = changed worldview
Integrated curricular and co-curricular activities
Survey evidence
Behavioral evidence
Anecdotal evidence
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“Now, let me share with you one word, “sustainability” … I cannot possibly share with you all that I have learned about our environmentally twisted planet from these past four months but I can give you a summary. We’re on the wrong track. The state of this planet both environmentally and socially is heading down a road that we probably shouldn’t be on …
Environmentally, the planet is heating up.
Like a bowl of microwaveable Easy-Mac, bad things happen when you let it get too hot. To identify only a few concerns from the extensive list of issues, waters are rising, extinction is becoming too common, and many lives, both human and not, are at risk.
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“Each day in the classroom we were pummeled and overwhelmed with information regarding the unstable conditions of our planet. We saw current problems, potential future ones, and learned of catastrophic possibilities. I won’t lie to you -- we didn’t stop global warming. We didn’t eradicate hunger or end poverty. In fact, we may have only shot one tiny bullet in this battle for the improvement of our planet. But as the old saying goes, “knowledge is power!” It is.
Trust me. What we learned from this program was all the weapons and coat of arms we need to have a chance in winning this fight. By arming us with knowledge for both now and the future, 586 students disembarked yesterday with a firm grasp on what needs to be done to support the soil we stand on.
”
-- Chris Constantine http://chrisconstantinesas.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html
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Sarah Peterson, Harrison Award (2010-11)
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TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778
• US business students will be less likely to support the NEP than German business students; neither group will strongly support the NEP
• American students will express more support for the DSP tenets of human exemptionalism, exaggeration of ecocrises, and anthropocentrism
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompress ed) dec ompres sor are needed t o s ee this pic ture.
• The difference between the two groups on the issue of limits to human growth will be less distinct
John Locke, 1632-1704

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White, M. A., Abel, D. & A. Predmore (2011). Transformative Sustainability Education in a
Shipboard Living-learning Community. Forthcoming in World Trends in Education for
Sustainable Development, W. Leal, Ed., Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
White, M. A., Predmore, A. and D. Abel. (2011). Effectiveness of a Seagoing Global Immersion
Program in Fostering Ecological Awareness. Working paper. Under review at the Journal of Environmental Education
Dunlap, R. E., & van Liere, K. D. (1978). The ‘New Environmental Paradigm’: A Proposed
Measuring Instrument and Preliminary Results. Journal of Environmental Education, 9, 10-
19.
Dunlap, R. E., van Liere, K. D., Mertig, A. G., & Jones, R. E. (2000). Measuring Endorsement of the
New Ecological Paradigm: A Revised NEP Scale. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 425-442.
Hawcroft, L. J., & Milfont, T. L. (2010). The Use (and Abuse) of the New Environmental
Paradigm Scale over the Last 30 years: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Environmental
Psychology, 30, 143-158.
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Mark White, University of Virginia
Dan Abel, Coastal Carolina University
Amy Predmore, Charlottesville
Erin Webb, Commerce/ETP ’12
Sarah Peterson, Politics ’11
Version 1-8