I would add to the previous post (based on what I got back from the Texas Methodists) that environmental activity seems to be strongly related to either A) ease of carrying it out, or B) poorly defined concerns about the environment.

In other words, in the case of A, alot of people said they recycle all the time (this is because most communities in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area either make bins available without making customers pick them up or because having a bin is mandatory). In the case of B, the people I talked to knew that recycling, installing CFLs and weatherstripping was a good thing (in a very vague sense) but didn't have much information on how or why other activities might help. For example, when I gave my talk (after getting the surveys back), most people didn't realize that eating meat posed an environmental problem beyond a potential animal rights issue--same with letting housecats run free, etc. The trend in this particular church was a very genuine feeling of wanting to do something, but a lack of tools and knowledge for doing it.

In other words, this particular group had the impression that God wanted them to care about the environment and to take action to that effect but didn't know precisely what that meant, or how to turn that sentiment into action. There was also a sense that individual action was pretty paltry in the face of corporate and governmental inertia. A woman asked me what could be done about that and all I could tell her was that she should vote for environmentally conscientious candidates and make an attempt to vote with her dollars by investing in companies with good track records and buying green products.

CB

June 25 notes on research questions

June 25, 2009
Thoughts on research so far:

Religion seems to have several main functions in relation to environmental behavior (like other social movements)
1) to offer values that are justified by a transcendent foundation/source
2) to facilitate personal transformation (consciousness raising, conversion)
3) to provide an organizational context that supports and makes possible behavioral changes and activism – providing logistical support, legitimacy, etc
4) to connect people with similar values and concerns to one another (in a supportive, non-threatening context)
5) to connect different scales of activity and institutions – from micro (personal) through meso and macro

For different people, and in different contexts, different religious groups will serve one, some, or all of these purposes

E.g., people who already have a strongly developed environmental concern and awareness don’t need (1) and (2) but for them a religious group can offer (3) (4) and (5)

For others, who have strong religious faith but no environmental concern, 1 and 2 may be most important

This suggests some goals for research:

* Identify what makes it possible for religious groups/congregations to offer any or all of these functions, including internal factors such as leadership; organizational structure and resources; content of beliefs and their form of justification, expression, and communication; kind of people who belong and their connections to each other; and also external factors such as political, economic, and cultural context; social position of congregation; ways congregation/institution is connected to other institutions, organizations, and social groups

* Rank factors if possible – are some more important or essential? Which, why, and under what circumstances (and for whom)?

* Identify what factors religious groups can offer uniquely or at least especially well (and when would another group do just as well)

* Identify how the process of personal transformation/conversion (both the birth of awareness and concern and also the decision to take action) takes place and what makes it possible