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Public Attitudes to the Environment in Scotland

CHAPTER THREE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Having considered views on the state of the environment in Chapter 2, Chapter 3 looks at ways of achieving a better environment and the role respondents saw for both themselves and organisations in this. The chapter begins by exploring the concept of sustainable development and then moves on to look at positive environmental actions including energy and water saving and purchasing environmentally friendly products. Attitudes towards environmental protection are then examined via sets of questions looking at perceived barriers to, and different mechanisms for, protecting the environment. Finally the success of different types of organisations in protecting the environment is explored.

3.1 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

'Sustainable development' is most commonly defined as development that 'meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. This definition was developed for the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development's report 'Our Common Future' ³⁰. Since 1987 there has been growing use of the term at international, national and local levels in recognition of the need to limit pollution and the depletion of natural resources while allowing societies and economies to continue to develop in appropriate ways. There is much debate about what sustainable development might mean and there are many competing definitions which attempt to operationalise the aspirations in a practical context. These definitions often differ in terms of the emphasis placed on the three dimensions of sustainable development - economic, social and environmental. Many organisations in Scotland, including Local Authorities, now have policies for promoting 'sustainable development'.

3.1.1 Understanding of sustainable development

Across the sample as a whole 27% of people reported having heard of the term 'sustainable development' ³¹. This ranged from 34% of men to 20% of women. Those aged 25-64 were more likely to say they had heard of sustainable development (30%) than those aged 16-24 (23%) or those aged 65 and over (17%). Awareness of the term was lowest among those with no qualifications (9%) and those living in social rented housing (11%). At the other end of the spectrum, 60% of those with professional qualifications or degrees said they had heard of sustainable development.

Those who had heard of the term were asked to say what they understood sustainable development to be about. Respondents' definitions were recorded in full and later classified according to whether they demonstrated an understanding of sustainable development as incorporating environmental, social and economic factors or some of these elements ³². Five categories of responses were identified, reflecting:

Examples of definitions classified in each of these categories are shown in Figure 3.1.

Twelve per cent of people who said they had heard of sustainable development were unable to define what they thought it meant. Of those who did attempt a definition, 3% gave a definition which showed they had a clear understanding of the concept and a further 6% gave a definition which suggested they had a reasonable understanding of what sustainable development involves. Over a third (34%) gave a definition which showed some understanding of the concept - perhaps linking it to environmental protection or limiting resource use, but not going further. Just under a third gave a definition which related sustainable development to forestry and just over a quarter of those attempting a definition appeared to have no real understanding of sustainable development.

This means that in total, only 2% of people in Scotland were able to give a clear or reasonable definition of sustainable development. A further 15% of people had heard of the term and gave a definition that showed they linked sustainable development to environmental protection, including woodland management, or the need to think about or limit resource use. Over eight in ten (82%) had not heard of the term or if they had, did not appear to know what it meant.

Understanding of sustainable development was greatest among those with degrees or professional qualifications (7% had a clear or reasonable understanding), young people aged 16-24 (5% had a clear or reasonable understanding) and private renters (11%). Among those with no qualifications or O grade level qualifications and those in social rented housing, 1% or fewer respondents gave a clear or reasonable definition of sustainable development.

[Table 3.3]

3.1.2 Belief in the concept of sustainable development

While the proportion of people who understood the term sustainable development was relatively low, people in Scotland appeared to accept the need to change current lifestyles so that future generations can continue to enjoy a good quality of life and environment.

Over three quarters of respondents agreed that most people in Scotland need to change their way of life for this reason (a quarter agreed 'strongly') and only 5% disagreed ³⁴ (Figure 3.2). There was little variation in relation to sex, however there was a relationship with age. Those aged 65+ were least likely to agree (70%) while those in the middle two age groups, 25-44 and 45-64 were most likely to agree (80% and 81% respectively). The proportion of people agreeing that most people in Scotland need to change their way of life rose from 70% of those with no educational qualifications to 85% of those with a degree or professional qualification (Figure 3.3). In terms of family types, those in small adult households and single parents were most likely to agree (84% and 82% respectively).

Respondents were also asked whether they felt they themselves needed to change their way of life so that future generations could continue to enjoy a good quality of life and environment (Figure 3.2). Fewer people agreed with this view than with the previous one, which focused on people in Scotland generally, however there were still relatively high levels of agreement. In total 47% of people agreed with the statement and 31% disagreed. Groups particularly likely to agree were those with professional qualifications or degrees (60%), those living in small adult households (59%), families (59%), and those aged 16-44 (58%). Groups least likely to agree were those aged 65+ and pensioners (13% and 17% agreed respectively), those with no educational qualifications (29% agreed) and social renters (36% agreed).

Having explored the relationships between these views and all of the factors considered in Table 3.4, logistic regression analysis was undertaken to determine which variables had a significant relationship with the attitudes, when the relationships between the socio-demographic variables were controlled for ³⁵. This found that only highest educational qualification and age were independently related to the general view that people in Scotland need to change their lifestyles. In order of importance, age, highest educational qualification, family type and sex were all related to taking personal responsibility for needing to make lifestyle changes ³⁶.

The difference between the proportions of people agreeing that 'people in general' need to change their way of life and those agreeing 'they personally' need to change their way of life is interesting. Combining the two measures, Table 3.5 shows that just under half of all respondents (46%) felt that people in general AND they personally need to change their way of life - a group later described as ' responsibility takers'. A third (32%) felt that other people but not themselves need to change their way of life - ' responsibility elsewheres' and one in five (22%) believed that neither they themselves nor others need to change their way of life so that future generations can continue to enjoy a good quality of life and environment, the ' status quos'. Thus it might be inferred that 22% of people do not believe there is a problem ('status quos') and 32% believe there is a problem, but do not see themselves as 'part of the problem' ('responsibility elsewheres'). One reason why this latter group might hold these views, could be that they are already most engaged in environmental issues - this shall be explored further in the Section 3.2.

As shown in Table 3.5, there was a strong relationship between age and these attitudes, with older people less likely to feel they themselves should change. Whether this is because they felt their lifestyles were less damaging, or that they were too old to make adjustments, or for some other reasons, is not evident. There was no variation by sex, but those with higher educational qualifications were more likely to be 'responsibility takers' and those with no qualifications were most likely to think that other people, or no-one should change their way of life (Table 3.6).

The 'responsibility takers' were asked what changes they thought they should make. Here verbatim answers were recorded and these have been summarised under more general themes in Table 3.7. The most commonly cited personal change related to recycling or recycling more than at present (33% of those who thought they needed to change their way of life). Other suggestions included using less energy, electricity or fossil fuels (20%), using the car less (20%), using more environmentally friendly or energy efficient products (19%), being more environmentally aware and encouraging others (18%).

* Respondents could mention more than one type of change

**This represents only people who agreed they personally needed to change their way of life

Some of the changes put forward by respondents relate to issues which previous sections of the questionnaire had covered - in particular use of electricity and water (reported on in Section 3.2), and it is possible that this prompted respondents to suggest these areas for change. There was however no particular relationship between those saying they needed to make changes in these areas and reported actions already taken in saving electricity and water. The next section of this chapter turns to look at what respondents themselves were already doing to protect the environment.

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