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Hypothesis:
In Ten Theories of Human Nature, David L. Haberman and Leslie Stevenson
condenses Confucius’ writing in the Analects, saying “ a man should strive to enter politics
simply because he knows this to be right, even when he is well aware that his principles
cannot prevail”(33). To further this, we believe that as the more liberal the respondent is,
the more environmentally conscious he/she is, because in the political system we live in the
liberals, such as progressive democrats and Green Party members have strong
environmental views and we see no reason why typical college students views wouldn’t
reflect that. However, we think we will see a lot of people conforming, because we live in
a rather strict 2 party system, unlike a parliamentary system where many parties allow
people to pick a party that more correctly reflects their views, and people generally feel a
need to identify with that group and will accordingly adopt the majority of that parties
rhetoric, including their policy on environmental issues.
Revelance:
One of the last activities that Bill Clinton performed as president was to set aside 6
million acres of national forest and wildlife land. His vice president, Al Gore, also had a
strong interest in the environment, and used this as a platform for his bid for the
presidency. By contrast, one of George W. Bush’s first contemplations (and perhaps one
of his first actions) as our current president was mining the Alaskan oil reserve - this from
a man who has profited from Texas oil all of his life. In addition, the newly formed Green
Party has such interests as nuclear disarmament and the embracing of industrial hemp,
issues that have caused many of the more liberal-leaning Democrats to support this party.
The relevance here is that there seems to be a correlation between appreciating and
being sensitive toward the environment and political party affiliation. It’s probably not as
black and white as “being a Democrat means saving the environment and being a
Republican means destryoing it”, but we’d like to see the extent of which that might hold
true.
Literature Review:
One resource we are using is the aforementioned Ten Theories of Human Nature,
as stated. Another book we are using is The Value of Life by Stephen Kellert, which
discusses 9 basic value systems and their contexts in society, which includes relationships
to biophilia, politics, etc. "What's Ahead in Environmental Policy?" by William H. Miller
discusses environmental policy and its relationship with industry, big business and other
sources that can influence political parties (such as through campaign contributions, soft
money, etc.) In The Promise of Green Politics: Environmentalism and the Public Sphere,
Douglas Torgerson explores the relationship between environmentalism and political
thought. In Peter Huber’s Hard Green: Saving the Environment from the
Environmentalists: A Conservative Manifesto is a hard-line conservative look at how the
environmentalists may have underestimated the condition, and that such things as drilling
for oil in Alaska may not be that harmful
With the wide arrange of books and articles available, it is clearly obvious that this
is a hot topic right now. It deserves our attention, and that is why our project has a lot of
relevance to what is going on in our daily lives.
Experimental Design:
We are going to pass out 120 surveys (included below) to students across campus
regarding both political and environment issues and the student’s opinions on them. We
wrote these specific questions because we felt: 1) they adequately described people’s
political affilations 2) they explored how their environmental affiliations were affected by
their political affiliations 3) they give a general idea of people’s feelings on the
environment by specific example 4) many of these are current issues that have been/are
being debated in political circles.
Our survey audience is the typical college student here at Miami. We are going to
try to get a good cross section of the miami population (not just western kids - a lot of
main campus students, too). We chose 120 surveys because it is a large enough amount
to offer substantial statisical data with which to draw definite conclusions.
Preliminarily, we are thinking of running t-tests comparing the variables of their
political leanings and their responses to political cases. We will also run a test to see the
average amount of change a person goes through in order to conform to a political party.
We’ll also involve the class by surveying them as well.
Time Line:
March 9 - copies of survey finished
March 19 to April 17 - survey distribution
April 10 - most surveys completed and data enter begun
April 17 - all surveys completed and data entry entered in computer
April 24 - finish data analysis, final report begun
week of April 29 - final report finished, posted to web.
Survey Questions:
1) Sex: Male/Female
2) Year in school: F, So, J, Se
3) Major: ________
4) Political Party affiliation: ________
5) Rank how conservative or liberal you feel you are: 1 2 3 4 5
(1 being conservative, 5 liberal)
6) Rank your environmental awareness: 1 2 3 4 5
(1 aware, 5 not aware)
7) How closely do you identify with your party’s evironmental platform? 1 2 3 4 5
(1 identify, 5 do not)
8) How much has your environmental awareness/sensitivity changed since you started
affiliating with your political party? 1 2 3 4 5
(1 changed, 5 not changed)
For the following, 1 is strongly agree, 2 is agree, 3 is no opinion, 4 is disagree, 5 is
strongly disagree:
9) I feel global warming is an increasing problem that should be more rigourously acted
upon. 1 2 3 4 5
10) I am opposed to logging in areas where protected animals could be harmed. 1 2 3 4 5
11) I do not support rainforest deforestation for agricultural purposes. 1 2 3 4 5
12) I support further implementation of electric and/or hybrid cars. 1 2 3 4 5
13) I support help and funding for endangered animals. 1 2 3 4 5
14) I support restrictions on pesticides and insecticides. 1 2 3 4 5
15) I recycle. 1 2 3 4 5
Bibliography:
Hard Green: Saving the Environment from the Environmentalists: A Conservative
Manifesto. By Peter Huber. NY: Basic Books, 2000. 224pp.
The Promise of Green Politics: Environmentalism and the Public Sphere. By
Douglas Torgerson. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999. 218pp.
Ten Theories of Human Nature. By Leslie Stevenson and David L. Haberman. NY:
Oxford University Press, 1998. 233pp.
The Value of Life. By Stephen Kellert. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1996. 263 pp.
WHAT'S AHEAD IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY?(U.S.), industry week
Author/s: William H. Miller Issue: April 19, 1999.
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