TY - JOUR
T1 - Affluence and objective environmental conditions
T2 - Evidence of differences in environmental concern in metropolitan Brazil
AU - Nawrotzki, Raphael J.
AU - Guedes, Gilvan
AU - Carmo, Roberto L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The authors.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - In an age of climate change, researchers need to form a deepened understanding of the determinants of environmental concern, particularly in countries of emerging economies. This paper provides a region-specific investigation of the impact of socio-economic status (SES) and objective environmental conditions on environmental concern in urban Brazil. We make use of data collected from personal interviews of individuals living in the metropolitan areas of Baixada Santista and Campinas, in the larger São Paulo area. Results from multilevel regression models indicate that wealthier households are more environmentally concerned, as suggested by affluence and post-materialist hypotheses. However, we also observe that increasing environmental concern correlates with a decline in objective environmental conditions. Interactions between objective environmental conditions and SES reveal some intriguing relationships: Among poorer individuals, a decline in environmental conditions increases environmental concern as suggested by the objective problems hypothesis, while for the wealthy, a decline in environmental conditions is associated with lower levels of environmental concern.
AB - In an age of climate change, researchers need to form a deepened understanding of the determinants of environmental concern, particularly in countries of emerging economies. This paper provides a region-specific investigation of the impact of socio-economic status (SES) and objective environmental conditions on environmental concern in urban Brazil. We make use of data collected from personal interviews of individuals living in the metropolitan areas of Baixada Santista and Campinas, in the larger São Paulo area. Results from multilevel regression models indicate that wealthier households are more environmentally concerned, as suggested by affluence and post-materialist hypotheses. However, we also observe that increasing environmental concern correlates with a decline in objective environmental conditions. Interactions between objective environmental conditions and SES reveal some intriguing relationships: Among poorer individuals, a decline in environmental conditions increases environmental concern as suggested by the objective problems hypothesis, while for the wealthy, a decline in environmental conditions is associated with lower levels of environmental concern.
KW - Affluence hypothesis
KW - Environmental concern
KW - Environmental conditions
KW - Metropolitan Brazil
KW - Socio-economic status
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U2 - 10.5539/jsd.v7n2p173
DO - 10.5539/jsd.v7n2p173
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84924431765
SN - 1913-9063
VL - 7
SP - 173
EP - 193
JO - Journal of Sustainable Development
JF - Journal of Sustainable Development
IS - 2
ER -