tailieunhanh - Human Behavior and Environmental Sustainability: Problems, Driving Forces, and Research Topics - Charles Vlek, Linda Steg

Human Behavior and Environmental Sustainability: Problems, Driving Forces, and Research Topics includes: environmental Sustainability as a problem for human society, societal driving force of the environmental, Specific of social and behavior research, concluding remarks. | Journal of Social Issues Vol. 63 No. I 2007 pp. 1-19 Human Behavior and Environmental Sustainability Problems Driving Forces and Research Topics Charles Vlek and Linda Steg University of Groningen Social and behavioral research is crucial for securing environmental sustainability and improving human living environments. To put the following articles into broader perspective we first give an overview of worldwide developments in environmental quality and trends in resource use. Second five general driving forces of global environmental change are distinguished population affluence technology institutions and culture these are considered in view of critical transitions in the evolution of human society. Third inspired by a four-stage model approach to common resource dilemmas our introduction describes this issue s specific topics for research and policy support concerning environmental sustainability at different scale levels. Finally the necessity of multidisciplinary collaboration and desirable developments in environmental psychology are discussed. Environmental sustainability is a key issue for human societies throughout the 21st century s world. All countries need to secure sufficient quality in the short and the long term of natural resources ecosystems and the diversity of plant and animal species including the human living environment. Since 1987 the term sustainable development has been used to denote economic social and environmental dimensions of our future survival WCED 1987 see Robinson 2004 for a conceptual review . In this issue we focus on environmental sustainability and its relation to human quality of life. Our focus is on positive and negative qualities of human living environments including nature for people on what they do to people what people do to them and how this could be changed for the common good. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to C. A. J. Vlek Department of Psychology University of Groningen Grote .