Environmental Concern and Environmental Behavior in Foley, a Small Town in Minnesota

Abstract

Research on environmental concern is extensive, and studies have identified factors that determine environmental behavior. These factors, however, are often related to specific behaviors, such as recycling, and they are not applicable to environmental behavior in a general sense. Most studies have also failed to measure correlations among the variables studied. This lack of comprehensive understanding suggests the need for explorative and qualitative approaches. This article examines households' and individuals' environmental behavior from the perspectives of human geography and ethnography. Its objective is to explore motives for environmental actions, as well as to identify major impediments to changed behavior. Twenty households, 10 households with high environmental activity and 10 households with low environmental activity, were selected from among the respondents to a community-wide questionnaire distributed in Foley, a small town in Minnesota. Research methodology was qualitative: ethnographic interviews. The article's main conclusion is that people cite a wide variety of reasons for their behavioral change. This conclusion itself reflects the difficulties in identifying the factors that determine environmental behavior. In this article, five groups of conserving informants are identified: the Depression generation, children of the Depression generation, the Vietnam generation, role models, and gradual evolvers. Among non-conserving informants, three reasons for not taking environmental action emerged: lack of time, no monetary reward, and inconvenience. The findings indicate that a variety of measures and strategies must be developed to change people's behavior.