Value Content
Some of the commonly identified content of environmental positions are identified below. Keep in mind that an individual is not likely to wholly adopt one position. Each individual is unique. The next sections on value continua and clusters discuss how different value contents cluster together.
Deep Ecology (Devall and Sessions 1985). The content of values associated with deep ecology include:
Earth-Centered, Indigenous Values - Native American values are said to represented an earth-centered value perspective. Content includes:
Winona LaDuke lecturing at LaSells Stewart Center 1/18/92 gave these three pieces of key content for Native American values.
There is considerable debate over the actual nature of Native American views toward the environment. The Chief Seattle speech indicates how non-Indians interpreted indigenous values. The Treaty of Walla Walla negotiations, however, demonstrate an indigenous earth-centered belief.
Several versions of Chief Seattle's speech exist (Kaiser 1987)
Ted Perry is a filmmaker who was quite taken with the speech. He made modifications to serve his environmental interests. He changed the tone toward greater anger and shifted from concern for the deceased to concern for the environment. Compare H.A. Smith's quote of Chief Seattle's words with those of Perry.
Smith version:
I here and now make this the first condition:
That we will not be denied the privilege . . . of visiting the graves of our ancestors and friends.
Every part of this country is sacred to my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove has been hallowed by some fond memory or some sad experience of my tribe.
. . . , and the very dust under your feet responds more lovingly to our footsteps than to yours, because it is the ashes of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch, for the soil is rich with the life of our kindred.
Perry version:
My words are like stars. They do not set.
Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing, and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people.
We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man--all belong to the same family.
Perry seems to have added the earth-centered spiritualism to his translation of Chief Seattle's speech. Negotiations at the Treaty of Walla Walla do illustrate the earth-centered nature of tribal leaders attending.
Treaty of Walla Walla:
Young Chief said, ". . . the Earth says, God has placed me here to produce all that grows upon me, the trees, fruit, etc. The same way the Earth says, it was from her man was made. God on placing them on the earth desired them to take care of the earth and do each other no harm.
Stachas said, "My friends I wish to show you my mind, interpret right for me. How is it I have been troubled in mind? If your mothers were here in this country who gave you birth, and suckled you, and while you were sucking some person came and took away your mother and left you alone and sold your mother, how would you feel then? This is our mother country, as if we drew our living from her. (From true copy of the Record of the official proceedings at the Council in the Walla Walla Valley, held Jointly by Isaac I. Stevens Gov. & Supt W.T. and Joel Palmer Supt. Indian Affairs O.T. on the part of the United States With the Indians named in the Treaties made at the Council June 11th and 9th 1855 as published by Slickpoo and Walker 1973:119).
The treaty negotiations reflect the Native Americans, earth-centered values, and the Euro-American values about family farming. The two cultures had differing perceptions of social organization, land ethics, negotiating, land ownership principles, law and order practices, and views on resource rights.
Intergenerational Equity - The essential content is to do nothing that will make future generations worse off than the present generation. A common rule is that when contemplating an action think ahead to the seventh generation.
Preservationist - The debate between Gifford Pinchot and John Muir highlights the content of preservationist values. For the history of this debate see Jones (1965).
"Preservationists think the correct attitude toward Nature is to see it as having its own or intrinsic value. Conservationists see the value of Nature in its contribution to human welfare" (MacLean, 1993:171-172).
Buddhist Economics Shumacher (1973:53-62) gives the content elements of Buddhist economics as
Conservationist - improving the quality or resources and maintaining them in perpetuity
Technocratic - resources exist for the benefit of people
Value Continua
Environmental values can be placed on a continua from ecocentrism to technocentrism
(O'Riordan 1981:376). The section on "value content" was organized according to this
perspective. The section started with ecocentric values and moved toward technocentric ones.
Ecocentric and technocentric values tend to occupy opposite ends of value continua, as illustrated in the two lists below. Looking at all these lists suggests that many different value continua can be identified for stakeholders and communities of interest. The value continua dividing technocentric and ecocentric positions include:
| Technocentric | Ecocentric |
|---|---|
| economy | ecology |
| resourcism | preservationism |
| perfect nature | protect nature |
| dominance over nature | a part of nature |
| individual | group |
| self | community |
| private property rights | public good |
| anthropocentric | ecocentric |
| human centered | earth centered, naturalistic |
| human rights | animal rights |
| human benefit | ecosystem benefit |
| centralized | decentralized |
| active management | passive management |
| hands on | hands off |
| exotics encouraged | only natives |
| species specific | holistic |
| free will | mutual coercion |
| utilitarian | aesthetic |
| local | global |
| imagination limited | resource limited |
| cooperation | competition |
| change | stability |
Table 1 shows some of the results from asking this question. These surveys like others show that people tend to support the environment when asked this question.
Table 1. Several surveys show similar patterns in the priority that should be given to environmental or economic considerations.
| Survey | Priority to environmental considerations | Environmental and economic factors should be equal | Priority to economic considerations |
| National (1991) | 42% | 47% | 11% |
| Coastal Oregon (1996) | 40% | 44% | 16% |
| Oregon (1991) | 37% | 44% | 19% |
| Lane County (1994) | 33% | 40% | 27% |
| Linn County (1994) | 27% | 40% | 33% |
| Oregon Progress Board categories | Environmental protection over economic growth very or somewhat desirable | Neutral on environmental protection and economic growth | Environmental protection over economic growth very or somewhat undesirable |
| Oregon Progress Board (1996) results | 54% | 15% | 28% |
Sources: Oregon Coastal, 1996 (Smith et al. 1997); Linn and Lane County (Steel et al. 1994b; Shindler et al. 1995); Oregon and National (Shindler et al. 1993; Steel et al. 1994a); Oregon Progress Board (OPB 1997).
Value Clusters
When stakeholders and communities of interest fall in the same place on many value continua, we
have a value cluster. Comparing conservationism and preservationism illustrates how values
cluster.
| Traditional Indian | European |
|---|---|
| cooperation | competition |
| group | individual |
| non-interfering | interfering |
| sharing | saving |
| non-materialistic | materialistic |
| present oriented | future orientated |
| pragmatic | theoretical |
| harmony w/nature | conquest over nature |
| respect age | idolize youth |
| spiritual | theoretical |
| spirituality integrated | spirituality segmented |
| non-verbal | verbal |
| listen & observe | speak & write |
| indirect | direct |
| cultural pluralism | assimilation |
| no eye-to-eye | nose-to-nose |
| passive | active |
| informal | formal |
| patient | aggressive |
Adapted from This Conflict in Values Creates Stress, Anxiety, and Frustration, prepared by American Indian Education Commission
| indigeneous values | industrial values |
|---|---|
| land-based | invasive |
| living sustainably | exploitive |
| natural law | capitalistic |
| all things cyclical | linear |
| what you do not, you are accountable for | imperialistic |
| colonialism | |
| later | unsustainable |
| long-term | short-term |
| reciprocal - giving back | greedy |
| language is animate | caused New World holocaust |
Winona LaDuke (Ojibwa, Director of White Earth Recovery Project), Grantmakers in the Arts Newsletter, Autumn 1992 3(3):4-6
Value Change:
Local and national organizations poll of the public. Among these are the NY Times, ABC News,
USA Today, The Oregonian, the Oregon Business Council, the League of Conservation Voters,
the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club. Many of these organizations maintain websites
with information from recent polls. Summaries may be found in journals such as Public Opinion Quarterly or summaries like the
Compendium of American Public Opinion, Attitudes Towards the Outdoors: An Annotated
Bibliography of U.S. Survey and Poll Research Concerning the Environment, Wildlife, and
Recreation, and Attitudes Toward the Environment: Twenty-Five Years After Earth Day.
Specific authors also track changes in public values (Dunlap and Scare 1991; Dunlap and Mertig
1992; Kempton et al. 1995).
Value Analysis:
Procedure:
Determine the value content, continua, clusters, context, and change
associated with the
environmental issue. What are the value continua that are causing conflict? What values cluster
together that may allow for cooperative action?
Values continually change. They are affected by the context, by new information, by the results
of experiments and experiences. To learn more about change in values on environmental issues,
see reports by such polling organizations as the Gallup Poll or the General Social Survey (GSS)
by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC). See the Gallup Report, published monthly
and the annual GSSNews, or the Annotated Bibliography of Papers Using the General Social
Surveys.
Value analysis involves understanding the values of individuals and communities of interest on
environmental issues. The procedure consists of identifying the content of value continua and
clusters for an environmental issue. The method of value analysis relies on content analysis,
observation, and survey.
Methodologies:
Ways to measure values
look at the verbs, e.g. should, ought, need,
look at the adjectives, e.g. good, bad, right, wrong, desirable, undesirable, acceptable, unacceptable
Observers of values can be wrong in the data they use to judge values, and they can use good data but make the wrong inferences. Sometimes the views that one group holds of the values of another may be as important as the directly measuring views of a group.
If you choose to design a survey to measure people's values, consult a good survey design text (Salant and Dillman 1994) or take a course covering the proper approach. When designing a survey consider the following:
Henerson (1987:13) gives the following suggestions on attitude measurement:
Values Summary: