1.1 PerspectivesIB Environmental Systems and Societies SL: Revision notes

A perspective is how an individual views and understands a particular situation. It is built from a mix of personal and collective assumptions, values and beliefs.

Perspectives are informed and justified by many factors, including sociocultural norms, scientific understanding, laws, religion, economic conditions, local and global events and lived experience. Two people can look at the same wind farm and hold opposite perspectives because different factors have shaped them.

Values are qualities or principles that people feel have worth and importance in life. The values behind our perspectives show in our communication and actions in the wider community. The values of organisations can be seen in their advertisements, media output, policies and actions.

A values survey asks a social group to respond to statements, and so can be used to investigate the perspectives shown by that group towards an environmental issue.

Worldviews are the lenses shared by groups of people through which they perceive, make sense of and act within their environment. They shape values and perspectives through culture, philosophy, ideology, religion and politics.

Environmental worldviews fall into three broad categories:

• Technocentric: technology and science can solve environmental problems; nature is managed and used.
• Anthropocentric: humans are central; nature is valued for what it provides to people, and humans have a duty to manage it responsibly.
• Ecocentric: nature has intrinsic value whatever its use; humans are part of ecosystems, not above them.

An environmental value system (EVS) is a model showing the inputs that affect our perspectives and the outputs that result from them. Inputs include education, culture, religion, media and economic and political influences. Outputs include decisions, laws, policies and personal actions.

Perspectives and the beliefs behind them change over time in all societies. They can be influenced by government or NGO campaigns and by social and demographic change.

The development of the environmental movement has been influenced by individuals (e.g. Rachel Carson), literature (Silent Spring), the media, major environmental disasters (e.g. Exxon Valdez), international agreements, new technologies and scientific discoveries.