Anthropomorphising nature in times of crisis: A serial mediation model from connectedness to nature via anthropomorphism on support for COVID-19 travel restrictions

Honesty-humility predicts humanitarian prosocial behavior via social connectedness: A parallel mediation examining connectedness to community, nation, humanity, and nature

Abundant psychological research demonstrates bivariate relationships between individual prosocial propensity, intrinsic connectedness to various social domains, and the enactment of prosocial behavior. More recently, "connectedness" has been positioned as a necessary domain-specific motivator for enacting prosocial propensity in relevant domains of concern. Our study offers novel contributions to this theory by examining the role of connectedness in driving prosocial behavior within a humanitarian domain in which behavior is enacted in the interest of the global community. Additionally, our research uniquely considers connectedness to multiple social domains concurrently, in order to disentangle any covariance that may be impacting research findings. A parallel mediation model with four mediators (connectedness to community, nation, humanity, and nature) was applied to better understand the effect of prosocial propensity (honesty-humility) on humanitarian prosocial behavior. The cross-sectional survey was completed by 715 Australian adults, and support was found for mediation via each of the mediators. Specifically, connectedness to community, to humanity, and to nature each positively affected the relationship between prosocial propensity and prosocial behavior, with the largest effect via connectedness to humanity. Contrastingly, connectedness to nation negatively mediated this relationship, despite being positively correlated with these constructs. These findings highlight the individual difference underpinnings of humanitarian prosocial behaviors and the role of connection to relevant domains in behavior actualization. Fostering connectedness to humanity remains desirable to promote global prosocial outcomes, with future research needed on the interplay between these related levels of connectedness and between connectedness to one's nation and global humanitarian engagement.

Anthropause appreciation, biophilia, and ecophilosophical contemplations amidst a global pandemic

In 2020, COVID-19 mitigation measures, including lockdowns and travel bans to curtail disease transmission, inadvertently led to an "Anthropause" - a unique global pause to anthropogenic activities. While there was a spike in ecological studies measuring Anthropause effects on environmental indicators, people's experiences of the Anthropause or its potential to inspire change were hardly considered. Hence, we aimed to measure people's appreciation of the environmental outcomes of the Anthropause, ecophilosophical contemplations about the pandemic, and experiences of lockdown-triggered biophilia (human's innate love for and draw towards nature) and test the hypothesis that these experiences would be consistently more prominent among the already environmentally inclined. To that end, we developed and tested three measures on a representative sample of 993 New Zealanders. Anthropause Appreciation received the highest overall mean ratings, followed by Lockdown-Biophilia and Eco-Contemplation. Pre-existing pro-environmental dispositions and behaviours did not consistently influence our three measures as expected. Demographic variables had little influence, while experiences of financial and mental health impacts due to COVID-19 had no influence. We interpreted the limited influence of explanatory variables as indicative of a degree of uniformity in people's experiences. High appreciation of Anthropause benefits suggests that the public may be supportive of policies and ways of living that can lead to similar outcomes post-pandemic - offering environmental policymakers and communicators a basis for action. Ecophilosophical contemplations and biophilic draw among the public suggest an awareness of the significance of the human-nature relationship - offering a symbolic global keystone for communicating and advocating conservation and the many values of pauses in life to connect with nature. Building women's environmental leadership capabilities and the ongoing greening of Christianity may be essential steps for global post-pandemic environmental behaviour transformations.

Pollution free UV-C radiation to mitigate COVID-19 transmission

The high rate of transmission of the COVID-19 virus has brought various types of disinfection techniques, for instance, hydrogen peroxide vaporization, microwave generating steam, UV radiation, and dry heating, etc. to prevent the further transmission of the virus. The chemical-based techniques are predominantly used for sanitization of hands, buildings, hospitals, etc. However, these chemicals may affect the health of humans and the environment in unexplored aspects. Furthermore, the UV lamp-based radiation sanitization technique had been applied but has not gained larger acceptability owing to its limitation to penetrate different materials. Therefore, the optical properties of materials are especially important for the utilization of UV light on such disinfection applications. The germicidal or microorganism inactivation application of UV-C has only been in-use in a closed chamber, due to its harmful effect on human skin and the eye. However, it is essential to optimize UV for its use in an open environment for a larger benefit to mitigate the virus spread. In view of this, far UV-C (222 nm) based technology has emerged as a potential option for the sanitization in open areas and degradation of microorganisms present in aerosol during the working conditions. Hence, in the present review article, efforts have been made to evaluate the technical aspects of UV (under the different spectrum and wavelength ranges) and the control of COVID 19 virus spread in the atmosphere including the possibilities of the human body sanitization in working condition.

The Trajectory of Anthropomorphism and Pro-Environmental Behavior: A Serial Mediation Model

Anthropomorphism of nature can promote pro-environmental behavior (PEB). However, its underlying mechanism and these age-related changes are unclear. We propose that connectedness to nature and environmental guilt mediate the relationship between anthropomorphism of nature and PEB. The present study tests the hypotheses based on a cross-sectional sample of 1364 residents aged 15-76 years, using structural equation modeling. We found that: (1) environmental guilt decreases, but PEB increases, with age; (2) anthropomorphism of nature decreases in early adulthood and increases in old age; (3) connectedness to nature decreases in mid-late adolescence and increases in early adulthood. Connectedness to nature and environmental guilt have a serial mediating effect in the relationship between anthropomorphism of nature and PEB, with cross-age stability. These findings contribute to enriching the understanding of PEB from the human and nature perspective, and enhancing anthropomorphism of nature that could promote PEB in residents at different ages, through connectedness to nature and environmental guilt.

Grounded by Mother Nature's Revenge

Leisure air travel is a popular form of tourism, but its emissions are a major contributor to anthropogenic climate change. Restrictions to leisure air travel have previously received little support; however, the same restrictions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 have been popular. This support is unlikely to persist in a postpandemic world, highlighting the need for alternative ways to improve support for reducing leisure air travel. Anthropomorphism of nature has consistently predicted proenvironmental behavior, which has been mediated by guilt felt for harm to the environment. This research is the first empirical study to explore this relationship in the context of COVID-19, where it examined support for restricting leisure air travel to help mitigate (1) COVID-19 and (2) climate change. In an experimental online study, Australian residents (N = 325, M_age = 54.48, SD_age = 14.63, 62% women) were recruited through social media. Anthropomorphism of nature in the context of COVID-19 (AMP-19) was manipulated through exposure to a news article. Participants then completed measures of environmental guilt and support for restricting leisure air travel to mitigate COVID-19 (LAT-19) and to mitigate climate change (LAT-CC). A significant indirect effect was observed in both models, such that AMP-19 predicted environmental guilt which in turn predicted LAT-19 (f² = .26; BCI [0.66, 3.87]) and LAT-CC (f² = .45; BCI [0.84, 5.06]). The results imply that anthropomorphism of nature in the context of COVID-19 can improve attitudes toward this proenvironmental behavior, with greater support when this was to mitigate climate change. Implications are discussed.

Be Good to Your Mother (Earth): The Relationship between Anthropomorphising Nature, Financial Insecurity, and Support for Pro-environmental Policies in the Context of the Coronavirus Pandemic

Anthropomorphism of nature is known to be related to pro-environmental outcomes; however, little is known about these variables in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. The economic impact of the prolonged lockdowns may disrupt the historical relationship between these variables, as financial insecurity may compete with environmental concerns for consideration. This study examined the relationship between anthropomorphism of nature the context of COVID-19, and pro-environmental support, and the potential moderating role of financial insecurity in this relationship. It was hypothesised that anthropomorphism of nature in the context of COVID-19 would have a lesser effect on pro-environmental support for individuals who experienced financial insecurity during the pandemic. Participants (N=615; M _age=48.71, SD _age=17.50; 70% female) completed self-report measures of anthropomorphism of nature, anthropomorphism of nature in the context of COVID-19, financial insecurity, and a measure of support for pro-environmental policies in the economic recovery from COVID-19. Results demonstrated that, after controlling for general anthropomorphism of nature, anthropomorphism of nature in the context of COVID-19 predicted pro-environmental support (R ² = .05, F(4, 610) = 8.36, p < .001). However, contrary to expectation, pro-environmental support was higher in those experiencing financial insecurity compared to those who were financially secure (B = -2.65, BootSE= .93, p = .004, 95% BootCI [-4.47, -.83]). Financial insecurity also did not moderate the relationship between anthropomorphism of nature in the COVID-19 context and pro-environmental support. Furthermore, the general tendency to anthropomorphise nature was not a significant predictor of support for pro-environmental policies. These findings have important implications for understandings of anthropomorphism, financial insecurity, and environmental protection as well as for public policy on economic recovery in response to the coronavirus pandemic.