Personal experience with Covid-19 is associated with increased environmental concern and pro-environmental behavioral intentions

Green Spaces as Healthy Places: Correlates of Urban Green Space Use in Singapore

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when stress levels were heightened and social connections were threatened, a spike in green space visits was observed. Drawing upon the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory, which explains the influence of personal values and world view on perceived obligations to the environment and to action, relevant correlates were examined in relation to people's psychological wellbeing in a bid to better elucidate this phenomenon. We aimed to explore the associations amongst a number of protective factors for psychological wellbeing and to examine the applicability of the VBN theory to wellbeing rather than environmental behaviour. Our research aim was to understand some of the correlates of the use of urban green spaces in Singapore during COVID-19. In total, 268 adult residents of Singapore completed an online survey measuring proximity/frequency of visits to green space, value orientations, nature connectedness, social connectedness, religious belief, spirituality and psychological wellbeing, along with sociodemographic variables such as age and gender. As predicted by the VBN theory, biospheric value orientation and spirituality were positively associated with nature connectedness. The nature connectedness association with psychological wellbeing was completely mediated by spirituality. Frequency of visits to nature was also positively associated with nature connectedness. Neither proximity to nature nor social connectedness were associated with nature connectedness. An altruistic value orientation was associated only with religious belief. Our results indicate that during uncertain times, people are drawing on either social or nature connections as coping mechanisms to fulfil psychological needs and enhance psychological wellbeing. Spirituality mediates this pathway for nature connectedness but not for social connectedness.

Evaluating Whether and How Public Health Event Information Frameworks Promote Pro-Environmental Behavior

The major public health emergencies (PHEs) represented by the COVID-19 pandemic, while posing a serious threat to human health, have led people to rethink about the harmonious relationship between humans and nature. It is worthy to explore whether and how the framework effect of event information can be used to turn crises into opportunities to promote public pro-environmental behavior (PEB). Through a pre-and post-test control experiment, this study took the COVID-19 pandemic as a case, to explore the effects of four PHE information frameworks on promoting PEB, coupled with two information loss-gain frameworks and two information content frameworks. The results showed that all four information frameworks contribute to the public PEB. However, there are differences: only the environmental gain information effect is significant for PEB in the private sphere. The environmental loss and health gain information are effective for PEB in organizations. However, in the public sphere, all four information frameworks significantly motivate PEB. Further factorial analysis revealed that the interaction between the information content and loss-gain framework was not significant, with the latter playing the dominant role. These findings provide a new approach to how to develop the information framework effect and turn crises into opportunities to promote public PEB in the context of major PHEs.

The effect of COVID-19 risk perception on pro-environmental behavior of Chinese consumers: Perspectives from affective event theory

Introduction

COVID-19 has altered human cognition and changed the cultural values of society. However, there has not been much debate among scholars about whether these above changes have led to an increase in pro-environmental behavior (PEB) of Chinese consumers.

Methods

A comprehensive model was developed based on affective event theory. An online questionnaire was distributed, and 501 usable questionnaires were collected. In addition, two complementary approaches were employed: partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and necessary condition analysis (NCA).

Results

The PLS-SEM results showed that COVID-19 risk perception, nostalgia, the awe of nature, and attitude were found to have a positive effect on PEB; and the moderating effect of power distance belief (PD) between nostalgia (NO), attitude (AT) and PEB was confirmed. According to the NCA results, AT and NO are necessary conditions for the PEB of consumers.

Discussion

This study provides deeper insight into the understanding of consumers' pro-environmental behavior in the context of COVID-19 through the combined use of PLS-SEM and NCA.

An empirical study of the effect of a flooding event caused by extreme rainfall on preventive behaviors against COVID-19

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, wearing masks, vaccinations, and maintaining a safe distance has become social behaviors advocated by the government and widely adopted by the public. At the same time, unpredictable natural disaster risks brought by extreme climate change compound difficulties during epidemics and cause systemic risks that influence the existing pattern of epidemic prevention. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the effect of natural disaster risk caused by climate change on the response to outbreaks in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic. This study will focus on individual-level epidemic prevention behaviors, taking as an example the significant risk of severe destructive flooding caused by heavy rains in Henan, China, on July 20, 2021, which claimed 398 lives, to explore the effect of floods on the preventive behaviors of residents in the hardest hit areas against COVID-19. Through the multi-stage stratified random sampling of the affected residents in Zhengzhou, Xinxiang, Hebi, Luoyang, Anyang, and other cities in Henan Province, 2,744 affected people were surveyed via questionnaires. Through the linear regression model and moderating effect analysis, the study found that after floods, the individual's flood risk perception and response behaviors significantly correlated with the individual's prevention behaviors against COVID-19. Specifically, both flood risk perception and response behaviors strengthened the individual's prevention behaviors. Furthermore, the study also found that community risk preparation behavior and social capital can moderate the above relationship to a certain extent. The research can guide risk communication under the compound risk scenario and prevent risky public behavior under the consistent presence of COVID-19 in the community.

The Perception of Environmental Information Disclosure on Rural Residents' Pro-Environmental Behavior

Rural residents' pro-environmental behavior plays a critical role in rural environmental governance. This paper examines how the perception of government environmental information disclosure (EID) can promote rural residents' pro-environmental behavior (PEB) using a questionnaire survey. Using Zhejiang province of China as a case study, we designed a four-stage mixed sampling method, which yielded 783 valid responses. We used ordinary least squares (OLS), an ordinal logit model and a mediation effect model to draw our conclusions. The results indicated that the EID had a positive impact on the PEB of rural residents. It is also evident that personal environmental concerns (PECs) play a partially mediating role between EID and PEB. Moreover, the impact of EID on PEB is heterogeneous in terms of residents' age and workplace. This research contributes to insights into the promotion of guiding rural residents' PEB and improving ecological environment management.