A Relational Approach to Shifting Gen Z and Millennial Environmental Beliefs

Poroi Dec 2024 OA PDF

A Relational Approach to Shifting Gen Z and Millennial Environmental Beliefs

Ehren Helmut Pflugfelder Institute for Literature ; Jessica Al-faqih Institute for Literature ; Hannah Cadigan-Carranza Institute for Literature ; Ali Trueworthy Oregon State University ; Tully Turk Institute for Literature ; Riley Yuan Institute for Literature

Abstract

While survey data identifies that most Gen Z and Millennials are anxious about climate change, are supportive of climate activists, and agree that climate change is anthropogenic, that same data fails to nuance these generations' intersectional and relational environmental beliefs. The problem is both methodological and rhetorical, because assumptions built into closed-question public opinion surveys can fail to match younger generations' perceptions on the environment. Additional research methods concerned with capturing these relations, including the cognitive interviews that survey designers already employ, could illuminate these environmental perspectives. We see models for this approach in the preliminary interviews used in large-scale surveys, in the field of climate psychology, and in arguments for ecological rhetoric in communication studies. Building from these fields, we provide example questions that are emblematic of these relational environmental and argue for increasing numbers of smaller, qualitative studies which investigate the many relations that younger generations already experience.

Journal: Poroi
Published: 2024-12-11
DOI: 10.17077/2151-2957.31088
Open Access: OA PDF Diamond
Topics: empirical research multimodality