Safeguarding the enthusiasm for environmental studies: small is even more beautiful than before

Abstract

Several strategies ought to be considered to reduce the disillusionment and potentially paralyzing impact of the current political climate and anti-environmental stance of the US administration, which risk diminishing both environmental activism and the attractiveness of environmental studies courses. Examples demonstrate the potentials for refocusing both environmental activism and education on subnational levels, broadening the appeal of participation in environmental groups by bolstering socio-emotive rewards, capitalizing on the increasing convergence of environmental and corporate interests through internships, and linking environmental education more closely with subjects less vulnerable to the current mood. Additional efforts could be focused on bringing conservatives into environmental activism through a reorientation of environmental communications to correspond more closely to their interests (e.g., hunting and its dependence on habitat conservation) and their distinctive moral-value orientations.