Lore and Law: Sense of Place, Sense of Right and Pro-Environmental Behaviour of Support and Science in the Antarctic

The principal objective of this study is to investigate environmentally responsible decision-making by human beings in the Antarctic. Specifically, it will identify decision factors about human behaviour that promote the protection and resilience of Antarctic eco-systems, or endanger them. A collection of numerical and verbal data from scientists and science support personnel, regarding the manner in which they came to hold their current mental image of Antarctica, and the values they attached to Antarctica in connection to the natural environment was collected. This study used two data collection techniques. The first is a self-administered questionnaire battery, which includes two measures of values specifically related to one’s general environmental stance, as well as some basic demographic information. The second technique is an interview, in which a person’s values specifically related to Antarctica are explored.
Twenty-eight in-depth, semi-structured interviews about sense of place and environmental values were conducted, and forty-two questionnaire batteries that collected data on environmental values and worldviews were completed. This represents a near-100% response rate. Analyses of these data are now underway, and will be aggregated with those of the 2011/12 season. Cataloguing the various proximal and distal influences on pro-environmental behaviour by scientists and support personnel while they are in the Antarctic will be undertaken.