•  
  •  
 

Journal of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research

Authors

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze how religion and politics impact peoples’ opinions about climate change and likeliness to engage in pro-environmental behavior. The study conducted was a non-experimental, correlational research design, using a survey methodology. Fifty-eight participants, all over the age of 18, were recruited to participate in this study. The participants were asked to complete five questionnaires: The Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS) (Huber & Huber, 2012), The Climate Change Attitude Survey (CCAS) (Christensen & Knezek, 2015), The Political Participation Scale (PPS), The Environmental Behavior Scale (EBS), and a demographic questionnaire. Two research hypotheses guided this study. The first predicted that there is a significant negative relationship between conservative religious ideologies and environmental concern. The second predicted that there is a significant negative relationship between conservative political ideologies and environmental concern. Neither hypothesis yielded statistically significant results. However, interesting findings included a statistically significant, weak positive correlation between scores of political liberalism and environmental concern. In other words, as political liberalism went up, environmental concern went up. There was not a statistically significant difference between high scores of religious liberalism and environmental concern. The topic of how ideologies like religion and politics impact pro-environmental behavior and climate change views is important because it can help shed light on what drives climate change skepticism and willingness to engage in pro-environmental behavior.

Share

COinS