Abstract
(Citizen) Engagement for climate change and environmental sustainability: (how does it work/change) online, offline or onsite? E-CLIC In recent years, the interest in climate change and environmental sustainability has increased in public opinion, new and old media, and among scientists. Profound changes in environmental attitudes have been observed, and a significant commitment tO nvironmental movements and protests, which involve mainly younger generations. On the other hand, the digitalization of human experience and online interactions have reached a paramount size in the same years. The COVID-19 pandemic has impressed a relevant acceleration to the different forms of online interaction in teaching, purchasing, leisure activities worldwide. This global phenomenon entailed problematic aspects (e.g., exacerbating digital inequalities). However, in the climate change and sustainability engagement field, the increased digitalization has underpinned new forms and possibilities of interactions and behaviors, such as online petitions, e-participation in local consulting, organizing protests through social media. Quite surprisingly, though, there is a lack of research on the potentially crucial intersections between environmental engagement and online interaction, primarily regarding two aspects: a) Individuals’ beliefs and experiences about online participation. Do people think that online forms, for example, are more/less demanding, more/less effective, more/less satisfying at the personal level when compared to the traditional forms? b) Whether and how does online interaction, compared to traditional forms, change the characteristics and relations of factors and processes connected to participation (such as social identification or perception of injustice)? E-CLIC aims to provide answers to these research questions through three related activities, structured in 3 work packages (WPs): a qualitative exploration of beliefs and experiences conducted through focus groups (WP1); a quantitative analysis of relationships between the study variables, conducted through a national survey (WP2); a participatory intervention conducted with university students (WP3). The three research activities will involve three different populations: 1) participants directly engaged in forms of environmental action (the engaged sample); 2) individuals from the general Italian population whose level of involvement in environmental action will be measured (the general sample); 3) university students who will participate in a participatory intervention (the intervention sample). Results will provide a better understanding of the psychological factors and dynamics relevant to online citizen participation and collective action for climate change and environmental sustainability. In addition, the intervention implemented in WP3 would constitute an immediate application of the project findings, with a societal impact in terms of increased awareness and empowerment of participants and the development of a training format scalable to different and broader applications and contexts
Dettagli del progetto
Responsabile scientifico: Cinzia Albanesi
Strutture Unibo coinvolte:
Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari"
Coordinatore:
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - Università di Bologna(Italy)
Contributo totale di progetto: Euro (EUR) 193.936,00
Contributo totale Unibo: Euro (EUR) 66.549,00
Durata del progetto in mesi: 24
Data di inizio
15/10/2023
Data di fine:
28/02/2026
