Abstract
Research explores the concept of environmental capital among the residents of the Masovia region, analysing their attitudes and behaviours towards the environment. Environmental capital, defined as collective and individual choices that enhance environmental sustainability, is examined across three dimensions: individual, collective, and socio-political. Utilising data from a 2023 study involving 2000 residents, the investigation assesses the coherence of environmental capital and identifies factors influencing pro-environmental attitudes. Key findings indicate high levels of environmental awareness and positive attitudes towards ecological actions, with significant variations based on age, material conditions, and energy needs. Older residents and those in favourable material circumstances tend to exhibit greater environmental capital. The study highlights the complexity of environmental capital and its importance in sustainable socio-economic development. Recommendations include the development of targeted educational strategies and interdisciplinary approaches to enhance environmental capital and address social justice issues, thereby promoting a balanced and sustainable future.
References
Allen, P., Van Dusen, D., Lundy, J., & Gliessman, S. (2009). Integrating social, environmental, and economic issues in sustainable agriculture. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture, 6(1), 34-39. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0889189300003787
Andjelic, A. (2020). The business of aspiration: How social, cultural, and environmental capital changes brands. Routledge.
Claver‐Cortés, E., Dolores López‐Gamero, M., Molina‐Azorín, J. F., & Del Carmen Zaragoza‐Sáez, P. (2007). Intellectual and environmental capital. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 8(1), 171-182. https://doi.org/10.1108/14691930710715123
Corvalan, C., Hales, S., & McMichael, A. J. (2005). Ecosystems and human well-being: health synthesis. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/43354/9241563095.pdf
Costanza, R., d'Arge, R., De Groot, R., Farber, S., Grasso, M., Hannon, B., Limburg, K., Naeem, S., O'Neill, R. V., Paruelo, J., Paruelo, J., Raskin, R. G., Sutton, P., & van Den Belt, M. (1997). The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature, 387(6630), 253-260. https://doi.org/10.1038/387253a0
Cracolici, M. F., Cuffaro, M., & Nijkamp, P. (2010). The measurement of economic, social and environmental performance of countries: A novel approach. Social Indicators Research, 95, 339-356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9464-3
Davis, L., & Ramírez-Andreotta, M. (2021). Participatory research for environmental justice: a critical interpretive synthesis. Environmental Health Perspectives, 129(2), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp6274
Dietz, T. (2003). What is a good decision? Criteria for environmental decision making. Human Ecology Review, 10(1), 33-39. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24707085
El Serafy, S. (1991). The Environment as Capital. In M. Redclift (Ed.), Sustainability. Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences. Volume 3 (pp. 49-57). Routledge: Taylor & Francis.
Fazio, X., & Karrow, D. D. (2013). Negotiating the constraints of schools: Environmental education practices within a school district. Environmental Education Research, 19(5), 639-655. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2012.729812
Guariso, G., & Werthner, H. (1989). Environmental decision support systems. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Harding, R. (1998). Environmental decision making. Sydney: The Federation Press.
Heiman, M. K. (1996). Race, waste, and class: New perspectives on Environmental Justice. Antipode, 28(2), 111-121. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.1996.tb00517.x
ING - Think Forward Initiative. (2021). Wybory Polaków a zrównoważony rozwój. https://spolecznosc.ing.pl/yvjhh92749/attachments/yvjhh92749/Blog/1575/1/Raport%20ING_TFI%20Wybory%20Polak%C3%B3w%20a%20zr%C3%B3wnowa%C5%BCony%20rozw%C3%B3j.pdf (in Polish).
Jones, N., Sophoulis, C. M., Iosifides, T., Botetzagias, I., & Evangelinos, K. (2009). The influence of social capital on environmental policy instruments. Environmental Politics, 18(4), 595-611. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09644010903007443
Kalinowski, S., Łuczak, A., Szczygieł, O., Wojciechowska, A., Zwęglińska-Gałecka, D., & Paczek, B. (2024). To heat or not to heat? On (in) perceptible energy poverty among the poor. Annals of the Polish Association of Agricultural and Agribusiness Economists, 26(1), 124-138. https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0054.3270
Kalinowski, S., Łuczak, A., Zwęglinska-Gałecka, D., Szczygieł, O., Wojciechowska, A., & Paczek, B. (2023). Diagnoza przyczyn ubóstwa energetycznego w województwie mazowieckim. Raport końcowy z badań. Warszawa: Mazowieckie Centrum Polityki Społecznej. (in Polish).
Karol, J., & Gale, T. (2004). What is ‘environmental capital’? Bourdieu’s social theory and sustainability. International Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Australia, Melbourne, 11-15.
Kiker, G. A., Bridges, T. S., Varghese, A., Seager, T. P., & Linkov, I. (2005). Application of multicriteria decision analysis in environmental decision making. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 1(2), 95-108. https://doi.org/10.1897/IEAM_2004a-015.1
Kim, D., & Go, S. (2020). Human capital and environmental sustainability. Sustainability, 12(11), 4736. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114736
Kozera-Kowalska, M. (2024). Human capital for the green economy. Economics and Environment, 88(1), 674-674. https://doi.org/10.34659/eis.2024.88.1.674
Lehtonen, M. (2004). The environmental–social interface of sustainable development: capabilities, social capital, institutions. Ecological Economics, 49(2), 199-214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2004.03.019
Levenda, A. M., Behrsin, I., & Disano, F. (2021). Renewable energy for whom? A global systematic review of the environmental justice implications of renewable energy technologies. Energy Research & Social Science, 71, 101837. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101837
Malinowski, M., & Smoluk-Sikorska, J. (2020). Spatial relations between the standards of living and the financial capacity of Polish district-level local government, Sustainability, 12(5), 1825. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12051825
Martinez-Juarez, P., Chiabai, A., Taylor, T., & Gómez, S. Q. (2015). The impact of ecosystems on human health and well-being: A critical review. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, 10(3), 63-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JORT.2015.06.008
McAllister, D. M. (1982). Evaluation in environmental planning: assessing environmental, social, economic, and political trade-offs. Cambridge: The Mit Press.
Millennium ecosystem assessment. (2005). Ecosystems and human well-being. Washington: Island press.
Mix, T. L. (2011). Rally the people: Building local‐environmental justice grassroots coalitions and enhancing social capital. Sociological Inquiry, 81(2), 174-194. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.2011.00367.x
Mróz, A. (2023). Sprawiedliwość w wymiarze terytorialnym – przegląd najnowszych ujęć. Wieś i Rolnictwo, 1(198), 101-115. https://doi.org/10.53098/wir012023/05 (in Polish).
Pastor, M. (2001). Building social capital to protect natural capital: The quest for environmental justice. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/40133
Patten, D. M. (2005). The accuracy of financial report projections of future environmental capital expenditures: A research note. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 30(5), 457-468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2004.06.001
Pecl, G. T., Araújo, M. B., Bell, J. D., Blanchard, J., Bonebrake, T. C., Chen, I. C., Clark, T. D., Colwell, R. K., Danielsen, F., Evengård, B., Falconi, L., Ferrier, S., Frusher, S., Garcia, R. A., Griffis, R. B., Hobday, A. J., Janion-Scheepers, C., Jarzyna, M. A., Jennings, S., Lenoir, J., Linnetved, H. I., Martin, V. Y., McCormack, P. C., McDonald, J., Mitchell, N. J., Mustonen, T., Pandolfi, J. M., Pettorelli, N., Popova, E., Robinson, S. A., Scheffers, B. R., Shaw, J. D., Sorte, C. J. B., Strugnell, J. M., Sunday, J. M., Tuanmu, M. N., Vergés, A., Villanueva, C., Wernberg, T., Wapstra, E., & Williams, S. E. (2017). Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: Impacts on ecosystems and human well-being. Science, 355(6332), eaai9214. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aai9214
Pellow, D. N., & Brulle, R. J. (2005). Power, justice, and the environment: A critical appraisal of the environmental justice movement. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Pomianek, I. (2020). Diversity of Polish regions in the level of technical infrastructure development. Acta Scientiarum Polonorum. Oeconomia, 19(3), 75-83. https://doi.org/10.22630/ASPE.2020.19.3.30
Poskrobko, B. (2012). Metodyczne aspekty ekonomii zrównoważonego rozwoju. Ekonomia i Środowisko, 43(3), 10-27. https://www.ekonomiaisrodowisko.pl/journal/issue/view/6 https://www.ekonomiaisrodowisko.pl/journal/issue/view/6 (in Polish).
Reid, W. V., Mooney, H. A., Cropper, A., Capistrano, D., Carpenter, S. R., Chopra, K., Dasgupta, P., Dietz, T., Duraiappah, A. K., Hassan, R., Kasperson, R., Leemans, R., May, R. M., McMichael, A. J., Pingali, P., Samper, C., Scholes, R., Watson, R. T., Zakri, A. H., Shidong, Z., Ash, N. J., Bennett, E., Kumar, P., Lee, M. J., Raudsepp-Hearne, C., Simons, H., Thonell, J., & Zurek, M. B. (2005). Ecosystems and human well-being-Synthesis: A report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Washington D.C.: Island Press.
Rentschler, J., & Leonova, N. (2023). Global air pollution exposure and poverty. Nature Communications, 14, 4432. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39797-4
Robinson, J. M., & Śpiewak, R. (2023). In Common or Enclosed: A Comparison of Farmers' Market Development in Poland and the United States. International Journal of the Commons, 17(1), 211-227. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijc.1219
Rokicka, E. (2023). Postawy mieszkańców lokalnych społeczności wobec środowiska naturalnego. In A. Michalska-Żyła & K. Zajda (Eds.), W metropolii i poza metropolią: Społeczny potencjał odrodzenia i rozwoju społeczności lokalnych. Księga Jubileuszowa Profesora Pawła Starosty (pp. 213-226). Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego. (in Polish).
Rutkowska-Piontek, A. (2014). Kształtowanie Pozytywnych Postaw i Zachowań Wobec Selektywnej Zbiórki Odpadów. http://www.fe.org.pl/.../PSYCHOLOGIA%20SEGREGACJI%20SMIECI.doc (in Polish).
SmogLab. (2023). Bieda zwiększa narażenie na smog? Na obszarach ubóstwa jakość powietrza jest znacznie gorsza. https://smoglab.pl/bieda-zwieksza-narazenie-na-smog-na-obszarach-ubostwa-jakosc-powietrza-jest-znacznie-gorsza/ (in Polish).
Szczygieł, O., Kalinowski, S., & Łuczak, A. (2024). When energy becomes a luxury. Challenges in the fight against energy poverty. Conclusion from the research on the causes of energy poverty in the Mazovian Voivoidership. Polityka Społeczna, 599(3), 21-29. https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0054.6276
Thampapillai, D. J., & Uhlin, H. E. (1997). Environmental capital and sustainable income: basic concepts and empirical tests. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 21(3), 379-394. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23599911
Wan, Q., & Du, W. (2022). Social capital, environmental knowledge, and pro-environmental behavior. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(3), 1443. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031443
Wyrwa, J., Jędrzejczak-Gas, J., Barska, A., & Wojciechowska-Solis, J. (2023). Sustainable Energy Development and Sustainable Social Development in EU Countries. Energies, 16(18), 6556. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031443
Zhao, S., & Zhang, Y. (2006). Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: The Achievements, Contributions and Prospects of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Advances in Earth Science, 21(9), 895. http://www.adearth.ac.cn/EN/10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2006.09.0895

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2024 Economics and Environment