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Niemiec R, Berl REW, Gonzalez M, Teel T, Salerno J, Breck S, Camara C, Collins M, Schultz C, Hoag D, Crooks K. Rapid changes in public perception toward a conservation initiative. Conservat Sci and Prac 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/csp2.12632] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Niemiec
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Richard E. W. Berl
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Mireille Gonzalez
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Tara Teel
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Jonathan Salerno
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
- Graduate Degree Program in Ecology Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Stewart Breck
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
- USDA National Wildlife Research Center Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Cassiopeia Camara
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Matthew Collins
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Courtney Schultz
- Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Dana Hoag
- Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Kevin Crooks
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
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Niemiec R, Jones MS, Lischka S, Champine V. Efficacy-based and normative interventions for facilitating the diffusion of conservation behavior through social networks. Conserv Biol 2021; 35:1073-1085. [PMID: 33565650 PMCID: PMC8360073 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2020] [Revised: 01/08/2021] [Accepted: 02/03/2021] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Research suggests that encouraging motivated residents to reach out to others in their social network is an effective strategy for increasing the scale and speed of conservation action adoption. However, little is known about how to effectively encourage large numbers of residents to reach out to others about conservation causes. We examined the influence of normative and efficacy-based messaging at motivating residents to engage in and to encourage others to participate in native plant gardening in their community. To do so, we conducted a field experiment with messages on mailings and tracked native plant vouchers used. Efficacy messages tended to be more effective than normative messages at increasing residents' willingness to reach out to others to encourage conservation action, as indicated by a several percentage point increase in native plant voucher use by residents' friends and neighbors. Messages sometimes had different impacts on residents based on past behaviors and perceptions related to native plant gardening. Among these subgroups, efficacy and combined efficacy and norm messages most effectively encouraged individual and collective actions, as indicated by increased voucher usage. Our findings suggest that interventions that build residents' efficacy for engaging in a conservation behavior and for reaching out to others may be a promising path forward for outreach. However, given our results were significant at a false discovery rate cutoff of 0.25 but not 0.05, more experimental trials are needed to determine the robustness of these trends.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Niemiec
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural ResourcesColorado State UniversityFort CollinsColoradoUSA
| | - Megan S. Jones
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural ResourcesColorado State UniversityFort CollinsColoradoUSA
| | - Stacy Lischka
- Social Ecological Solutions, LLCFt CollinsColoradoUSA
- Conservation Science Partners, Inc.Fort CollinsColoradoUSA
| | - Veronica Champine
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural ResourcesColorado State UniversityFort CollinsColoradoUSA
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Niemiec R, Jones MS, Mertens A, Dillard C. The effectiveness of COVID-related message framing on public beliefs and behaviors related to plant-based diets. Appetite 2021; 165:105293. [PMID: 33992747 DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2021] [Revised: 03/30/2021] [Accepted: 04/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Shifting the public towards plant-based diets is critical for achieving environmental and public health outcomes. Increasingly news articles and organizations have begun using the saliency of the COVID-19 crisis to highlight the link between animal agriculture, pandemic risks, and other widespread public health threats. Yet, little is known about the effectiveness of this messaging strategy for motivating dietary change. We conducted a randomized trial with an online sample to examine the impact of: (1) a message that uses the saliency of the COVID-19 pandemic to highlight the risk of disease transmission from factory farms, and (2) a message that uses the saliency of the COVID-19 pandemic to highlight the threat to worker's health created by factory farms. We examine whether these messages are more effective at changing beliefs about and behavioral intentions towards plant-based eating, as compared to more traditional messages that highlight the environmental, personal health, or animal welfare implications of factory farmed meat consumption. We find that all messages differentially influenced beliefs about the various negative consequences of meat consumption. However, these altered beliefs did not differentially motivate changes in respondents' intentions to reduce meat consumption and choose plant-based alternatives. This was possibly due to the numerous other barriers to behavior change identified in qualitative survey responses, such as cost, taste, and social factors. We did find that messages that highlight the personal health benefits of reduced meat consumption were more effective at increasing public trust in the message deliverer. Our results suggest that highlighting personal health benefits in messaging and addressing the additional identified barriers to behavior change may be critical for building trust and shifting the public towards plant-based diets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Niemiec
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
| | - Megan S Jones
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Andrew Mertens
- University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
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Niemiec R, Berl REW, Gonzalez M, Teel T, Camara C, Collins M, Salerno J, Crooks K, Schultz C, Breck S, Hoag D. Public perspectives and media reporting of wolf reintroduction in Colorado. PeerJ 2020; 8:e9074. [PMID: 32435536 PMCID: PMC7224228 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2020] [Accepted: 04/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
In the state of Colorado, a citizen ballot initiative to reintroduce gray wolves (Canis lupus) is eliciting polarization and conflict among multiple stakeholder and interest groups. Given this complex social landscape, we examined the social context surrounding wolf reintroduction in Colorado as of 2019. We used an online survey of 734 Coloradans representative in terms of age and gender, and we sampled from different regions across the state, to examine public beliefs and attitudes related to wolf reintroduction and various wolf management options. We also conducted a content analysis of media coverage on potential wolf reintroduction in 10 major daily Colorado newspapers from January 2019, when the signature-gathering effort for the wolf reintroduction initiative began, through the end of January 2020, when the initiative was officially added to the ballot. Our findings suggest a high degree of social tolerance or desire for wolf reintroduction in Colorado across geographies, stakeholder groups, and demographics. However, we also find that a portion of the public believes that wolves would negatively impact their livelihoods, primarily because of concerns over the safety of people and pets, loss of hunting opportunities, and potential wolf predation on livestock. These concerns-particularly those related to livestock losses-are strongly reflected in the media. We find that media coverage has focused only on a few of the many perceived positive and negative impacts of wolf reintroduction identified among the public. Our findings highlight the need to account for this diversity of perspectives in future decisions and to conduct public outreach regarding likely impacts of wolf reintroduction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Niemiec
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Richard E W Berl
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Mireille Gonzalez
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Tara Teel
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Cassiopeia Camara
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Matthew Collins
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Jonathan Salerno
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Kevin Crooks
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Courtney Schultz
- Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Stewart Breck
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.,USDA National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Dana Hoag
- Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
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Graham S, Metcalf AL, Gill N, Niemiec R, Moreno C, Bach T, Ikutegbe V, Hallstrom L, Ma Z, Lubeck A. Opportunities for better use of collective action theory in research and governance for invasive species management. Conserv Biol 2019; 33:275-287. [PMID: 30548338 PMCID: PMC6850443 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2018] [Revised: 11/01/2018] [Accepted: 11/09/2018] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Controlling invasive species presents a public-good dilemma. Although environmental, social, and economic benefits of control accrue to society, costs are borne by only a few individuals and organizations. For decades, policy makers have used incentives and sanctions to encourage or coerce individual actors to contribute to the public good, with limited success. Diverse, subnational efforts to collectively manage invasive plants, insects, and animals provide effective alternatives to traditional command-and-control approaches. Despite this work, there has been little systematic evaluation of collective efforts to determine whether there are consistent principles underpinning success. We reviewed 32 studies to identify the extent to which collective-action theories from related agricultural and environmental fields explain collaborative invasive species management approaches; describe and differentiate emergent invasive species collective-action efforts; and provide guidance on how to enable more collaborative approaches to invasive species management. We identified 4 types of collective action aimed at invasive species-externally led, community led, comanaged, and organizational coalitions-that provide blueprints for future invasive species management. Existing collective-action theories could explain the importance attributed to developing shared knowledge of the social-ecological system and the need for social capital. Yet, collection action on invasive species requires different types of monitoring, sanctions, and boundary definitions. We argue that future government policies can benefit from establishing flexible boundaries that encourage social learning and enable colocated individuals and organizations to identify common goals, pool resources, and coordinate efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonia Graham
- School of Social SciencesUniversity of New South WalesMorven Brown Building Room G16SydneyNSW 2052Australia
| | - Alexander L. Metcalf
- W.A. Franke College of Forestry and ConservationUniversity of Montana440 CHCB, 32 Campus DriveMissoulaMT 59812U.S.A.
| | - Nicholas Gill
- School of Geography and Sustainable Communities and Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental ResearchUniversity of WollongongNorthfields AvenueWollongongNSW 2522Australia
| | - Rebecca Niemiec
- Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and ResourcesStanford University473 Via Ortega Way, Suite 226StanfordCA 94305U.S.A.
| | - Carlo Moreno
- Environmental Studies ProgramThe College of WoosterWoosterOH44691U.S.A.
| | - Thomas Bach
- School of GeographyThe University of MelbourneParkvilleVIC3010Australia
| | - Victoria Ikutegbe
- School of Geography and Sustainable Communities and Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental ResearchUniversity of WollongongNorthfields AvenueWollongongNSW 2522Australia
| | - Lars Hallstrom
- Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities, Augustana FacultyUniversity of Alberta4901 46th AvenueCamroseABT4V2R3Canada
| | - Zhao Ma
- Department of Forestry and Natural ResourcesPurdue University195 Marsteller StreetWest LafayetteIN47907‐2033U.S.A.
| | - Alice Lubeck
- W.A. Franke College of Forestry and ConservationUniversity of Montana440 CHCB, 32 Campus DriveMissoulaMT 59812U.S.A.
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Glen AS, Latham MC, Anderson D, Leckie C, Niemiec R, Pech RP, Byrom AE. Landholder participation in regional-scale control of invasive predators: an adaptable landscape model. Biol Invasions 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s10530-016-1282-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
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