IB Environmental systems and societies (ESS) - Old 1.1B Environmental Value System Notes

Environmental Value Systems: A Model of How We Decide

1. An environmental value system (EVS) is a model of how a person's or group's environmental perspectives and actions are shaped by different influences.
2. It works as a system of inputs, processes and outputs.

Inputs, Processes and Outputs

1. Inputs
   1. The information, beliefs and experiences that shape environmental understanding.
   2. Common sources are education and science, media, culture, economic priorities, political ideology and religion.
2. Processes
   1. Inputs are interpreted through personal and cultural filters such as values, assumptions and moral beliefs.
   2. These filters decide how a person makes sense of environmental information.
3. Outputs
   1. The judgements, positions, choices and actions that result, such as policy-making, activism or consumption habits.

An EVS Behaves Like Any Other System

1. Like an ecosystem, an EVS has inputs, outputs and feedback loops.
2. Instead of energy and nutrients, it circulates ideas, information and values through society.
3. Every EVS sits inside a wider social system, such as a capitalist or communist economy, or a secular or religious community.
4. A worked example runs input to output: a student reads about deforestation, evaluates it through an ecocentric filter, and then advocates for reforestation and cuts paper use.

Classifying Perspectives: The Value Spectrum

1. Environmental perspectives fall into three broad types: technocentric, anthropocentric and ecocentric.
2. They form a spectrum, not rigid boxes, because people hold complex positions that change over time and context.