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8/10/2019 Identity and Natural Envir_edited by clayton Opotow
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Identity and the Natural
Clayton
and
Susan Opotow
many others,
both of us value
the environment,
and
this
value
has
to shape
our
professional
and
personal lives. For the
past
15
years,
have worked
as social
psychologists
to
understand the
deep-seated
but
and values
people have regarding the natural envi-
(Clayton
&
Opotow,
L994;Opotow
&
Clayton,
1998).'We share
abiding interest
in
the psychology
of
justice, and
in our own
research
how
people
think
about
issues of
fairness
with
regard to the
environment
(e.g.,
Clayton,
1,996,2000;
Opotow,
1.993,
1.996l,.
Because
we
live
far
apafi,
we
meet
to
exchange
new
ideas
and
enjoy
camaraderie
of
collaboration.
One
evening,
over
dinner
at
a vege-
restaurant
in Ann
Arbor,
Michigan,
we
discussed
the
powerful
that
fairness
and
identity
interact
in
environmental
conflict.
After
our
ideas
crystallized
with
bracing
directness
in
a
graffiti
on
the
wall of the women's
restroom.
A first
comment admon-
"Eat
organic-no
poison food. Love
Earth-don't
poison
your
A crude
response
jeered:
"Eat
shit
you
tree
hugging
faggot."
This
and
response
captured
a reality that we
had observed both
anecdo-
and
in
our
work
on
environmental
perspectives in citizens'
'$7ise
groups
(Opotow
&
Clayton,
1998):
People
are
about environmental
issues,
their
environmental
beliefs can
other aspects
of who
they
are,
and environmental
positions
per-
as
different
than one's own
can elicit a violent
reaction.
The
graffiti
exchange
prompted
us
to think
about
what drives
such
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9
Trees
and
Human
Identity
Robert
Sommer
'S7hen
I
was
approached
15
years
ago
by
the
USDA Forest Service to
survey residents' attitudes
toward city
trees,
I
wasn't certain
that
most
people had
clear opinions. It was possible
that
trees,
like
lampposts
and
fire
hydrants,
were
street
furniture
passed
by unnoticed.
Our
interviews
with
city
dwellers
quickly
disabused
us of this naive notion.
\We
received
responses
like
this:
"The
Chinese pistache
on
our
street makes it attractive
to us and a
prime
choice
of
location
when we
bought the house."
"The community looks
very
good
with trees in
all the
yards.
When one is cur
down,
it is
not
the
same, even
if
another tree is
planted
in its place."
"A
city without trees
is
like
a day
without the
sun."
Personal pronouns
frequently
preceded
a species name in
written
com-
ments;
e.g., "our
elm tree," as distinct from others'elm
trees. Street trees
were viewed as
an
integral
component
of the
house
and lot,
the neigh-
borhood, and sometimes
of
the city.
The
return
rate
on
mailed ques-
tionnaires was
surprisingly high,
indicating a strong interest
in
the
topic.
Mailings
to
street addresses
without family names
produced
returns
in
excess of
50
percent
in repeated
surveys
(Sommer,
Guenther,
&
Barker,
1990).
Spontaneous
comments
thanked
us
for
undertaking the
survey,
and
people
alerted
us
to
gaps
rn
city maintenance,
or
reported
that
a
favorite
tree was ill or injured.'We
relayed
these
comments
to the appro-
priate
city
agency.
Trees
are
more
than a decorative
feature of
the landscape.
Many
street
and
city
names
are based
upon tree
names.
All
this helps
to shape
indi-
vidual and collective
identities.
The
family
tree is
both a metaphor
and
a
possession.
Connections
between trees and human
identity
can
be
indi-
rect,
as
in
trees
enhancing home
and
neighborhood and raising
property
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liolt1,11,\11111111,,1
9.1
effects
of trecs
:'ls sccn
in
tliffcrcnt
Iirrt.s
ol r-(.s(..Ir(l)
factors
Tiee
c:rnopy
:rifi:cts
:rir
rltrelity,
t('n)l)(.t
ittur(.,
wind
speed,
noisc,
wafcr rrrrroll,
rrrrtl otlrt,r'
natural
pfocesses
thrtt ntay
itrflrrt'rrtt'
lrurrrrrrr
health
and well-being.
Trees
make
hornes
ancl
nciglrlrrlrhoorls
rrrorr.
desirable,
thereby
enhar-rcing
inclivitlu:rl
;rn,l
community
self-irnages.
Converscly,
trct,
loss
t,rrr
produce
grief
responses,
rcflectiltll,
l tlirrrirrrrr iorr
of
self.
Trees
add
to
the value
of
homes
:rncl
neighborhoods,
and
this
has
a
positivc
cf lt.t.t
orr
self-image
The
presence
o{
trees
can improve
neighlror-hr,,,,1
interaction.
Peopie
identify
more
with
trrt.s
llrlr
have
planted
themselves.
Organized planting
;rrr,l
maintenance
programs
lead
to individuirl
:rrrtl
collective
empowerment.
In
both
self-report
and physiological
stuclics,
contact
with
greenery
has
restorative
valur'.'l'lrir
can restore
equilibrium
to a
person's
relatiorrslrlr
to
the
natural environment
and heal a
clarrr:rgt.,l
self.
I
t
r'r
Figure
9.1
t;hilclren
feel
a
special
affinity
for trees
that
can
ntental education.
factors
factors
factors
factors
thereby
contributing
to
the residents'
self-images.
As
tirbk.
.).
I
trees
not
only make
economic
and physical
contributi.rrs
rrr
well-being
and
sense
of
self,
they
also
contribute
in
aesrhcrit
,
and psychological
ways.
There
is
something
deeper,
spiritual,
rrrrrl
ineffable
about
people's
attachment
to
trees
(figurc 9.
l)
1991).
is
another
area
where
identity
issues
are
apparent.
sorrt.
rl
respondents
made
us
aware
of
the
psychological outcomes
()f
rr.(.(.
which
seemed
similar
in
form
to the grief
accompanying
thc
clc:rrrr
family
member.
Samuels
(1999)
describes
the responses
of
farrrt'r.s
who lost
most
of
their
elm
windbreaks
to Dutch
elm disc:rst.:
want
to
cry, but you
are
too
damn
big."
.,It,s
like losing
a
l
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lir tl
tt'
rl,\r
tr
t
t
t nlr
g,?
9.3
tree plantings.
Tree-planting
programs
empower
and
educ;rrr
and
enhance
their
sense
of
.o--rrrity.
I
rr'r't
F'igure
9.3
(a-c)
(continued)
more satisfied
with
the
following:
how
the
tre
at
planting
time,
the
location
selected
for
the
perception
that
the
tree
improved
the
yard
species
planted.
They also
had a
reduced
desi
or
feplaced.
There
were
additional
benefits
f
Lreen
part
of
a
community
shade
tree
progra
tance
during
planting,
becoming
better
a
greater access
to
maintenance
information
a
more
willingness
to
use
a
telephone
informa
voluntary
organization
for
future
mainten
Sommer,
&
Meyers,
1998).
Because
program
membership
and
tree
pl
0.34,
p