What people must believe before they will take action against pollution

It might be thought that awareness of pollution in the environment would cause people to act to eliminate it or to mitigate its effects. This isn't necessarily the case. In a telephone survey study in which pollution awareness was assessed, this awareness initially appeared to predict both (1) personal protective initiatives, and (2) collective community initiatives. However, when assessments of two kinds of beliefs were added to the predictive regression models – (1) whether or not pollution causes illness, and (2) whether or not pollution is an inevitability which just must be accepted – the initially highly significant predictive power of pollution awareness was eliminated as a direct predictor of the two kinds of action. It appears that, in determining whether or not people will take action, awareness of pollution is filtered through these beliefs – people must believe that it causes illness and they must not think that pollution has to just be accepted as a part of modern life. These beliefs, in turn, are highly predictive of action. This finding could be important for clinicians and community organizers for understanding what people must believe about pollution if they are to take action. The variables used in this study were measured with the Environmental Health Engagement Profile in our sample (n=433) drawn from eleven census tracts experiencing varying levels of pollution impact in a mid-size city. The two resulting regression models for predicting personal and community initiatives, respectively, were each highly significant (p<.001).