TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparing perceptions of the important environmental characteristics of the places people engage in consumptive, non-consumptive and spiritual activities
AU - Burger, Joanna
AU - Gochfeld, Michael
AU - Jeitner, Christian
AU - Pittfield, Taryn
N1 - Funding Information: We thank C.W. Powers, J. Clarke, and M. Greenberg for their helpful information and discussions about the complexities of environmental evaluation in relation to resource use and future land use, and R. Ramos, C. Dixon, and M. Marchioni for their help with the interviews. We particularly thank Stephanie Jordan of the Couer d’Alene tribe for permitting us to conduct these interviews at the Post Falls Julyamish Pow Wow, Delbert Farmer, and Tino Batt (tribal committee) for permitting us to conduct these interviews at the Shoshone-Bannock Pow Wow, Mary Cox and Carol Cash for permitting us to conduct these interviews at the ‘Pow Wow on the Mountain’ festival, and Cliff Matias for the Red Hawk Native American’s Art Council (for New Jersey/New York). This research was funded by the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP) through the Department of Energy (AI # DE-FG 26-00NT 40938 and DE-FC01-06EW07053), NIEHS (P30ES005022), and EOHSI. The conclusions and interpretations reported herein are the sole responsibility of the authors, and should not in any way be interpreted as representing the views of the funding agencies.
PY - 2011/11/1
Y1 - 2011/11/1
N2 - Managers, risk assessors, tribal leaders, public policy makers, and the public are increasingly interested in the characteristics of natural habitats where people like to engage in recreational, subsistence, or spiritual activities. Such data are critical for making decisions about human and ecological risk deriving from contaminants, as well as resource protection and land use. In this study we examined the perceptions of Native Americans and Caucasians about the natural places they prefer to engage in consumptive, non-consumptive, and spiritual activities which might expose them to contamination or other stressors. Subjects were interviewed at Post Falls and Fort Hall in Idaho, Cookeville in Tennessee, and at two sites in Long Island, New York, and northern New Jersey. Our objectives were to determine differences in perceptions as a function of category of activity, type of activity, location, and ethnicity. The data indicate that: (1) the highest rated characteristics were unpolluted water, lack of radionuclides that present a health risk, clean air, and no visible smog in the air; (2) all four were among the top-rated ones for each of the four sites; (3) all four were among the top-rated ones for places to perform consumptive, non-consumptive, and spiritual activities; (4) at each site, mean ratings were lowest for spiritual activities; (5) where there were differences, Native Americans rated all characteristics as more important than did Caucasians; and (6) where there were differences, ratings in New Jersey/New York were lower than those from respondents elsewhere. There are many statistically significant response differences between Native Americans and Caucasians, but overall one is impressed by the similarity in relative rankings. These perceptions will be helpful to risk assessors and risk managers in evaluating risk and potential solutions, to land managers for managing environmental resources, and to public policy managers for evaluating how people view natural environments.
AB - Managers, risk assessors, tribal leaders, public policy makers, and the public are increasingly interested in the characteristics of natural habitats where people like to engage in recreational, subsistence, or spiritual activities. Such data are critical for making decisions about human and ecological risk deriving from contaminants, as well as resource protection and land use. In this study we examined the perceptions of Native Americans and Caucasians about the natural places they prefer to engage in consumptive, non-consumptive, and spiritual activities which might expose them to contamination or other stressors. Subjects were interviewed at Post Falls and Fort Hall in Idaho, Cookeville in Tennessee, and at two sites in Long Island, New York, and northern New Jersey. Our objectives were to determine differences in perceptions as a function of category of activity, type of activity, location, and ethnicity. The data indicate that: (1) the highest rated characteristics were unpolluted water, lack of radionuclides that present a health risk, clean air, and no visible smog in the air; (2) all four were among the top-rated ones for each of the four sites; (3) all four were among the top-rated ones for places to perform consumptive, non-consumptive, and spiritual activities; (4) at each site, mean ratings were lowest for spiritual activities; (5) where there were differences, Native Americans rated all characteristics as more important than did Caucasians; and (6) where there were differences, ratings in New Jersey/New York were lower than those from respondents elsewhere. There are many statistically significant response differences between Native Americans and Caucasians, but overall one is impressed by the similarity in relative rankings. These perceptions will be helpful to risk assessors and risk managers in evaluating risk and potential solutions, to land managers for managing environmental resources, and to public policy managers for evaluating how people view natural environments.
KW - Department of Energy
KW - activity patterns
KW - land use
KW - perceptions
KW - risk
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84857881093&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84857881093&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2011.587888
DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2011.587888
M3 - Article
SN - 1366-9877
VL - 14
SP - 1219
EP - 1236
JO - Journal of Risk Research
JF - Journal of Risk Research
IS - 10
ER -