Texas Latino knowledge and attitudes toward natural resources and the environment

Abstract

Latinos are one of the fastest growing ethnic minority group s in the United States, and their influence on natural resource allocation and management, especially in Texas to date, has been largely ignored. For this reason, the purpose of my study was to determine Texas Latinos' attitudes toward natural resources and the environment, while considering many cultural factors often lacking in previous studies. Texas Latino community college and university students (n = 635) were surveyed. The survey was derived from three commonly used indices, as well as an acculturation rating scale. Of the 12 independent variables tested (ethnicity, gender, age, religious preference, religiosity, combined parent's income, parent educational level, environmental identification, political affiliation, political candidate's position on environmental issues, number of grandparents born in the United States, and acculturation level), only 6 (gender, religiosity, political candidate's position on environmental issues, combined parent income, mother's education level, and generation) were important in predicting environmental concern (P < 0.05). However, within group comparisons, four variables appear to be important predictors of environmental concern: gender, political candidate's position on environmental issues, mother's education, and combined parent income. The results indicate that: women are more environmentally aware (1.5 x odds) than men; survey respondents who identified a political candidate's position on environmental issues as important had greater environmental concern (1.5-2.5 x odds) than those who did not; as parent combined income increased, environmental concern values also increased (2.0-3.0 x odds); and environmental concern values decreased with an increase in mother's education level (4.5-8.0 x odds). My findings suggest that demographic predictors of environmental attitudes for my sample are similar to those of other study findings. Results from my study benefit natural resource and environmental organizations in program development and implementation.