As issues related to climate change and the environmental impact of human
behavior promolgate a pervasive sense of urgency to action at both the
individual and global level, a fundamental question surfaces as to our relationship
with, and responsibility to, the natural environment. This study
explores the types and ways in which individuals morally think about the
natural environment in certain outdoor recreation activities. More specifically,
this study highlights two distinct types of environmental moral thinking
identified as anthropocentric/egocentric and biocentric. These two distinct
types of thinking underly the investigation of further inquery into: Whether
different outdoor recreation contexts elicit distinct types of enviromental
moral thinking? - Whether differences exist among men and women as to
the most important types of environmental moral thinking?-Whether a
specific type of environmental moral thinking is more predictive of acting in
an environmentally-sensitive manner. The book's audience is intended
towards those professionals and researchers in the fields of natural resource
management, outdoor education, ecopsychology, moral development, and
moral philosophy.