Rhetorics of environmental social responsibility: Shifting perspectives from logos to pathos

Since the advent of industrialisation, humanity has consistently turned to the natural world to meet its needs, resulting in widespread environmental exploitation. This approach not only fosters a perception of the natural environment as merely a resource provider, but also inflicts significant and often irreversible harm upon the ecosystems and wildlife. This study examined attitudes toward the natural environment by surveying individuals affiliated with environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Analysis of responses from 224 participants revealed consistently high mean scores across all three variables, indicating a limited appreciation for the natural world in relation to human assumptions, values, and behaviour. These results underscore the necessity of fostering a shift in human attitudes toward the environment to establish a healthier relationship between humans and the natural world. Out of the 39 sub-hypotheses examined, 25 exhibited significant relationships, further reinforcing the interconnectedness of the variables. While it is evident that human activities have contributed to detrimental behaviours towards nature due to a utilitarian perspective, these findings highlight the urgent need to alter this perspective to promote effective environmental stewardship.