THE NEW MANILA
>
>
>
>
>THE CONCERNS OF
>PHILIPPINE ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
>
>
>The encompassing nature of Environmental Psychology is
>reflected in the following statement: “Issues in
>person-environment relationships are enormously
>complex and this complexity is reflected in the
>diversity of environmental psychology.” (Veitch and
>Arkklein)
>
>In the Philippines, environmental issues are complex
>and are rooted in person-environment relationships.
>Studies have shown that man’s behavior has direct
>connection with the nature of Philippine environmental
>problems. The country is, therefore, not isolated
>from global trends. Issues arising from Philippine
>environmental problems prositively indicate that the
>country is a fertile ground for the development of
>Environmental Psychology.
>
>Environmental Psychology is defined as “the study of
>transactions between individuals and their physical
>settings.” The recent emergence of environmental
>psychology as a discipline has added strength to the
>society’s control over physical forces. In the
>Philippines a good number of environmental researches
>point to this new field of study. But this researches
>are still to be fully identified and to be defined
>from the perspective of environmental psychology. The
>interplay of man’s behavior and the physical make-up
>that surrounds him is evident in Philippine
>environmental issues.
>
>The following selected studies conducted in the
>Philippines are anchored on environmental concerns.
>Issues arising from these studies are given focus to
>uncover their direct connection to environmental
>psychology.
>
>Environmental Psychology and the Philippine Population
>Population is an old problem in the Philippines. At
>present, the government projections of its future
>trend reveal that it is increasing as the country
>moves towards the twenty-first century. The
>Philippine Yearbook of 1997 states that the country’s
>population of seventy-six million seemed to be moving
>towards a billion mark.
>
>The very core of this problem is the family unit.
>Within this unit, conflicting views and behaviors
>between a husband and a wife directly affect family
>planning and their day to day undertaking. A study on
>couples in a fishing village by Jeanne Frances I.
>Illo and Jaime B. Polo (1990) show different
>aspirations of husbands and wives for their children
>and the environment. Ramona, a wife, when asked about
>the education of their daughters, she responded
>“College is costly; they won’t need it, but they must
>study as long as they can if they are to live better
>than us.” Tonyo, a husband responded “I hope to see
>them complete in college.” Towards the natural
>resource where livelihood come from, their perception
>was also different, the wife considered the fish
>sanctuary as her “child” that needed care while the
>husband considered it as the “provider” of their
>needs. These differences if studied from the
>respective environmental psychology will give light to
>the understanding of the population issue.
>
>
>Environmental Psychology and Philippine Public Policy
>A case study on law and the local management of marine
>resources discovered several points of conflict.
>Among these were the “jurisdictional entitlements,
>both between national and local levels and between and
>among municipalities; the use of the natural resource
>ranging from fisheries to ecotourism; the competing
>claims to access and the limitations in terms of the
>human, technical and financial resources available to
>implement the jurisdiction.” (Abregana, Barber,
>Maxino, Sanders & VandarZwaag, ERMP 1996) In these
>conflicts arise cultural and behavioral concerns that
>needed further examination. This call for a better
>understanding of the Philippine society’s perception
>of Philippine society’s perception of Philippine
>environmental laws and its implementation is a major
>concern of Environmental Psychology.
>
>Environmental Psychology and Philippine Media
>Conclusions from a study on environmental content of
>Radio and Print Media in Region VII reveal that
>“environment is not top of the priorities of either
>print or radio media as reflected in the generally
>inadequate hiring of environmentally aware staff.”
>(Villava, 1998) This concrete picture of the state of
>Philippine media is very alarming for the two media
>sources identified in Villaba’s study are essential in
>building environmental awareness in the country.
>
>In another study conducted in Palawan on Environmental
>Communication, identified “government officials and
>other community members as highly credible and
>influential in promoting environmental protection”
>(Oracion 1996). Since the mode of communication
>directly come from individuals, behavioral factors
>have to be examined. Indicators of the effectivity of
>these role models in the community are significant
>points in the areas of concern of Philippine
>Environmental Psychology.
>
>(THANKS TO "Moses Joshua B.
>Atega"
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