The context of environmental dilemmas

The strategy of internalizing environmental responsibility commits the government to promote the voluntary cooperation of citizens in environmental dilemmas. Do our data show that this strategy has worked? To the extent that it has, is it a wise and viable policy for the future? And what are the limitations on what the strategy can accomplish in various cases of the dilemma? These are questions addressed in the final three sections of this chapter. But first we must follow up on the groundwork laid in the four previous chapters of this part. Chapters 9 and 10 presented the data concerning the acceptance of self-regulation policies, as well as evidence on the extent to which the respondents agree or disagree with the environmental ethos, at the level of motives and preferences.

To get to the point where the effectiveness of self-regulation policy can be assessed, we shall first track the choice intentions of cooperatively disposed respondents. Thus, our question is not only whether reported motives and preferences are congruent with the environmental ethos, but also whether respondents who display the right kind of motives actually intend to cooperate rationally and consistently with those motives. It is by focusing on consistent ethical cooperation, from unconditionally cooperative motives, that we finally capture the degree to which respondents are in full agreement with the content of environmental self-regulation in each case of the dilemma.