At the turn of the year 2019 to 2020, the pandemic covid-19 announced its arrival, with unprecedented global impacts. Global warming can, according to climate science, result in more frequent and comprehensive global crises similar to covid-19. A frequently discussed remedy for global warming is to restructure society in a way that fits the principles of sustainable development. It is advocated that such a restructuring would require a paradigm shift, away from the Dominant Social Western Industrialised Paradigm (DSP), which according to Thomas Kuhn’s rationale of scientific revolutions, occurs as a result of a scientific crisis, and covid-19 could be a such a crisis. Therefore, this thesis seeks to explore how the direct and indirect impacts of covid-19 influence the perceptions of the environment; and explore how these changes can be understood in terms of potential normative, cultural changes that would represent a more sustainable paradigm. In the period of the pandemic in the Netherlands, from April 13th, 2020 to May 6th, 2020, 13 Dutch citizens were interviewed on how they experience the pandemic, both generally and in regard to environmental topics. Contributions from the field of social psychology like: The Stone Age Biases Framework by van Vugt, Griskeviscius and Schultz (2014); Individual barriers for behavioural change proposed by Manolas (2015); Dunlap, van Liere, Mertig and Jones’ (2000) construct of the New Ecological Paradigm Scale and; Baker’s (2016) premise for sustainable development are used to identify potential changes that could imply behavioural or cultural changes in line with a more sustainable paradigm. The results suggest that covid-19 impact the respondents’ lives considerably and changed the way they think about environment related topics and their own lifestyle. It illustrates that: 1) people experienced the unique situation of the pandemic as a time for reflection around their personal lifestyle and habits; 2) It reveals that the pandemic impacts perceptions around current approaches to development and a deep concern for how the world is currently arranged in terms of environmental distress; 3) The pandemic materializes the state of the world and the need for change, due to before and after images of the environment with and without human activity; 4) It highlights that the pandemic impacts perceptions around community and cooperation; 5) It reveals a general perception or belief that that the majority of society are ignorant to environmental issues.

, , , , , , ,
Martini, A.
hdl.handle.net/2105/56214
Place, Culture and Tourism
Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication

Kenan, A. (2020, June 15). HOW THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC INFLUENCE PERCEPTIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL TOPICS IN THE NETHERLANDS. Place, Culture and Tourism. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2105/56214