EcoTypes

Navigating Paradox in a Divided World

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EcoTypes

The below applies to the 2023 EcoTypes survey only

Earth Action | Ecoscience | Ecospirituality
indigenous Justice | Science For Change | Small Green Steps
Neutral | Going Deeper

EcoTypes are patterns in theme scores—Place, Knowledge, and Action—among those who completed the survey. There are six common EcoTypes: in alphabetical order they include Earth Action, Ecoscience, Ecospirituality, Science for Change, and Small Green Steps. There is also a seventh, Neutral EcoType below, for responses that did not display any marked theme preferences.

You can think of EcoTypes as frameworks: structured assumptions on issues of environment that inform how we understand, care, and act. Each is empirically defined by particular poles of two themes: for instance, Earth Justice represents a patterns in respondents who strongly support nonhuman Place and big Action.

These particular poles can be understood as attractors: differing idealizations of Place, Knowledge, and/or Action. For each, there was less of a statistical pattern for the third theme. This suggests that differing EcoTypes, and their idealized attractors, represent differing emphases, both in terms of themes and theme poles.

EcoTypes were initially determined by k-means cluster analysis of the theme scores of several thousand respondents between 2019-21. Since then, related EcoTypes have emerged from more recent surveys, resulting in the six (plus Neutral) you see here. There are likely other EcoTypes out there—other ways people approach environmental issues. These six represent the most common we’ve found among those who have completed the EcoTypes survey.

Below you will find a summary of each common EcoType framework. You may also compare these EcoTypes via 2022 survey results, including a dynamic 3D graph of 2479 responses and how they fit into these EcoTypes.

Earth Action

  • Proportion: 28.8%
  • Place: Nonhuman
  • Knowledge: N/A
  • Action: Big
Fighting the oppression of nature
Earth Action (28.8% of 2022 survey responses) strongly embraces nonhuman Place, with an equally strong emphasis on big Action. Earth Action advocates structural transformation to save an imperiled planet. Earth Action has no decided preference regarding Knowledge.

Ecoscience

  • Proportion: 8.4%
  • Place: Nonhuman
  • Knowledge: New
  • Action: N/A
Saving nature by following the facts
Ecoscience (8.4% of 2022 survey responses) joins support of nonhuman Place with a strong endorsement of new Knowledge. Here, for example, might be those who endorse conservation biology to preserve nonhuman species. Ecoscience is less distinctive in terms of its Action preference.

Ecospirituality

  • Proportion: 16.5%
  • Place: Nonhuman
  • Knowledge: Old
  • Action: N/A
Honoring the sacredness of nature
Ecospirituality (16.5% of 2022 survey responses) includes a preference for nonhuman Place, and strongly favors old Knowledge to honor nonhumans via spiritual and wisdom traditions versus Western knowledge and science. Ecospirituality does not have a clear Action preference.

Indigenous Justice

  • Proportion: 13.2%
  • Place: N/A
  • Knowledge: Old
  • Action: Big
Challenging Western knowledge
Indigenous Justice (13.2% of 2022 survey responses) embraces old Knowledge and big Action, supporting traditional ways of knowing, and more radical steps to honor Indigenous and other non-Western peoples and their environmental knowledge. Indigenous Justice does not have a particular preference regarding Place.

Science for Change

  • Proportion: 12.3%
  • Place: N/A
  • Knowledge: New
  • Action: Big
Implementing fact-based solutions
Science for Change (12.3% of 2022 survey responses) includes a strong emphasis on new Knowledge and big Action. Here, for example, might be those who advocate transformative global treaties based on climate science. Science for Change has less of a preference regarding Place..

Small Green Steps

  • Proportion: 13.0%
  • Place: Nonhuman
  • Knowledge: N/A
  • Action: Small
Saving our planet, little by little
Small Green Steps (13.0% of 2022 survey responses) favors nonhuman Place, but also strongly favors small Action. Small Green Steps distrusts large-scale solutions as ineffective, preferring incremental, individual-based approaches. Small Green Steps does not include a particular Knowledge preference.

Neutral

  • Proportion: 7.8%
  • Place: N/A
  • Knowledge: N/A
  • Action: N/A
No strong theme preferences
Neutral (7.8% of 2022 survey responses) represents those who did not take any particular Place, Knowledge, and/or Action position. The Neutral EcoType follows from responses that were undecided or mixed to many survey statements, and thus did not fit well into the six common EcoTypes.

Going Deeper

Going Deeper With EcoTypes

You learned above that EcoTypes are based on particular combinations of Place, Knowledge, and/or Action. But this suggests what is absent (both themes and theme poles) in each EcoType.

Choose one EcoType above, and offer a critique based on its absences: the themes or theme poles it does not include.

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FAQ Survey Components