This is a study of the role of altruism and self interest in shaping behavior towards the environment. A better understanding of this relationship is important because climate change, ozone depletion and loss of biodiversity all involve resources that are in large part public goods. For this reason, most mechanisms proposed to mitigate global environmental change involve public policies that require a tradeoff between individual and collective costs and benefits in the provision of environmental quality. Structural equation models will be used to analyze data collected in phone interviews with 500 individuals. This study will provide baseline information on public views on key global change issues, such as greenhouse warming and species loss. The study will also contribute to our understanding of how willingness to pay for public policies aimed at reducing global warming and speciesloss depend on environmental attitudes and values.
