Online communication links culture and environmental views in South China Sea
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Researchers surveyed 400 Chinese-speaking people online about connections between their understanding of local ecosystems, appreciation of artistic expression, sense of regional identity, and attitudes toward environmental protection in the South China Sea.
The study focused on how these factors relate to each other, using ideas from environmental communication, cultural sustainability, and social identity.
They found that people who showed greater local ecological knowledge, valued artistic and cultural communication, and felt a strong regional identity also expressed more positive views about environmental governance. The research team used statistical methods to explore these relationships, but noted they could not prove that one factor caused another, only that they tended to occur together.
While digital platform mobilization, people using online platforms to organize, did not directly impact environmental attitudes, it did seem to encourage both artistic/cultural communication and a sense of regional identity. Researchers used dance as an example of artistic expression but did not specifically measure it in the study.
The findings apply only to the group of online respondents and cannot be used to make broad statements about people in China, other countries bordering the South China Sea, or people who speak other languages in the region. The study offers a detailed look at how perceptions and attitudes about the environment are shaped by cultural factors among this specific online population.
