Environmental consciousness in Thailand: Contesting maps of eco-conscious minds

Abstract

Although different groups in Thailand display somewhat different concepts of human nature relations, certain common elements can be identified. Both nature and environment, are seen by all respondents, depending on where they live, as the world around them, but not all respondents perceive the same sort of "world." The "world" to the lay people and the NGO leaders is understood as a natural world, whereas the urban-based and educated population lives in a modern or man-made sphere. Accordingly, to them, nature is associated with periphery, rurality, and wilderness. Environment, on the other hand, is perceived of as a modernized and developed world. It appears that in Thai society, people develop "cultural models" not merely to shape the meaning and "representations" of the environment but rather to reflect contesting views of it. The lay population, most of whom live in rural areas, and their NGO sympathizers, have used "local knowledge" guided by religious and spiritual beliefs to make sense of the rapidly changing world. The urban-based and educated population, on the other hand, have dominated the rural communities with modernized and applied-science knowledge in interpreting the urban environmental problems. As a result, the general Thai public lack a sense of personal efficacy and responsibility, feeling that environmental "action" is outside the individual's responsibility, and that it belongs to the urban-based elite and environmental experts. Religious values and beliefs, which are strongly held by the rural sector, play insignificant part in shaping the collective "eco-consciousness" of Thai society as a whole.