Environmental competence - connection with nature as its motivational source

The focus in environmental education traditionally is on theoretically derived ecology-unspecific, general proficiencies, such as problem-solving or value-reflection abilities. General abilities are, however, behavior-distal and thereby often found to be empirically rather irrelevant to individual environmental conservation. By contrast, we propose a competence model that is grounded in the ecology-specific, empirically derived abilities „environmental knowledge" and „connection with nature" (i.e., an individual’s personal „appreciation for nature"). In a study with N = 2000 Bavarian students from 12 to 14, using multilevel structural equation modeling, we confirm a competence structure that involves three different types of environmental knowledge, connection with nature and conservation behavior as its constituents. In our model, environmental competence essentially depends not only on knowledge about the facts but also on people’s personal appreciation for nature (their individual connection to nature) as the motivational source behind pro-environmental action.