The moral characteristics of environmental sustainability in young people's lives

Abstract

In this chapter, we frame Pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) as a moral issue and describe the need to understand the development of environmental morality in young populations. We then specify factors associated with children’s and adolescents’ environmental morality and their relation with PEB, including young populations’ moral judgments of environmentally harmful actions, their sense of personal obligation to protect nature, and the role of moral environmental emotions. Next, we focus on developmental differences found in environmental morality. We end up by providing suggestions of how formative experiences, especially those organized in contact with nature, may instill a moral stance toward nature in youth.