Conservation psychology

Conservation psychology is the scientific study of the reciprocal relationships between humans and the rest of nature, with a particular focus on how to encourage conservation of the natural world. Rather than a specialty area within psychology itself, it is a growing field for scientists, researchers, and practitioners of all disciplines to come together and better understand the earth and what can be done to preserve it. This network seeks to understand why humans hurt or help the environment and what can be done to change such behavior. The term ""conservation psychology"" refers to any fields of psychology that have understandable knowledge about the environment and the effects humans have on the natural world. Conservation psychologists use their abilities in ""greening"" psychology and make society ecologically sustainable. The science of conservation psychology is oriented toward environmental sustainability, which includes concerns like the conservation of resources, conservation of ecosystems, and quality of life issues for humans and other species.One common issue is a lack of understanding of the distinction between conservation psychology and the more-established field of environmental psychology, which is the study of transactions between individuals and all their physical settings, including how people change both the built and the natural environments and how those environments change them. Environmental psychology began in the late 1960s (the first formal program with that name was established at the City University of New York in 1968), and is the term most commonly used around the world. Its definition as including human transactions with both the natural and built environments goes back to its beginnings, as exemplified in these quotes from three 1974 textbooks: ""Environmental psychology is the study of the interrelationship between behavior and the built and natural environment"" and ""...the natural environment is studied as both a problem area, with respect to environmental degradation, and as a setting for certain recreational and psychological needs"", and a third that included a chapter entitled The Natural Environment and Behavior.Conservation psychology, proposed more recently in 2003 and mainly identified with a group of US academics with ties to zoos and environmental studies departments, began with a primary focus on the relations between humans and animals. Introduced in ecology, policy, and biology journals, some have suggested that it should be expanded to try to understand why humans feel the need to help or hurt the environment, along with how to promote conservation efforts.