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Informing Public Engagement Strategies to Motivate the Public to Protect the Great Lakes: Lessons learned from the 2018 Great Lakes Basin Binational Poll

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Abstract

Engaging the public in protecting water resources is a critical yet challenging task. A wealth of social science studies has identified psychological predictors for individual pro-environmental behaviors. These predictors can guide communication in public engagement and inform the allocation of engagement efforts. However, a thorny challenge is to select influential factors among many candidates. This paper addresses this challenge by using social science research to guide the development of strategies to motivate the public to protect the North American Great Lakes. We considered a variable selection technique, the LASSO regression, in the post-hoc analysis of the International Joint Commission’s 2018 Binational Great Lakes Binational Poll data. The poll surveyed 4250 Canadian and U.S. residents of the Great Lakes basin. We fit LASSO logistic models to predict respondents’ intentions to take three public actions to protect the Great Lakes, including contacting public officials, attending public meetings, and engaging in online forums and groups. The models included 41 predictors encompassing demographic characteristics as well as respondents’ awareness, beliefs, and values that are pertinent to Great Lakes policy development and management. Results revealed eight variables that consistently predicted the three public actions, including indigenous status, political ideology, impacts of the specific policy issues of nuclear wastes, policy awareness and interests, and the Great Lakes values for personal benefits and wildlife. Based on these findings, we recommend strategies to motivate the public to take public actions to protect the Great Lakes.

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Funding

The analyses and paper preparation of this study was supported by funding awarded to the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) through the NOAA Cooperative Agreement with the University of Michigan (NA17OAR4320152). The CIGLR contribution number is 1167.

Author Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by TG, RCG, and RSB. The first draft of the manuscript was written by TG and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research at NOAA, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, University of Michigan, 4840 South State Road, Ann Arbor, MI, 48108, USA

    Tian Guo

  2. Ohio Sea Grant Fellow at Great Lakes Regional Office, International Joint Commission, 100 Ouellette Avenue, Unit 800, Windsor, ON, N9A 6T3, Canada

    Ryan C. Graydon

  3. Great Lakes Regional Office, International Joint Commission, 100 Ouellette Avenue, Unit 800, Windsor, ON, N9A 6T3, Canada

    Raj S. Bejankiwar

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  1. Tian Guo
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  2. Ryan C. Graydon
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  3. Raj S. Bejankiwar
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Correspondence to Tian Guo.

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Appendix

Appendix

(Tables 3–5)

Table 3 Continuous variable from BNP-2018 included in the analysis
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Table 4 Categorical variables from BNP-2018 included in the analysis
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Table 5 Variables excluded from analysis due to missing values
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Guo, T., Graydon, R.C. & Bejankiwar, R.S. Informing Public Engagement Strategies to Motivate the Public to Protect the Great Lakes: Lessons learned from the 2018 Great Lakes Basin Binational Poll. Environmental Management 66, 733–741 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01364-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01364-8

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