Xenophobia Upside: Ethnic And Religious Diversity Correlated To Less Environmental Action
When is diversity a bad thing? When it comes to environmental action, according to a new paper from the University of East Anglia (UEA). Scandinavian countries, low in ethnic and religious diversity, take more collective action than more diverse nations, like the UK, China and the United States. But the UEA paper frames diversity using the more negative term 'fragmentation'. Americans may love separation of church and state and the mix of multiple religions in the USA but Dr. Elissaios Papyrakis, a senior lecturer in UEA's School of International Development and a senior researcher at Vrije Universiteit in Holland, found that religious diversity has an even greater detrimental impact on environmental performance than ethnic diversity. read more