The role of EcoTypes in engagement across difference

In our current political context, engagement across difference appears to be more difficult, yet more necessary, than ever before. Engagement does not require total agreement, but rather a commitment to open communication and respect across ideological divides, skills that can and should be taught in higher education. EcoTypes is a new survey instrument designed to disaggregate environmental ideas in order to uncover and articulate both agreement and disagreement in environmental thought. Within Environmental Studies and Sciences programs, a tool like EcoTypes can help identify ideological divides within a student population that sees itself (either accurately or not) as relatively monolithic in their beliefs and worldview. More broadly, EcoTypes can be used to move populations away from their initial perceptions of each other as “for” or “against” environmentalism toward more nuanced understandings of diverse environmental ideas. I describe in detail my experiences using the EcoTypes survey in the classroom and explore how this tool could also be useful at various scales outside of the Environmental Studies and Sciences classroom context.