Open Access

Global climate change and environmental degradation are largely caused by human activity, thus progress towards a sustainable future will require large-scale changes to human behavior. Human-nature connectedness—a measure of cognitive, emotional, spiritual and biophysical linkages to natural places—has been identified as a positive predictor of sustainability attitudes and behaviors. While calls to ‘reconnect to nature’ in order to foster sustainability outcomes have become common across science, policy and practice, there remains a great deal of uncertainty, speculation, and conceptual vagueness around how this ought to be implemented. The overarching aim of this thesis is to advance conceptual and empirical understandings of human-nature connectedness as a leverage point for proenvironmental outcomes and sustainability transformation. In particular, the thesis attempts to assess the nuances of the HNC-PEB relationship by investigating the scalar relationships between where someone feels connected to nature and where someone acts proenvironmentally. This research was conducted through conceptual exploration (Chapters II, III, IV, and VI), systematic literature reviews (Chapter I and V) using hierarchical cluster analysis, and empirical case studies (Chapters VII and VIII) relying on structural equation modeling and two-step cluster analysis. In this thesis, the relationship between humannature connectedness and pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors was investigated in a small microregion of Transylvania, Romania, where traditional relationships with the land and changing socio-economic characteristics provided an interesting case study in which to explore these connections. The key findings can be organized into three sections: Section A, which addresses human-nature connectedness and its potential for sustainability transformation; Section B, which addresses human-nature connectedness as a determinant of pro-environmental behavioral outcomes, and Section C, which explores the relationships between human-nature connectedness and energy conservation norms, attitudes, and behaviors. Results cumulatively suggest that human-nature connectedness is a multidimensional construct that requires greater integration across heterogeneous disciplinary and methodological boundaries in order to reach its potential for meaningful sustainability transformation. Results also highlight the critical need to adopt systemic approaches to understanding how interactions between human-nature connections, norms, attitudes, and behaviors are hindering or promoting sustainability outcomes. This thesis makes two main contributions to the literature: first, it considers the human-nature connectedness and pro-environmental behavior literature within a systems-thinking and VI sustainability transformation lens; and second, it extends the human-nature connectedness and pro-environmental behavior literature by investigating the multidimensional aspects of these constructs. Overall, these insights point to the deep leverage potential of humannature connectedness when conceptualized and operationalized as a multidimensional construct.