ABSTRACT
Exposure to environmental information shows a greater relationship with scientific knowledge about the environment than with concern about the environment. The relationship between post-materialist or self-expression values and environmental knowledge, attitudes and behaviour has been the object of comparative analysis of societies with very different levels of economic and political development. Spain ranks in position 76 out of 146 countries on the Environmental Sustainability Index, it ranks in position 19 out of 22 European Union countries included in the analysis, and it ranks in position 23 out of 29 organisation for economic co-operation and development countries. The research focuses on the measurement and explanation of reducing environmental pollution since the early 1970s. Its results show that Ireland and Spain are the two countries with the lowest reduction in environmental pollution during the period 1970-1995. According to the theoretical framework, one would expect to find a positive relationship between social position and post-materialism and good practices of environmental behaviour.
