For the love of the land: How emotions motivate volunteerism in ecological restoration Cara Marie DiEnno a, * , Jessica Leigh Thompson b, 1 a Center for Community Engagement & Service Learning, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208, USA b Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1480, USA article info Article history: Received 1 February 2011 Received in revised form 11 October 2011 Accepted 23 February 2012 Keywords: Urban environment Emotions Nature Ecological restoration Community abstract This article describes, analyzes and synthesizes the emotions expressed by volunteers in a community- based ecological restoration effort in the western United States. We present a qualitative case study, the Partners for Native Plants (PNP) project, with the hopes of better understanding what emotions, flanked by values, motivations and goals, lead to involvement in environmental initiatives. Emotions play a dual role as both the outcome of event appraisal, examining whether one has achieved or not achieved a desired state, and also to function as motivators to work toward goal achievement. We examined two broad categories of emotions expressed by PNP participants. We examined those expressed in response to or as a motivation for the achievement of desired nature-based goals (pleasure-related) as well as emotions that are expressed in response to avoiding an undesired outcome or as a motivation to avoid goal impairment (responsibility-related), namely environmental degradation. Behaviors to protect nature are not based solely on cognitive decisions, but are motivated by a wide variety of emotions including self-blame, indignation, and affinity to nature. This information may be useful in under- standing how to appeal to emotions and engage urban people as volunteers in hands-on environmental restoration. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction As environmental degradation increases, there is a continued need for community-led ecological restoration efforts. Pawlik (1991) has pointed out that human activity and behavior change is required to reduce the ecological problems endangering natural systems. The need for community involvement is particularly salient in densely populated urban areas. The urban environment is especially important for discussions of environmentalism and conservation because the number and proportion of urban resi- dents continues to rise. Understanding the connection urbanites form with nature in the city is important for several reasons. First, the fate of the natural world may increasingly lie in the hands of urban residents due to their concentration of the world’s pop- ulation and thus influence on decision-making and policy. Because those who have direct experiences with nature are more likely to support conservation goals, urban citizens should not be left out of conservation’s focus (Dunn et al., 2006). Second, the city can support the ecological function and biodiversity of nature, which benefits both humans and nature. Finally, research has confirmed that neglected urban environments have been linked to human disorders including a sense of social isolation, depression, and other health problems. A loss of community identity and lack of sense of place can also occur (Semenza et al., 2006). “Community-based restoration is a powerful instrument to systematically address many of our destructive tendencies, and, in this exercise, to culturally transform society toward a saner, healthier relationship with the environment” (Leigh, 2005: 11). The formation of an emotional attachment to natural spaces in cities and the conservation and restoration of such places can provide a variety of benefits to urban residents including the restorative effects of interacting/viewing nature (Kaplan, 1995), the encour- agement of exercise and walking (Nasar, 2008), enhanced neigh- borly and familial relations (Sullivan et al., 2004) and an overall association with general health (Maas et al., 2006). Though preserving natural areas in metropolitan locales may be difficult, aesthetic, ecological, health and social benefits can be realized. Surrounding development and high-use levels on adjacent land frequently affect natural ecosystem processes on city natural spaces. As a result, and to ensure benefits accrue to the community, * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 303 871 2158; fax: þ1 303 871 3110. E-mail addresses: cara.dienno@du.edu (C.M. DiEnno), Jes@warnercnr.colostate.edu (J.L. Thompson). 1 Tel.: þ1 970 491 2801; fax: þ1 970 491 2255. Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Emotion, Space and Society journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/emospa 1755-4586/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.emospa.2012.02.002 Emotion, Space and Society 6 (2013) 63e72