Different Shades of Green: a Comparative Study on Nature Relatedness and Ecological Consciousness among South Korean, Swiss, and Czech Students

Abstract

How concerned are today's students about environmental issues? Do they sense urgency for change towards a more environmentally compatible life? Who should act and what impact does one's individual action have? And last but not least, do ecological consciousness and action go together with a sense of nature relatedness? More than 1,600 South Korean, Swiss, and Czech students have participated in this comparative survey. Nearly all of them affirm that ecological considerations influence their daily behavior. Most of them see the main agent of change in themselves; the impact of one's individual action, however, is seen differently along the East and West cultural divide. Also when it comes to one's personal sense of closeness to nature, we can observe an East West cultural variation. On average, the South Koreans reveal a greater closeness towards nature than Swiss and Czech students, this despite the fact that they have the largest percentage in urban background, and consequently reveal the least physical familiarity with the natural world. In our effort to interpret these results, we have included a discussion about the diverging cultural background of the three sample groups. While they all agree on the urgency of the issue and the necessity of more pro-environmental change, depending on their culture, their ideas about the right means to introduce a change in behavior differ.