Environmental Citizen Research Articles

Integrating Youth Sustainable Knowingness, and Sustainable Attitudes to Cultivate Environmental Citizens According to the SDGS: Does Sustainable Environment Knowledge Moderate the Relationship?

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate how prepared young with sustainable knowingness, attitudes, behaviours, and environmental knowledge could help to playing their role as sustainable environmental citizens in supporting countries with sustainable development goals (SDGs) initiatives. Theoretical Framework: The Connection between Resource-Based Views (RBV) Theory and Youth Sustainability few scholars have identified RBV theory as a vital theoretical focal point for supporting the connections theory among researchers in several areas of discipline. Method: The methodology adopted for this research comprises 274 participants of students from southern region and this study implementing purposive sampling as to collect the data. Data collection was carried out through online survey using Google Form. Results and Discussion: The results obtained revealed that sustainable environmental knowledge moderated the relationship between sustainable knowingness and sustainable attitudes with environmental citizens among southern regions students in Malaysia. Research Implications: Governments should invest in educational programs enhancing environmental literacy to promote sustainable behaviors among students. These initiatives should focus on ecosystems and conservation, fostering a personal connection to sustainability. Originality/Value: This study enhances literature by promoting outdoor education and environmental health lessons for students, enabling them to understand environmental issues and live sustainably through community-based projects.

Becoming ‘Wild Citizens’: Children’s Articulation of Environmental Citizenship in the Context of Biodiversity Loss

AbstractCalls to tackle the global disasters of climate change and loss of biodiversity are becoming more and more prominent and urgent. Such calls require environmental citizens, that is citizens who act at local, national and transnational scales, assuming environmental agency through pro-environmental behaviours, attitudes and values in public and private spheres. To enable children to become active environmental citizens, we collaborated with five inner city primary schools in the south-east of England in co-designing a school-based, outdoor ‘Wild Citizens’ programme, underpinned by socioscientific inquiry-based learning, focusing on biodiversity loss. Approximately 130 primary school children (6–10 years old) explored their school grounds, discussed, decided on, and implemented interventions to enhance biodiversity, and communicated their findings within their community (schools, peers, parents, teachers). Semi-structured group interviews were conducted with a sub-sample (60%) exploring how children articulate environmental citizenship within this context. We found that environmental citizenship was articulated at both local and global scales of influence in relation to (a) environmental awareness, (b) values and (c) action competence. Children articulate the links between their performed actions to the impact these might have at a global scale, showing their ability to conceptualise and discuss implications and consequences of issues such as biodiversity loss in simple terms. Their articulation of actions as relevant and impactful to their school’s grounds, transforms the issue of biodiversity loss from a slow, invisible disaster to an observable phenomenon for children, which they then act to mitigate against. This work provides empirical grounding towards the operationalisation of environmental citizenship at the primary school level in the context of a less discussed, but as urgent, ecological disaster, that of biodiversity loss.

Teaching for a sustainable future case studies from the green schools project in bulgaria

This article examines the implementation and impact of green education activities in primary schools across Bulgaria, as part of the Green Schools Project, supported by Erasmus+ Programme. Through detailed case studies, the research highlights how seven primary teachers integrated environmental education into their classrooms, fostering ecological awareness and sustainable practices among their students. The activities ranged from recycling projects and nature observation walks to role-playing games that traced the journey of food from seed to consumption. The findings demonstrate significant improvements in students' knowledge of ecological principles, increased motivation and engagement in green topics, and positive behavioral changes towards environmental stewardship. This study underscores the importance of integrating green education into the primary curriculum, providing insights and recommendations for future educational policies and practices aimed at nurturing responsible and proactive environmental citizens.

Extinction Rebellion’s disobedient environmental citizenism

ABSTRACT We examine the public protest of Extinction Rebellion (XR) in the UK as a specific political practice. We do so through our observation of the plea hearings of activists charged with public order offences during the April 2019 London ‘Rebellion’, focusing on those pleading guilty at the first opportunity. We show how these narratives establish the values and beliefs of these activists, including their relationships to existing state agencies and institutions, the extent and nature of their public duties and the corresponding rights they encode, and the definition of the political community they represent. Drawing on the importance of embodiment in the critical environmental citizenship literature, we highlight how these narratives reveal tensions and inconsistencies between disobedient action and structural critique, as they reveal a ‘disobedient environmental citizen’ whose orientation is primarily based on an individualised civic duty in the service of the localised rights of future generations.

Development and validation of China’s Environmental Citizenship Questionnaire: evidence from junior high school students

The cultivation of environmental citizens has become an important measure to cope with the environmental crisis, and the research on the knowledge, conceptions, skills, attitudes, values, and actions of environmental citizens using the Environmental Citizenship Questionnaire (ECQ) is becoming a research focus. The research on environmental citizenship in China mainly staying at the level of theoretical research and descriptive research due to the accuracy of the ECQ. The emergence of the ECQ-China Version is helpful to promote the empirical research on environmental citizenship in China.This study verifies the effectiveness of the ECQ by removing 16 ECQ items which are not suitable for Chinese culture and evaluating environmental citizen-related knowledge among 550 Chinese junior high school students. The ECQ-China Version, consisting of 75 items, showed convincing results for all measurements: students’ past and present environmental citizenship behavior and the essential skills, values, attitudes, and competence that an environmental citizen should be equipped with had a significant impact on students’ future environmental citizenship behavior. This study suggests that: (1) Environmental citizenship education should not only focus on knowledge education, but also include skills education. (2) Environmental citizenship education should adhere to comprehensive principles, focusing on innovative practice of ideas and methods. (3) China’s environmental citizenship education should focus on the cultivation of citizens’ ability to participate, so that environmental citizenship can become the driving force for sustainable environmental development.

Using Design-Based Research to Develop the Learning Outcomes of a Curriculum-Based Environmental Citizen Science Project

The Intertidal Monitoring Project (IMP) is a local, curriculum-based citizen science project intentionally designed to support the development of science competencies in elementary students. The focus of the IMP is the Research Days, where students follow an established scientific protocol to collect monitoring data on an introduced species of clam in British Columbia, Canada. The IMP represents a unique program to study because the school district funds transportation and programming costs so that all grade five students can engage in authentic place-based scientific research. A design-based research (DBR) approach was used to develop and refine the IMP activities between 2014 and 2023. This research is focused on a DBR Evaluation/Reflection phase that qualitatively assessed learning outcomes during the beta testing of a supplementary classroom activity. Student- and teacher-generated data were collected to understand the process of a class “coming to know” science and its community of practice during the IMP activities. This included student learning artefacts and a teacher interview. The findings show that participation in IMP activities: i) fostered the development of science competencies in a grade five learning community; ii) did not promote science identities; and indicated that iii) the Nature of Science (NOS) required more explicit instruction. Student-teacher-scientist partnerships (STSPs) emerged as a critical design element of curriculum-based citizen science.

How can bottom-up citizen science restore public trust in environmental governance and sciences? Recommendations from three case studies

Citizen science is currently at the forefront of environmental scientific research and public policy for its potential to improve environmental governance, restore epistemic trust and help address some of the most stressing environmental challenges. Although citizen science is gaining increasing popularity, there is little empirical evidence to support these claims and demonstrate how bottom-up citizen science shapes public trust in environmental governance and science. In this paper we reflect on three grassroot environmental citizen science initiatives in Cameroon, Japan, and the UK to identify and present an instrumental framework which includes trustee attributes and conditions that influence how epistemic trust is shaped, and which should inform citizen science and other participatory practices. We explain that citizen science is an approach which enables political processes through the construction of well-informed techno-scientific arguments, which expose deficit assumptions about the public’s ability to participate in knowledge co-production process. To avoid repeating the failures of the past and risk amplifying issues of public distrust further, we provide suggestions built around key trustee attributes which can be incorporated in citizen science practices and we urge that environmental policy needs to create clear policy frameworks to enable the generation of actionable data, especially when such approaches are initiated and implemented as instrumental public participation methods.

Editorial: Environmental citizen studies in freshwater science

Editorial: Environmental citizen studies in freshwater science

Does Being an Environmental Citizen Lead to Greater Well-Being? The Self-Determination Theory Approach

Does Being an Environmental Citizen Lead to Greater Well-Being? The Self-Determination Theory Approach

Emerging technologies in citizen science and potential for insect monitoring.

Emerging technologies are increasingly employed in environmental citizen science projects. This integration offers benefits and opportunities for scientists and participants alike. Citizen science can support large-scale, long-term monitoring of species occurrences, behaviour and interactions. At the same time, technologies can foster participant engagement, regardless of pre-existing taxonomic expertise or experience, and permit new types of data to be collected. Yet, technologies may also create challenges by potentially increasing financial costs, necessitating technological expertise or demanding training of participants. Technology could also reduce people's direct involvement and engagement with nature. In this perspective, we discuss how current technologies have spurred an increase in citizen science projects and how the implementation of emerging technologies in citizen science may enhance scientific impact and public engagement. We show how technology can act as (i) a facilitator of current citizen science and monitoring efforts, (ii) an enabler of new research opportunities, and (iii) a transformer of science, policy and public participation, but could also become (iv) an inhibitor of participation, equity and scientific rigour. Technology is developing fast and promises to provide many exciting opportunities for citizen science and insect monitoring, but while we seize these opportunities, we must remain vigilant against potential risks. This article is part of the theme issue 'Towards a toolkit for global insect biodiversity monitoring'.

Searching for a recipe for success: environmental citizen petitions under free trade agreements

ABSTRACT Submissions on enforcement matters (SEMs) allow civil society members to assert that one party to a free trade agreement (FTA) is failing to enforce its domestic environmental laws. Submissions that survive every step of the SEM process result in a ‘factual record’ prepared by a secretariat on enforcement matters. Relying on qualitative comparative analysis and an original dataset compiling the 158 SEMs submitted under the framework of US FTAs, I investigate what conditions make submissions more likely to succeed in leading to a factual record. I find that the existence of previous submissions dealing with the same facts, submissions against developing countries, and the presence of at least one non-governmental organization as a submitter contribute to a submission’s success, but only in conjunction with other conditions and for a limited number of cases. This result provides overall evidence that secretariats’ decisions are unbiased by the factors examined in this paper.

Environmental citizen commitment in the process of territorial transition: Perspectives from the global South

Territorial transition in southern countries seems to have a distinctive aspect in comparison to northern countries, as it is governed by a dual challenge. On one hand, to regulate unrestrained urbanisation and, on the other hand, to maintain the principles of sustainability promoted on an international scale. In this article, we focus on the interaction between the two main pillars of sustainability, namely the social and the environment, and in particular on the degree of citizen involvement in processes regarding conservation of natural areas within their cities. Therefore, we question the modalities of territorial transition within theoretical and empirical frameworks for the case of the cities of Duitama in Colombia and Setif in Algeria. Two cities situated in southern countries, amid territorial transition, with rather similar geographical and natural characteristics, yet with very different social conditions. Through a comparative study it is possible to comprehend the diversity of social practices towards protecting the environment in these urban areas. The aim of this study is to understand how the inhabitants of these towns are currently involved in environmental protection, and their potential involvement in the ecological transformation that these two territories will undergo in the future.

Profiling European citizen scientist: Evidence from Poland

This article investigates the profile of citizen scientists in Poland who actively participated in a project to inform the Polish government's strategic objectives for 2050. While citizen science, involving public collaboration in scientific research, has been extensively studied in various countries, a notable gap exists in understanding the characteristics of citizen scientists in Poland. Employing a methodology that integrates both qualitative and quantitative approaches, the study utilises a collaborative survey and online deliberations to gain insights into the profiles of Polish citizen scientists. The article's primary focus is on delineating the demographics of Polish citizen scientists and comparing them to the characteristics of their peers’ established profiles in other European countries. Intriguingly, our analysis reveals that the environment and green transition theme predominantly attracted male citizen scientists, deviating from prevailing literature that typically associates environmental citizen science with higher female involvement. Additionally, the key findings suggest a portrait of Polish citizen scientists as an older, educated cohort with a discernible concern for societal issues. The article emphasises the importance of these insights for shaping the landscape of citizen science in Poland and provides guidance for similar future initiatives.

A research instrument to monitor people's competence to sustain insect biodiversity: the Self-Perceived Action Competence for Insect Conservation scale (SPACIC)

ABSTRACT The loss of insect biodiversity is a major global sustainability issue that is highly relevant to science education. Science education can support and develop learners’ competence to take actions to sustain insect biodiversity and empower learners to deal actively with this sustainability issue. However, we currently lack an instrument to assess these aspects of individual competence. This paper aims to fill this gap by introducing the Self-Perceived Action Competence for Insect Conservation scale (SPACIC). This scale allows for investigating learners’ action competence by focusing on self-perceived knowledge, confidence, and willingness to take insect conservation actions. The scale is grounded in theory and face-validated by external experts. The piloting with 180 secondary school students showed a good quality of the instrument in terms of reliability and validity, as the reliability analyses and confirmatory factor analysis show. The SPACIC scale is applicable to various formal and informal educational settings. Applying the scale can yield information about the effects of educational approaches and inform learners, educators, and researchers about changes in self-perceived competence. In this way, the SPACIC scale can contribute to the evaluation and design of educational approaches and eventually boost learners’ development into becoming active environmental citizens.

Education for Environmental Citizenship in Pre-Service Teachers: Potentialities and Limitations of a Pedagogical Approach Applied at a Distance

The 21st century can be defined as the era of “global environmental crisis”. The education for environmental citizenship pedagogical approach is a strategy with potentialities for meeting the challenge of a sustainable future. This case study sought to evaluate the effect of an ecology course, organized according to the education for environmental citizenship pedagogical approach and supported by Web 2.0 tools, on a group of Portuguese female pre-service teachers (n = 21). No previous studies resorted to this approach to organize courses for initial teacher training or used Web 2.0 to support its implementation. Thorough semi-structured interviews and the analysis of the resources produced, it was found that the pre-service teachers considered the approach to be structured, interesting and motivating, with positive impacts on the development of several attributes of an environmental citizen. The experience with the pedagogical approach fostered the didactic knowledge of the pre-service teachers, regarding how to implement activities of this nature. The Web 2.0 tools used to support the implementation of the pedagogical approach—Facebook and MindMeister—were positively appreciated by the participants. However, some identified difficulties suggest the necessity of using other platforms more frequented by youngsters. The distance-learning context imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic did not function as a big barrier to the pedagogical approach’s implementation. Suggestions for future research are presented, built on the limitations of this study.

Everyday youth climate politics and performances of climate citizenship in Aotearoa New Zealand

Young people around the world are creating their own spaces, strategies, and politics for climate action. In this article we explore the everyday informal politics of climate activism by youth from Aotearoa New Zealand's largest city (Auckland). We examine how young people, frustrated by the lack of global and domestic political inertia, are operationalizing their concerns about climate change into actions in their daily lives directed at mitigating their greenhouse gas emissions. Through a relational qualitative approach, we document the contradictory standing of youth, specifically as agentic actors and environmental citizens, who are aware of and seeking climate action through multiple modes of action including protesting, eco-consuming, influencing others, and eco-caring work. Our youth participants reported how their participation in various forms of climate activism helped to reduce their eco-anxiety and made them more hopeful about their collective abilities to address climate change. Our participants highlighted a hopeful view that their small-scale individual actions will collectively add up to large-scale changes at a systemic level. However, they were highly aware of and critical of state and corporate actors attempts to shift responsibility for taking actions to mitigate climate change onto individuals. Rather than situating themselves solely as eco-consumers engaging in eco-friendly purchasing practices, our youth participants narrated their sometimes contradictory climate actions (protesting, buy-cotting or boycotting, changing how they used goods, and services) as acts of resistance against the socio-economic status quo (high-carbon, neoliberal, and capitalist) that could act as trigger points for wider change. In this article we identify the various methods by which young people are participating in daily climate politics and demonstrating their agency, which are evident in their diverse pro-environmental-oriented and climate mitigation actions; all of which is evidence of how youth are seeking to be good climate citizens.

Environmental Volunteers Endorse Diverse Motivations: Using a Mixed-Methods Study to Assess Initial and Sustained Motivation to Engage in Public Participation in Science Research

Understanding why individuals choose to get, and stay, involved in public participation in science research is essential to building and maintaining the strong base of participants required for many research and conservation efforts. This paper explores the differences between initial and sustained motivations of volunteers working in more- and less- intensive environmental citizen science projects in the Mid Atlantic United States. Results from our mixed-methods study show that volunteers endorse different motivation types depending on how the question is asked (survey versus semi-structured interview), and that volunteer motivation varies by program type. Although survey results did not show differences in motivation over time, interview responses indicated a potential shift from more egoistic to more collectivistic motivations. These findings connote implications for volunteer recruitment and retention including the importance of developing appeals that explicitly connect volunteer opportunities to both personal pleasure and to the support of a universal good.

“From Gamers into Environmental Citizens”: A Systematic Literature Review of Empirical Research on Behavior Change Games for Environmental Citizenship

As the global environmental crisis intensifies, there has been a significant interest in behavior change games (BCGs), as a viable venue to empower players’ pro-environmentalism. This pro-environmental empowerment is well-aligned with the notion of environmental citizenship (EC), which aims at transforming citizens into “environmental agents of change”, seeking to achieve more sustainable lifestyles. Despite these arguments, studies in this area are thinly spread and fragmented across various research domains. This article is grounded on a systematic review of empirical articles on BCGs for EC covering a time span of fifteen years and published in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, in order to provide an understanding of the scope of empirical research in the field. In total, 44 articles were reviewed to shed light on their methodological underpinnings, the gaming elements and the persuasive strategies of the deployed BCGs, the EC actions facilitated by the BCGs, and the impact of BCGs on players’ EC competences. Our findings indicate that while BCGs seem to promote pro-environmental knowledge and attitudes, such an assertion is not fully warranted for pro-environmental behaviors. We reflect on our findings and provide future research directions to push forward the field of BCGs for EC.

Promoting Climate Change Awareness with High School Students for a Sustainable Community

Climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity, and understanding and addressing climate change represent important goals in creating a sustainable community. As several studies have underlined, in order to enhance eco-friendly behaviors, it is pivotal to understand people’s emotional reactions to climate change and develop actions that build a planetary sense of community. In this context, the present pilot study aims to propose a new psychological environmental intervention program seeking to increase students’ awareness of climate change and related emotions and to promote students’ empowerment. It was carried out in Italy, from January to April 2022, involved 25 high school students, and was conducted by environmental scientists and community psychologists who were experts in affective education and empowerment. The program was composed of two different modules: the first module focused on sustainable development and climate change’s effects on the environment and health as well as positive and negative emotions related to climate change; and the second was a participatory laboratory on actions that can be taken to protect the environment. An assessment of the intervention showed its efficacy in terms of the students’ competences as environmental citizens, their comprehension of emotions related to climate change, and the development of climate change projects. Given the small sample size and the pre-experimental nature of our contribution, future studies on a larger scale and with a control group are needed to confirm our preliminary results.

Facilitator organizations enhance learning and action through citizen science: a case study of Girl Scouts’ Think Like a Citizen Scientist journey on SciStarter

Engagement in citizen science can result in participant outcomes including increased science and environmental literacy and civic action. One factor which may increase the likelihood of these outcomes is facilitation by groups such as employers, schools, or other organizations. We examined how a partnership between SciStarter and Girl Scouts of the USA facilitated participation in citizen science to shape participants’ learning and civic engagement. Between July 2017 and February 2020, participants from over 200 Girl Scout troops completed the Think Like a Citizen Scientist Journey, consisting of science learning activities, participation in an environmental citizen science project on SciStarter, and a Take Action Project (TAP). Troop leaders provided open-ended descriptions of TAPs which we analyzed qualitatively. Responses provided evidence of learning outcomes spanning informal science learning goals, Girl Scout Leadership Experience outcomes, and Girl Scout STEM outcomes. Participants’ TAPs overwhelmingly related to science and environmental topics (81%) and the majority sought to educate and inspire others (66%), reaching audiences of peers, adults, the general public, and civic leaders. This program demonstrates the potential for facilitator organizations to leverage existing citizen science projects to promote learning outcomes, civic science education, and community action with participants as young as 4–5 years old.