Level Of Environmental Knowledge Research Articles

The Right Attitude to Sustain the Green Neighbourhoods

Residential green development incorporates green buildings with site planning and environmentally sensitive landscaping. A pro-environmental behaviour that seeks to minimise the negative impact of one's action on the natural and built environment is required to sustain the green neighbourhood. We, therefore, ask whether green communities have the knowledge and desire to maintain the sustainability of such neighbourhoods. This paper investigates and compares the levels of environmental knowledge, attitude and practice of 144 homeowners between green and a conventional neighbourhood. The results showed that green communities do not possess a high level of environmental knowledge, attitude and behaviour to ensure sustainable neighbourhood.

Examining the relationship between resistance to change and undergraduate engineering students’ environmental knowledge and attitudes

Engineering professional associations identified environmental sustainability as a key responsibility of the educated engineer. Data from national surveys of the general public demonstrate low environmental knowledge levels and a high level of resistance when it comes to environmental behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between first-year engineering students’ environmental knowledge and attitudes and resistance to change (RtC). The authors administered instruments measuring RtC and environmental knowledge and attitudes to three groups (n = 3169) of first-year engineering students in the fall semesters of 2008–2010. Students showed the highest mean scores on the Cognitive Rigidity subscale of RtC. Overall, weak, negative correlations were found between most RtC subscales and environmental knowledge/attitudes, meaning that students with higher RtC score lower overall on environmental knowledge and consider sustainable development less important. Findings can aid researchers and curriculum designers in understanding students’ knowledge levels and the relationship between RtC factors and knowledge/attitudes.

Investigating Students’ Environmental Knowledge, Attitude, Practice and Communication

This study investigated the relationship between students’ knowledge, attitude and practice of the environment and effective communication of environmental messages. For this purpose, a knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) survey was conducted, involving 895 students from 16 higher learning institutions in Malaysia. The findings revealed that students in general, have a good level of environmental knowledge. However, knowledge does not necessarily lead to practice. There was a weak relationship between students’ level of knowledge and sustainable environment practices. Similarly, there was a weak relationship between students’ attitude and sustainable environment practices. Hence, attitude is not a good predictor for sustainable environment practices. These findings highlight the complexity of the relationship between students’ knowledge, attitude and sustainable environment practice. The findings of this study also suggested that, the internet is regarded as students preferred choice of media which can be utilised to disseminate environmental information. It is important, however, not to disregard the roles of more traditional media such as television and newspapers, as they can also be effectively used to deliver environmental information. Besides media, educational institutions and family also have crucial roles to disseminate environmental information and encourage good practice. Since many of the earlier studies of this nature have been conducted in at other places, particularly in the first world countries, this study is expected to contribute to the knowledge based on Malaysia’s own experience as a developing nation that aspire to champion sustainable environment.

A National Investigation of Teachers’ Environmental Literacy as a Reference for Promoting Environmental Education in Taiwan

Taiwan's government enacted the Environmental Education Act in June 2011. In the beginning of the implementation of the Act, a national assessment of schoolteachers’ environmental literacy was performed in order to establish the baseline for evaluating the effectiveness of environmental education policy. This large-scale assessment involved a large sample size of in-service teachers across schools at all levels and regions in Taiwan using the stratified random sampling method. Data showed that the teachers have satisfactory levels of environmental knowledge and attitudes, but presented low degrees of environmental action. Differing from previous research results, elementary teachers performed better than high school teachers on this assessment, which may be attributed to their teacher training experiences. Results from this study may provide implications for teacher professional development programs and school environmental education policy.

Does Environmental Knowledge Inhibit Hominin Dispersal?

We investigated the relationship between the dispersal potential of a hominin population, its local-scale foraging strategies, and the characteristics of the resource environment using an agent-based modeling approach. In previous work we demonstrated that natural selection can favor a relatively low capacity for assessing and predicting the quality of the resource environment, especially when the distribution of resources is highly clustered. That work also suggested that the more knowledge foraging populations had about their environment, the less likely they were to abandon the landscape they know and disperse into novel territory. The present study gives agents new individual and social strategies for learning about their environment. For both individual and social learning, natural selection favors decreased levels of environmental knowledge, particularly in low-heterogeneity environments. Social acquisition of detailed environmental knowledge results in crowding of agents, which reduces available reproductive space and relative fitness. Agents with less environmental knowledge move away from resource clusters and into areas with more space available for reproduction. These results suggest that, rather than being a requirement for successful dispersal, environmental knowledge strengthens the ties to particular locations and significantly reduces the dispersal potential as a result. The evolved level of environmental knowledge in a population depends on the characteristics of the resource environment and affects the dispersal capacity of the population.

Water quality awareness and barriers to safe water provisioning in informal communities: A case study from Ndola, Zambia

Abstract Local water providers in developing nations typically view shallow hand-dug wells as traditional and backward sources of water supply. It has long been assumed that the urban poor do not have the ability to develop these in a way that allows them to be classified as ‘improved’ in terms of the Millennium Development Goal for water, believing that users do not understand the factors that constitute safe water and the threats to these sources. Our assessment of the level of environmental knowledge held by local water-users in Ndola in Zambia demonstrates a coherent understanding of the safety of their water sources, the quality of these, the threats to them, and the fundamentals of how their local hydrology works, all of which is contrary to the perspective of key informants who are involved in water supply. Despite their environmental awareness, the majority of users did not generally protect their wells from contamination nor treat their water. The apparent paradox between awareness of risks to water and implementing protection of that water source is a function of the complex suite of socially manifested attitudes, habits and behaviours when it comes to water protection and treatment, which is exacerbated by vulnerable community and family structures and entrenched poverty. For meaningful outcomes in improved access to safe water to be realised providers need to increase their engagement with the informal communities, moving deeper into community-based participatory planning and recognise the societal and cultural factors that are entrained into these communities water supply practices. A key part of this involves the need for providers to move away from simple knowledge-based education to the more holistic form of skill-based health education.

Environmental Knowledge among Aboriginal Students

This research aims to investigate the level and differences of environmental general knowledge and environmental action knowledge among the Aboriginal students based on level of education, gender and tribe. This survey research used a test as the research instrument. A total number of 445 Aboriginal students from Pahang, Malaysia took part in this study. The research findings showed that as overall their environmental knowledge is good. However, a separate analysis showed that their environmental general knowledge is moderate and their environmental action knowledge is good. When analysed from the perspective of level of education, the level of environmental general knowledge of secondary school students was higher than the primary school students. The students of the Proto Malay tribe showed a higher level of environmental general knowledge and environmental action knowledge compared to students of Senoi and Negrito tribe. Nonetheless, the level of environmental knowledge of male students and female students are just the same. Improvement environmental knowledge should be considered in planning the educational development of Aboriginal community towards environmental sustainability. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n6p279

“Experience is a great teacher”: citizens’ reception of a proposal for the implementation of green infrastructure as stormwater management technology

This paper examines citizen receptivity to green infrastructure (GI) development in three neighborhoods in Syracuse, New York. Data from 208 surveyed residents were statistically assessed to determine levels of environmental knowledge (EK) about and stated willingness to implement rain barrels, rain gardens, trees, porous pavements, and curbside extensions. Respondents had high levels of EK about GI as a measure for stormwater control and strong stated willingness to implement GI measures. There were no statistically significant relationships between either EK or stated willingness to implement, and sociodemographic variables, with the exception of age. However, there was a statistically significant positive relationship between EK and stated willingness to implement GI. This article, grounded in environmental psychology, argues that there may be nuances in the type of EK that can explain the observed relationships. Specifically, knowledge obtained from a common shared experience of combined sewer overflows flooding, rather than EK gained through formal education, explains the results. It is within this framework, that policy-makers must make decisions about GI implementation.

Role of Significant Life Experiences in Building Environmental Knowledge and Behavior Among Middle School Students

Significant life experience research suggests that the presence of role models, time outdoors, and nature-related media foster pro-environmental behavior, but most research is qualitative. Based on a random sample of middle school students in North Carolina, USA, we found limited positive associations between presence of a role model and time outdoors with behavior and a negative association between watching nature television and environmental knowledge. The strongest predictors of environmental knowledge and behavior were student/teacher ratio and county income levels, respectively. We also found that Native Americans engaged in environmental behaviors more than Caucasians, and that African American and Hispanic students had lower levels of environmental knowledge. Accordingly, life experiences appear less important than promoting small class sizes and addressing challenges associated with lower incomes in schools.

Understanding residents’ environmental knowledge in a metropolitan city of Hong Kong, China

This study aimed to understand the environmental knowledge (EK) of the residents of Hong Kong. A territory-wide survey was administered to investigate the subjective and objective EK of the respondents as well as their means of receiving information about the environment. The results indicated that Hong Kong’s residents have a comparatively low level of EK, with a mean environmental knowledge score of 3.35 out of 8. The youngster (15–24 years old), students, and employed individuals reported more extensive EK than the older and unemployed respondents, thus suggesting that the younger generation and employed individuals have increased opportunities to receive EK through various channels. A weak positive correlation was identified between subjective and objective EK, thus implying that the residents of Hong Kong could not accurately evaluate their own level of EK. The results indicate that traditional media plays a significant role in disseminating EK. Digital media, such as websites and digital social networks, were also determined to be influencing factors in disseminating environmental messages to the younger generation.

A diagnostic Environmental Knowledge Scale for Latin America / Escala diagnóstica de conocimientos ambientales para Latinoamérica

In this paper we present a new scale for the assessment of environmental knowledge in the Latin American Region (EKLA) based on the Rasch model. The scale was validated within two Latin American samples (Argentina, N = 168 and Colombia, N = 130). Comparing the level of environmental knowledge in both countries, the general prevalence of environmental knowledge was higher in the Argentinean sample. Nevertheless, some specific items were easier for the Colombian sample. As the EKLA scale considers the different item difficulties in the respective countries, it gives indications for cultural and geographical factors that have an influence on environmental knowledge. The scale can further be used to inform practitioners and policymakers about relevant environmental knowledge gaps. For the samples in both countries a relationship of environmental knowledge with ecological behaviour was found.

Siting landfills and incinerators in areas of historic unpopularity: Surveying the views of the next generation

The Campania Region in Southern Italy has suffered many problems with municipal solid waste management since the mid-1990s, leading to significant public disturbances and subsequent media coverage. This paper reports on the current views and knowledge of young people (university students) in this region about waste management operations and facilities, specifically the siting of landfills and incinerators. By means of a structured questionnaire, opinion and knowledge were systematically examined by degree type and course year. The study took place in 2011 at the University of Salerno campus. A sample of 900 students, comprising 100 students for each of the nine considered faculties, and 20 students for every academic course year, was randomly selected. Only about a quarter of respondents were not opposed to the siting of a landfill or an incinerator in their city. This clearly highlights that historic opposition to the construction of waste facilities is difficult to overcome and that distrust for previous poor management or indiscretions is long-lived and transcends generations. Students from technical faculties expressed the most reasonable opinion; opinion and knowledge were statistically related (Chi-square test, p<0.05) to the attended faculty, and the knowledge grew linearly with progression through the university. This suggests that awareness of waste management practices develops with experience and understanding of environmental issues. There is general acceptance that many stakeholders – technicians, politicians and citizens – all have to be part of the decision process when siting a new waste management facility. The opinions of the young respondents were significantly influenced by their level of environmental knowledge.

Environmental Education Evaluation at the School: An Example in Sao Nicolau Island, Cape Verde

Monte Gordo Natural Park (MGNP) is part of the Cape Verde (CV) Protected Areas National Network. In order to create an effective Environmental Education (EE) curriculum, it is crucial to first identify the level of environmental knowledge of both teachers and students. In 2007 we implemented a set of four surveys to students and educators and received 956 responses to create the first local database. Primary students, on average, scored at the reasonable level of knowledge; high school students showed an inadequate level of knowledge; elementary teachers showed a good level of knowledge; and high school science teachers showed a very good level of knowledge. Based on the preliminary results, MGNP wishes to extend this evaluation model to the regional and national levels to create a more comprehensive database for Cape Verde.

Environmental Literacy among Students of the Faculty of Education at Yarmouk

This study aimed at examining the environmental literacy among students of the Faculty of Education at Yarmouk University. The researchers designed a four-part instrument for measuring environmental literacy consisting of: environmental knowledge, attitude towards the environment, environmental practices, and a concern for environmental issues. The sample of the study consisted of 430 male and female students in the second semester of the academic year 2010/2011.The findings revealed that the subjects' level of environmental knowledge and attitudes towards the environment are below the accepted educational standard 75% with a statistically significant difference ( = 0.05), and that the level of environmental practices matches the accepted educational standard. The findings also showed a statistically significant difference in the mean scores on environmental knowledge scale due to gender in favor of female, while no differences were found due to the variables of year of study and specialization. A statistically significant difference was also found in the means of the subjects' responses on attitudes towards the environment scale due to specialization while no differences were found due to year of study and gender. Unlike specialization, both year of study and gender were found to cause a statistically significant difference in the means of the subjects' responses to the concern for environmental issues scale in favor of female respondents. None of the variables of the study was found to make any statistically significance differences in the means of the subjects' responses to the environmental practices scale.

Environmental Literacy among Students of the Faculty of Education at Yarmouk

This study aimed at examining the environmental literacy among students of the Faculty of Education at Yarmouk University. The researchers designed a four-part instrument for measuring environmental literacy consisting of: environmental knowledge, attitude towards the environment, environmental practices, and a concern for environmental issues. The sample of the study consisted of 430 male and female students in the second semester of the academic year 2010/2011.The findings revealed that the subjects' level of environmental knowledge and attitudes towards the environment are below the accepted educational standard 75% with a statistically significant difference ( = 0.05), and that the level of environmental practices matches the accepted educational standard. The findings also showed a statistically significant difference in the mean scores on environmental knowledge scale due to gender in favor of female, while no differences were found due to the variables of year of study and specialization. A statistically significant difference was also found in the means of the subjects' responses on attitudes towards the environment scale due to specialization while no differences were found due to year of study and gender. Unlike specialization, both year of study and gender were found to cause a statistically significant difference in the means of the subjects' responses to the concern for environmental issues scale in favor of female respondents. None of the variables of the study was found to make any statistically significance differences in the means of the subjects' responses to the environmental practices scale.

An Analysis of the Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes of Unıversity Students

This research aims to analyze the environmental knowledge and attitudes of university students. For the purpose of data collection, a survey was conducted on 162 students from the 3 rd and the 4 th grade studying in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences Education at the Industrial Arts Education Faculty, Gazi University. For the conduct of the research, descriptive statistics (such as arithmetic mean, standard deviation etc.), the t test and variance analysis were used for the comparison of the groups; and correlation and regression analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used for determining the relations between quantitative variables. According to the results, it was observed that the environmental knowledge level of the students is higher than their environmental attitude level. However, a significant relationship was observed between the environmental knowledge of the university students and their attitudes regarding this knowledge. Moreover, significant relationships were determined between the general environmental knowledge and the attitude levels of the students and their individual characteristics other than their ages (such as class, gender, the education level of the father, the education level of the mother, levels of income, and whether they have acquired any environmental education prior to the university) (p<0.05). According to the averages, it was determined that the environmental knowledge and attitude levels of the 4 th grade students, females and of the students having acquired environmental education prior to university are higher than those of the 3 rd grade students, males, and of the students who had not acquired environmental education prior to university.

Application of a model-based depth discriminator to data from the REP11 experiment

We address application of a passive, model-based depth discriminator to data from the REP11 experiment. The method is based on a mode subspace approach (Premus, 2007) which uses environmental information along with a normal mode based acoustic simulation to predict the propagating mode structure. This mode space can be divided into subspaces representing the lower and higher order modes. Sufficient aperture yields orthogonal and linearly independent subspaces and a linear algebraic process yields orthogonalized subspaces with reduced aperture. Received data is then projected onto these subspaces and a discrimination statistic is formed. This work examines the application of this process to data from the REP11 experiment in terms of performance of the discriminator over different sets of data and levels of environmental knowledge. Work sponsored by ONR Undersea Signal Processing.

The role of environmental knowledge in young female consumers' evaluation and selection of apparel in South Africa

AbstractThe harmful impact of the apparel supply chain on the environment is becoming a global reality. However, consumer awareness of the environmental problems caused by this industry is not always obvious in their apparel buying decisions. A qualitative approach was used to explore young female consumers' existing levels of environmental knowledge, and whether that environmental knowledge is reflected in the evaluation and selection of apparel. Non‐probability purposive sampling was used to ensure the inclusion of young female students (19–22 years old, n = 29). Participants first had to write an essay on the subject of pertinent environmental issues and then participated in a focus group discussion on the evaluation and selection of a t‐shirt. Results suggest that the participants have general environmental knowledge. They have the ability to identify environmental problems as well as the causes and consequences of these environmental problems. However, participants' environmental awareness and their knowledge pertaining to the actual production and supply of environment‐friendly apparel in the South African context were very limited. The results also highlight the product attributes important to the participants when evaluating and selecting apparel such as price, aesthetics and functionality of the garment, but environmental attributes such as organic cotton, locally produced, reduced waste techniques and not using harmful chemicals did not feature high under the attributes participants considered. They prioritized price, aesthetics and fit above other attributes (including environmental attributes). Environmental knowledge was not consciously considered in their general apparel decision making, even though participants indicated that they do care about the environment.

Determinants of Visitor Pro-Environmental Intentions on Two Small Greek Islands: Is Ecotourism Possible at Coastal Protected Areas?

A relatively under-researched question is whether there is a possibility of influencing environmentally aware tourists regarding ecotourism at destinations that continue to develop under a pattern of mass 'seaside' tourism. Our objective was to assess the pro-environmental intentions of visitors at two small Greek islands, which are within a Natura 2000 site, specifically Paxoi and Antipaxoi. Intentions involved willingness to receive information about the protected area, willingness to accept pro-environmental limitations on recreational experience, and willingness-to-pay a conditional environmental conservation value added tax. In addition, we aimed to identify determinants of visitor pro-environmental intentions among visitor and visit characteristics, visitor satisfaction, and self-reported environmental knowledge, as well as anticipated outcomes of tourism development and suggestions for protected area management. We randomly collected 324 usable questionnaires during the summer season; 242 (74.69%) by Greek visitors and 82 (25.31%) by foreign visitors. Visitor satisfaction was quite high; however, visitors reported low levels of environmental knowledge. Our findings showed that the unique characteristics of the destination were not salient among visitors and that there is a lack of effective outreach campaigns, interpretation, and on-site environmental education programs. However, our study revealed high levels of visitor pro-environmental intentions that might support the promotion of ecotourism on the two islands. We provide recommendations based on determinants of visitor pro-environmental intentions, which might assist towards advancing visitor participation in environmental education projects, environmentally responsible behavior among visitors, and financial contribution to environmental conservation by visitors.

Engagement of Students in Environmental Activities in School

The paper presents results of research related to students' attitudes about the activities they would prefer to engage in, which independent variables their willingness to engage depends on, and how the knowledge that students possess and their willingness to engage in ecological activities are related. The survey was conducted on a sample of 225 seventh grade primary schools students in urban and rural areas, polluted and unpolluted environment, urban area - 148 students; rural area - 77 students). The sample of students was adjusted according to two criteria. The first criterion was the place where students live so we took into account the urban and rural areas; the second criterion was the level of pollution, i.e. non-contamination of the environment in which students live. The structure of the sample of students was presented with respect to gender, place and environment in which students live.Results indicate that students are more interested in activities that occur in nature where they are direct participants and they have a subjective feeling of really doing something to protect the environment, hi addition, the results show that girls from both samples and students from the country are more willing to engage in environmental activities. Life in polluted and unpolluted environment is not a statistically significant variable that would affect the willingness of students to engage in these activities. We believe that the most interesting result of this research is the finding that a higher level of environmental knowledge of students and life in a polluted environment do not guarantee a greater willingness of students to engage in environmental protection activities.hi this study, we used the descriptive method of research. For data collection, we used two research techniques: testing and interviewing. Both techniques were accompanied by relevant instruments: Test for students and for Questionnaire for students (anonymous).