Low Environmental Awareness Research Articles

Environmental Impact of Waste Produced in Street Markets: A Study on Challenges and Opportunities in Serra Da Ibiapaba, Ceará

Objective: The objective of the article is to analyze the environmental impact of vegetable waste produced in street markets in the Serra da Ibiapaba region, Ceará, Brazil, and propose solutions to the identified impacts in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Method: This is a qualitative and quantitative research study that uses field data collection, the Leopold matrix for environmental impact assessment, and descriptive analysis to evaluate the current state of waste management practices in the region. Results and Discussion: The results indicate that inadequate waste management practices lead to environmental pollution, including the presence of insects and leachate in urban areas. The study identifies common problems related to waste management and low environmental awareness among vendors and public authorities. Originality/Value: The Serra da Ibiapaba region is an important agricultural area in Brazil, and the inadequate disposal of vegetable waste in street markets poses relevant environmental challenges for society. This research is relevant because it addresses a gap in the literature regarding the environmental impacts of street market waste in a region that is significant both environmentally and economically, offering practical solutions aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Environmental Perception as a Strategic Factor in Legal Compliance Auditing: Challenges and Opportunities

Legal compliance auditing consists of the systematic analysis of processes, products, and activities within an organization, with the aim of verifying whether they are in accordance with environmental standards established by laws, regulations, and other requirements. In this context, environmental awareness in companies is an increasingly relevant topic in discussions about sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and environmental management. Environmental awareness can be understood as the way an organization identifies, interprets, and responds to environmental issues arising in its operational context. Companies, especially those operating in sectors that utilize natural resources or have significant environmental impacts, need to integrate environmental awareness into their daily activities. The objective of this paper is to analyze how environmental awareness influences the effectiveness of legal compliance audits, highlighting its importance in promoting sustainability and ensuring adherence to environmental regulations. Companies with a well-developed environmental awareness tend to adopt a more proactive approach to their environmental responsibilities, going beyond mere legal compliance. On the other hand, low environmental awareness within the organization can lead to neglecting environmental issues, resulting in less effective audits.

Changing Our Food Habits One Bite at a Time: Exploring Young Flexitarians in a Country with a High Meat Intake.

Flexitarian diets have gained attention for their potential positive impact on human health and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. However, a critical question remains: Can the segment of flexitarians significantly contribute to necessary changes in our current unsustainable food systems? Our study addresses this gap by examining meat consumption habits among young adults (n = 1023) in a country with traditionally high meat intake. Furthermore, we focus on a subset of flexitarians (n = 286). Our findings reveal two distinct groups of flexitarians: ethical (n1 = 140) and utilitarian (n2 = 148). Utilitarian flexitarians exhibit a stronger preference for meat (t(284)= -15.180, p < 0.001), greater food neophobia (t(284) = -4.785, p < 0.001), and lower environmental awareness (t(284) = 7.486, p < 0.001) compared to Ethical flexitarians. The Ethical group, predominantly female (χ2(1) = 13.366, p < 0.001), demonstrates higher life satisfaction (t(284) = 5.485, p < 0.001), better health perceptions (t(284) = 5.127, p < 0.001), and stronger beliefs in reducing meat consumption (t(284) = -8.968, p < 0.001). Additionally, Ethical flexitarians hold more positive views on plant-based meat, perceiving it as healthier (t(284) = 4.326, p < 0.001) and more ethical (t(284) = 4.942, p < 0.001), and show a greater willingness to adopt it (t(284) = 7.623, p < 0.001). While both groups possess similar knowledge and willingness regarding cultured meat and insects, Ethical flexitarians view cultured meat more favourably (t(250.976) = 2.964, p = 0.003). Our study provides insights into the evolving trends of flexitarianism within Central and Eastern European countries, where research on meat consumption and flexitarianism is scarce. These insights hold value for promoting behaviour change toward reduced meat consumption for both health and environmental reasons. Additionally, they offer guidance to the food industry, including producers, sellers, and providers of meals in educational and employment facilities.

Optimizing carbon emission reduction strategies in power batteries: Ensuring compliance with the EU battery regulation's carbon labeling initiatives

Reducing carbon emissions from power batteries is essential for the low-carbon development of electric vehicles (EVs). In response to the carbon labeling requirements of the EU battery regulation, this study developed a three-tiered supply chain model incorporating the battery material supplier, the power battery manufacturer, and the EV company. Using Stackelberg game theory, the research evaluated four carbon emission reduction strategies and analyzed the impact of consumer environmental awareness on carbon emissions. The results reveal that for batteries with lower initial carbon footprints, increased consumer environmental awareness is associated with a reduction in carbon emissions. For batteries with higher initial carbon footprints, the relationship between consumer environmental awareness and carbon emissions is more complex. Below a certain threshold, higher environmental awareness leads to carbon emission reduction; however, beyond this threshold, increased environmental awareness can elevate carbon emissions. Moreover, under low consumer environmental awareness, a strategy of comprehensive collaboration among all supply chain tiers yields the highest economic benefits, albeit with higher emissions. As environmental awareness rises, the strategy where the material supplier independently reduces emissions and the battery manufacturer and EV company collaborate on emission reductions emerges as the most effective, striking an optimal balance between economic and environmental interests.

Does Social Media Marketing Incorporating Accreditation Information Enhance Online Users’ Positive Behavioral Intentions Toward Nonprofit Organizations?

ABSTRACT Despite the increased adoption of social media marketing and accreditation practices by NPOs, little attention has been paid to their active promotion of accreditation information on social media and its potential impact on people’s attitude or behavioral change. This study examines whether the integration of accreditation information in nonprofit organizations’ social media marketing affects online users’ attitudes and behavioral intentions toward the promoted nonprofits This study conducts an online experiment using fictitious social media pages that include identifiable information on the NPOs’ environmental causes combined with an accreditation logo on public charities’ accountability as a device to test the signaling effect. This study created a factorial design of (2 × 2) by the combination of the existence of an accreditation logo (presence/absence) and the environmental awareness level (high/low). A total of 146 completed responses from graduate and undergraduate students of a public university were used for the analysis. Results show that respondents, having a high level of environmental awareness, demonstrated more positive attitudes toward the advertised nonprofits with certificate logo. This study suggests that the implementation of social media marketing with accreditation logo should be approached with caution, as it could potentially backfire with individuals with low environmental awareness.

Understanding the knowledge of Mogpog residents about heavy metal pollution due to mining and its associated health risk

The municipality of Mogpog in the Philippines was one of the severely hit areas during the 1993 mining disaster in the province of Marinduque. After three (3) decades, the aftermath of the disaster still lingers in the municipality and even in the whole province. This study was conducted to assess the relationship between the social demographics of the residents of Mogpog and their knowledge about heavy metal (HM) pollution and its associated health risks. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among the 314 residents of Mogpog. Six (6) social demographics were considered, such as age, sex, marital status, highest education attainment, monthly household income, and whether the respondents were government employees or not. Results of the binomial logistic regression analysis showed that the social demographics affecting the respondents’ knowledge about HM pollution were marital status and monthly household income (significant at the 0.05 level). Married individuals may have larger and more diverse social networks, which could expose them to a wider range of information, including environmental issues. On the other hand, those with lower incomes may have limited access to formal education or information resources, which could result in lower environmental awareness. The results underscore the need for specific interventions and educational initiatives to enhance the understanding of the adverse health impacts associated with HM pollution among residents in Mogpog

Assessing the Availability of Spatial Geothermal Information Using Business Tools and Exploratory Data Analysis

Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source that utilizes heat from the earth's core. Because of that, it is a reliable source of energy demonstrating great potential, which is still used to a small extent. Barriers to the wider use of geothermal energy include high investment costs, location constraints, and the quality of resources at various depths. Opposition from local communities is also a barrier. It results from low environmental awareness of geothermal opportunities, exacerbated by the lack of free access to good-quality geothermal spatial information. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess geothermal spatial information availability for selected geoportals using selected business tools and exploratory data analysis. The authors examined geoportals in terms of the information provided, the way it is presented, and the features available. They performed the assessment of their degree of similarity using competitive profile assessment, image graphs, cluster analysis, and affinity analysis. The research confirmed that the available spatial information is characterized by high variability, which indicates the lack of uniform rules for collecting, gathering, storing, and sharing geothermal data. The foregoing leads to information chaos, which can impede investors' investment decisions regarding implementing a geothermal installation on a property.

MAP, PEOPLE, AND POLLUTANTS: LINKING SOCIOLEGAL-SPATIAL SCIENCE TO UNDERSTANDING WASTE MANAGEMENT IN SLEMAN REGENCY, INDONESIA

Indonesia’s waste management strategy promotes sustainable management and effective use of natural resources, as do many others. Due to a shortage of final processing sites (FPSs), ineffective solid waste management, and low environmental awareness, delivering information on ecologically friendly waste management has been difficult. Therefore, this research aims to locate typical landfills in highly populated metropolitan regions, explore solid waste management difficulties, and suggest feasible solutions. Sleman Regency, Province of the Special Region of Yogyakarta, was our focus while choosing an FPS location and assessing socioeconomic factors. We filter and classify quantitative and qualitative data from maps, observations, interviews, and document searches before using them in our mixed-methods approach. This study used sociolegal-spatial methods to improve waste management. The results show that geographical accuracy and comprehensiveness may be achieved within legal and institutional contexts. Trash reduction can be achieved if provincial, district/city, sub-district, and village administrations are compelled to adopt waste management policies and plans. These findings show that the government cannot accomplish its 2,030 waste elimination goal without systematic and long-term public infrastructure and village home socialisation.

Cost subsidy or environmental regulation? The effects of government interventions on environmental quality and 3BL performance

Green product development and innovation play a crucial role in addressing environmental issues. Governments often promote innovation by motivating manufacturers to enhance their products' environmental qualities (i.e., greenness, energy efficiency, recyclability). This paper investigates the implications of cost subsidy and environmental regulation for manufacturers’ pricing and environmental quality decisions, and triple-bottom-line (3BL) performance. We develop theoretical models involving one social welfare-maximizing government and one or two manufacturers. In the monopoly model, environmental regulation can achieve the same level of social welfare and environmental performance as cost subsidy when consumers have low environmental awareness. In the competitive model, market scale asymmetry between manufacturers drives differences in product price and environmental quality. Specifically, the manufacturer with a larger market share is also the leader in environmental quality and profit. Furthermore, cost subsidy and environmental regulation have distinct effects on environmental quality competition. A higher subsidy rate widens the gap between environmental qualities, helping competing manufacturers better differentiate their products. Conversely, a stricter regulatory standard narrows the gap between environmental qualities, hindering product differentiation. Moreover, numerical analysis shows that the dominating policy in the competitive model depends on environmental and market characteristics. Finally, we check the robustness of the results by considering two extensions of our models and find that the main insights remain valid.

Application of the Climate Kids Interactive Web to Build Understanding of Concepts and Environmental Awareness of Class VI Students on Global Warming Material

There is a problem faced, namely that elementary school students' understanding of science concepts is still low, which has an impact on low environmental awareness. This research aims to determine the application of the Climate Kids interactive web to build students' conceptual understanding and environmental awareness. The method used in this research is quantitative with an exploratory approach and pre-Exploratory with a one group pretest-posttest design. Participants in this research involved 25 students, 10 male students and 15 female students in class VI of one of the state elementary schools in West Bandung Regency, West Java Province. The research results show that the Climate Kids interactive web can build conceptual understanding and environmental awareness as seen from the average pretest score of 37.67 while the posttest average score is 79.87, supported by the results of the Wilcoxon test with asymp. Sig. 0.000 &lt; 0.05, which means there is a significant difference between the pretest-posttest results and the average environmental awareness questionnaire results obtained are 92%, which shows that the level of students' environmental awareness after being given learning is in the very high category.

Improving Student Literacy and Environmental Care Movement in Pematang Raya Village, Raya Sub-District, Simalungun Regency

Increasing student literacy and environmental care for elementary and junior high school students is the theme of the Real Work Lecture/Kuliah Kerja Nyata (KKN) Group 138 in Pematang Raya Village, Simalungun Regency. This paper aims to describe the community service activities carried out by Universitas Sumatera Utara students in KKN activities in increasing Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka Outcome Base Education (MBKM-OBE) as a forum for providing opportunities for students to experience off campus, interact, identify social phenomena and provide solutions through Project Base Learning and Problem Solving for the community around the location of the Real Work Lecture/Kuliah Kerja Nyata (KKN) carried out by the Community Service Institute of Universitas Sumatera Utara. From the results of observations and assessments of students, the priority scale of the problem is the lack of student literacy and low environmental awareness. The implementation method is carried out during the 2 months students are at the KKN location by making KKNT posts, learning houses and programs that have been compiled and run regularly every week for 2 months. The results of the 138 KKN group service can be seen in real changes, namely increasing student literacy to read as a means of filling spare time, doing homework independently and conscious activities to dispose of waste in its place, sorting organic and non-organic waste and being able to make simple compost.

Pengaruh environmental awareness terhadap gratitude to nature di sekolah menengah

Abstract. Environmental awareness is an introspective behavior of environmental issues. This behavior is very important to develop, especially among schools. Because, in this era, many teenagers have been indifferent to environmental issues. Low environmental awareness, then low our gratitude to nature. The lack of awareness about nature can dilute the noble values in society. This study aims to determine the effect of environmental awareness on gratitude to nature in high school students. This research is a non-experimental quantitative study. Data collection using Environmental Awareness and Gratitude to Nature scales. The data analysis method uses simple linear regression. The sampling technique used was convenience sampling with a sample of 261 subjects. The results showed that there was an influence of 26,3% of environmental awareness on gratitude to nature. Keyword: Environmental awareness, gratitude to nature, students

State‐society relations and industrial sustainable growth: The case of post‐Revolution Tunisia

AbstractThis paper investigates the effect of state‐society relations (SSR) in the industrial sector on the sustainable economic growth of post‐Revolution Tunisia. The empirical part of the paper depends mainly on qualitative data collected from fieldwork interviews with the most important actors and publications of civil society organizations. The paper suggests the presence of state capture as the defining characteristic of SSR in post‐Revolution Tunisia. The combination of having powerful tycoons, weaker state, and ineffectively organized social actors produced conditions that harmed sustainability. These settings allowed tycoons to violate environmental regulations and prevented Green innovation through the adoption of Green technologies. Yet, factors such as low value‐added creation, increased labor‐intensity, and low environmental awareness or prioritization all interact with state capture to lower sustainability. In those sectors where tycoons are active and dominant, competing social actors are incapable of effectively exploiting the presence of a freer political system, ultimately failing to successfully organize resisting coalitions, as evident in the textile sector. While higher resistance is witnessed where tycoons are not dominant as was the case in the phosphate sector, tycoons could still use the situation to their advantage.

Environmental STEM (E-STEM) in Building Climate-Resilient Communities in Aceh: Students’ Awareness

The environmental STEM (E-STEM) approach helps students to understand problems related to the environment and solutions to overcome the issues. Many studies show how applying the E-STEM approach in education increase students' awareness of protecting the environment and being adaptive and resilient to the impact of climate change. This paper explains the findings of E-STEM learning activities and outcomes in a school setting (grade XI) in Aceh. Qualitative approach with Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with 11 senior high school students taught about the environmental issue using the E-STEM. Students have low environmental awareness of the impact of climate change. Furthermore, students' unwise behavior in using electricity and transportation and lack of waste management indicate a gap in implementing the E-STEM approach within the current National Independent Learning Curriculum. Despite the shortcoming of the learning activities and outcomes, the study highlights the importance of introducing natural connectedness through E-STEM learning at an early age to be adaptive and resilient to the impact of climate change

Development and Implementation of Augmented Reality-Based Card Game Learning Media with Environmental Literacy in Improving Students' Understanding of Carbon Compounds

The lack of knowledge integration about the learning environment is one of the causes of the low environmental awareness. The purpose of this study was to develop learning media for carbon compounds based on augmented reality and environmental literacy and to find out student learning outcomes after using media, students' perceptions of the media, and their environmental insight. This research is a research and development (R&amp;D) research by following the ADDIE model. One group pre-test post-test research design was used to examine the effect of using the media. The research instruments were multiple choice test, questionnaires, and interviews which were developed independently and tested for validity &amp; reliability. The analysis technique was the paired sample t-test and content analysis. The results of this study showed that the learning media was very eligible with a validation score reaching 88.1%. The result of the implementation of the final product of ChemiCa shows that there is an impact of using media on student learning outcomes (Sig. 0.000&lt;0.05). Students' perception of the media are very good, learning media can increase their understanding of carbon compounds concepts, as well as their motivation to learn chemistry. This study implies that teachers can use augmented reality-based card game as a supplementary learning media to improve students’ understanding of others relevant chemistry concepts and their environment literacy.

Mobility as Service: How Changing Travel use Habits will Affect the Transition of Cities to Climate Neutrality

Transportation contributes significantly to air pollution and carbon emissions in cities, negatively impacting human health and the environment. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is considered one of the promising solutions to this problem, as it reduces the number of trips by private vehicles. MaaS integrates different modes of transportation such as buses, trains, bicycles, and cars into a single platform, which increases the attractiveness of shared transportation and micromobility tools for users and facilitates the shift from private cars to more environmentally friendly modes of transportation. MaaS brings tangible changes in transportation use behavior. Research on behavioral factors influencing MaaS use and their relationship to transportation habits is underdeveloped, especially in regions with high levels of private car use and low environmental awareness. This article presents the results of a survey aimed at identifying the factors that influence transportation user behavior and the policies needed to promote MaaS adoption. These data are then used to assess the impact of MaaS on cities’ efforts to achieve carbon neutrality. The survey was conducted in the city of Riga, the capital of Latvia, and analyzes factors such as necessary changes in infrastructure, service design, pricing, public awareness, and information efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

Revising the effectiveness of municipal waste management in Hong Kong

Although there have been many studies related to the municipal solid waste (MSW) problem in Hong Kong, only limited research has recently discussed the spatial variation of citizens’ environmental awareness in different geographical constituencies. Also, the relationship between environmental awareness of citizens and the effectiveness of waste management has been poorly understood. This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of three proposed approaches; investigate whether the environmental awareness of citizens will affect the effectiveness of current waste management strategies; and examine the differences in the level of environmental awareness of residents in different geographical constituencies, so we can provide suggestions to help mitigate the solid waste problem. In addition, the hypothesis is that there is a relationship between environmental awareness of citizens and its effectiveness. This research adopted quantitative observations and questionnaires as well as qualitative interviews to understand the public perception about the proposed MSW charging, plastic shopping bag charging and recycling in Hong Kong. This research confirmed that the environmental awareness of Hong Kong citizens varies among various geographical constituencies. Residents in Kowloon West have comparatively lower environmental awareness may due largely to the socio-economic background of residents and comparatively unhygienic environment, and they often do not support plastic shopping bag charging and recycling. In addition, males have a lower environmental awareness than females as their attitude towards charging policy may not have much impact on their lifestyle. It is not surprising that low environmental awareness of citizens will reduce the effectiveness of current environmental policies. MSW charging tends to be effective and should be implemented in Hong Kong. Furthermore, plastic shopping bag charging can be effective in the short term but ineffective in the long term, and recycling tends to be invalid as Hong Kong has not developed a circular economy. The limitations of each policy should be considered, and more studies are needed to improve the existing policies as well as exploring novel ways to solve the MSW problem.

Structural Analysis of Environmental Literacy of Urban Residents in China—Based on the Questionnaire Survey of Qingdao Residents

Residents’ environmental literacy is the basis of sustainable development. The structure of environmental literacy and the interaction among its elements is a very important topic, which has been rarely studied. By using the literature analysis method to analyze the existing research of scholars, it can be concluded that the connotation of environmental literacy is composed of environmental knowledge, environmental awareness, and environmental behavior. The environmental literacy and structure of Qingdao residents can be measured by questionnaire survey. It has been found through a more in-depth structural analysis that environmental knowledge and environmental awareness will influence but cannot decide environmental behavior all by themselves; high-level environmental knowledge and high environmental awareness do not necessarily lead to a high-level environmental behavior but low-level environmental knowledge and low environmental awareness almost inevitably lead to a low-level environmental behavior. This finding is of great value for the government to formulate environmental policies scientifically, carry out environmental education more effectively, comprehensively improve residents’ environmental literacy and improve their environmental behavior.

Willingness to Pay to Reduce the Ecological and Health Risks from Water Pollution in Emerging Urban Regions: The Case of the Red River Delta in Vietnam.

The soaring economic development of export activities of handicrafts centralized in emerging urban regions in Vietnam has accelerated the increase in the occurrence of diseases and threats to ecosystems induced by water pollution. We design a discrete choice experiment to elicit the willingness-to-pay of handicraft enterprises to restore the environment and diminish health risks from polluted wastewater through water quality improvement under different scenarios. Estimates from five latent classes reveal that one-half of entrepreneurs strongly value the provision of wastewater treatment services, and their decisions are mostly driven by preferences to reduce the risk of sickness caused by water pollution. This finding lends support to the argument that self-interested preferences predominate pro-environmental behavior in the readiness to pay for water quality services. While entrepreneurs' preferences attributed to ecological remediation seem to vary according to their educational background, the status-quo group shows low environmental awareness. This divergent behavioral pattern suggests that the design of wastewater management policies requires a mixture of measures that aim at different groups of individuals pursuing economic incentives and the creation of awareness.

LOCAL ECO-ACTIVIST’S PERSPECTIVES ON ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS ISSUES IN KAZAKHSTAN

Environmental issues in Kazakhstan are one of the most undermined research areas in Kazakhstan, particularly if we are speaking about aspects on environmental awareness. This study asked Kazakhstani eco-activists to provide their expert-rich responses to eleven open-ended questions related to environmental awareness aspects in Kazakhstan, which were divided into five sections, namely 1) degree of the environmental problem in the country; 2) reasons for the existence of the environmental problem; 3) role of the government in environmental awareness aspects; 4) the role of civil society in environmental awareness matters; and 5) solutions and prospects. For that, ten eco-activists have participated in our study, who were selected from the social media website ‘Linkedin’ via a convenience sampling method. As a data analysis, a content analysis approach was used. Our results have indicated that environmental awareness level has improved since 1990’s and numerous factors ranging from low levels of ecological literacy and environmental activism were mentioned as reasons for existence of low level of environmental awareness. By now, there are practically no empirical data on how eco-activists view, comprehend and assess environmental awareness issues in Kazakhstan. Such primary data could help share valuable insight on important policy and research aspects, namely concerning ineffectiveness of government-initiated actions, role of civil society in pro-environmental projects, studying level of awareness for government-initiated environmental programs, or policy proposals in tackling low environmental awareness levels. Thus, our research could be both valuable for researchers in filling the research gap and for practitioners in proposing viable policy alternatives to address environmental awareness issues. Despite the study’s research limitations concerning lack of international eco-activist’s focus, social-desirability-response bias and low sample size representativeness, this study recommends conducting expert interviews with NGOs (e.g. UNECE or CARECECO), reintegrate environmental concern and activism aspects as well as focus on policy solutions.