Identifying the Most Ecoliterate Inhabitants in a Top-Ten Ecologically Advanced City of China: A Sociodemographic Perspective

Abstract

Ecological literacy (ecoliteracy) is an interdisciplinary concept that spans ecology and linguistics. This concept is particularly important given today’s increasingly severe ecological environmental problems. In the discipline of linguistic ecology, ecoliteracy can include five aspects: ecological knowledge literacy, ecological awareness literacy, ecological ethics literacy, ecological emotional literacy, and ecological behavioral literacy. We advocate for a quantitative assessment of the level of ecoliteracy from those five dimensions. However, in the evaluation process, the difference in the specific sociodemographic characteristics (SDCs) of the participants is a factor that cannot be ignored. Therefore, this article starts from SDCs and takes the inhabitants of Guiyang City, a top-ten ecologically advanced city in China, as the study population. The main purpose of the study was to identify the differences in the levels of ecoliteracy shown by inhabitants of this city who have different SDCs. The results indicated that there were significant differences in the levels of ecoliteracy among the inhabitants of Guiyang City with regards to gender, age group, ethnicity, type of living area, educational background, and current main identity. The highest overall score among the participants, that is, the most ecoliterate inhabitants, were found to be males, middle-aged groups, Buyi ethnic groups, those who live in urban areas, the most highly educated, and those who work for the Chinese government. To address the specific five-dimensional levels, this article also analyzed the nuances among inhabitants regarding each aspect. Based on this analysis, the reasons for the differences among inhabitants with different SDCs are discussed. In addition, after discovering the specific characteristics of inhabitants with high-level ecoliteracy, we also propose ways to improve low-level ecoliteracy among inhabitants. Our ultimate goal is to make contributions to the advancement of harmonious coexistence between humans and the natural environment.

The effectiveness of lifestyle interventions on ecological literacy: A contribution to the underlying mechanism in linguistic ecology

“…The questionnaire consisted of three parts, covering a total of 60 survey questions (including a self-assessment question on the respondents’ ecoliteracy level). The first part was related to sociodemographic characteristics (11 questions) [ 12 ]. The second part was in the form of a five-point Likert scale, which was used to examine the participants’ ecoliteracy levels (40 questions) with a score range (40–200) described elsewhere [ 11 ].…”

“…After testing, the reliability (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.888) and validity (estimate: 0.67; CR: 0.95; AVE: 0.49) of the questionnaire were determined to be within reasonable ranges. To date, the first two parts of the survey have been completed [ 11 , 12 ]. This study focused on the third section of the questionnaire, specifically as a combined study of the second and third parts.…”

“…We sent out 1,100 questionnaires, and 988 valid questionnaires were analyzed, constituting a survey ratio of 1:5000 of inhabitants of each administrative region of Guiyang City. The number of questionnaires exceeded the minimum sample size needed to achieve a significance level of α = 0.01 [ 12 ] and was based entirely on voluntary participation. Participants’ informed consent was obtained in the form of a multiple-choice question before the questionnaire began (fully anonymized), and they were allowed to discontinue the survey at any time.…”

“…Microsoft Excel was used for data collation [ 11 , 12 ] and the statistical software SPSS 25.0 was used for analysis. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed as the main statistical method.…”

“…Ecoliteracy is concerned with the ecologically sustainable development relationship between individual humans, humans and society, and humans and nature. It emphasizes the knowledge and ability of human beings in the ecological field [ 12 ]. Our ecoliteracy research framework included five dimensions [ 11 ]: ecological knowledge literacy (EKNL), ecological awareness literacy (EAWL), ecological ethics literacy (EETL), ecological emotional literacy (EEML), and ecological behavioral literacy (EBEL).…”