Knowledge in Regard to Environmental Problems among University Students in Cali, Colombia

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to understand the level of environmental knowledge among students at Santiago de Cali University (USC) and to evaluate the differences found based on school, gender, and age groups. To gather data, a survey that included sociodemographic information, aspects of environmental knowledge, actions aimed at mitigating environmental problems, and environmental awareness was administered to 268 students at USC in the year 2017. We conducted an online survey of 268 students in the year 2017 by means of a questionnaire that included 18 questions with sociodemographic information, aspects of environmental knowledge, actions aimed at mitigating environmental problems, and environmental awareness campaigns conducted at USC. Additionally, we conducted an analysis to assess how gender, age groups, and academic training influence the scores of the constructed indicators: General Index of Environmental Knowledge (GI), Identification of Environmental Problems (EP), Solutions to Environmental Problems (SP), and Knowledge of Environmental Campaigns (EC). Statistical tests (i.e., Mann–Whitney U test, Chi-square test of independence, Pearson’s coefficients correlation) were used to analyze the data. Through this study, we concluded that although no significant differences were found in environmental knowledge and actions to mitigate environmental problems between genders, age groups, and schools, there were important implications observed in these categories concerning the variables analyzed. In addition, positive correlations were found between the indicators GI and SP, both globally and at the level of each gender, age group, and in some schools, which shows that with greater knowledge of environmental problems, there is greater recognition of solutions.

Global vocabulary and regional divides: representations of the environmental crisis of young adults in Ireland and Uruguay

“…v12i1.755 the one hand, the novelty of this project relies on the special emphasis on covering a diverse range of educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. Environmental awareness and behaviour of young adults have been widely explored, but less frequently going beyond climate activists (Kiilakoski & Piispa, 2023;Wahlstrom et al, 2019;Wallis & Loy, 2021) or the cohort of university students (Daskolia, 2022;Gago & Sá, 2021;Quijano et al, 2023), whose possibility of capturing the voice of young populations varies, specifically taking into account nation's varying rates of third-level education enrolment. On the other hand, and unlike most cross-national studies in environmental public opinion (Leiserowitz et al, 2022;Marquart Pyatt, 2018;Peisker, 2023), the qualitative approach of this research provides dense descriptions enabling the emergence of social representations of the environmental problem, as articulated by these young adults all the while embracing contradictions associated with the challenge of environmental risk engagement (Weintrobe, 2013).…”

The Environmental Awareness Level Among Saudi Women and Its Relationship to Sustainable Thinking

“…This concept includes understanding the environment's importance, dealing with it, protecting it, preserving resources, identifying problems, proposing solutions, and preventing future issues [13]. This awareness facilitates the formation of environmental knowledge, cutting across societal categories, enabling individuals to contribute to preservation, address environmental problems, and uphold sustainability [8,41,61,60].…”