People with Different Educational Attainment in Washington, DC, USA have Differential Knowledge and Perceptions about Environmental Issues

Abstract

We predicted that people’s knowledge and perceptions about the interconnectedness of natural resources, climate change, economics, and socio-cultural well-being would differ among demographic groups in Washington, DC, USA, so we conducted surveys to test that prediction. We collected demographic data from 455 participants and asked them 26 questions/statements related to natural resources, climate change, economics, and health. We selected education as the focal demographic category and participants were categorized based on their level of educational attainment: (1) completion of high school or less (hereafter “high school”); (2) some trade school or university education beyond high school up to and including completion of a trade school, two-, or four-year degree (hereafter “post-high school”); and (3) completion of a Master’s, professional, or doctoral degree (hereafter “advanced education”). Participants with advanced education reported the highest connection with nature and were more likely to report that their personal welfare depended on the natural community. Participants with the least education were more likely to believe that humans do not have much influence on natural resources and placed more trust in technology and human achievements to control nature and ensure that earth will not become unlivable. Participants with the least education were also more likely to express an interest in local environmental concerns over global, jobs over natural resources, and effects of degraded local natural resources on income, health, and the environment instead of on cultural/social practices, neighborhood aesthetics, and recreation.

Testing Common Knowledge: Are Northern Europeans and Millennials More Concerned about the Environment?

“…These results confirm previous findings related to environmentalism and gender, educational level, and political orientation. Women, highly educated individuals, and leftists tend to have more environmentalist traits than others [89][90][91]. Given that the covariables are significant, in order to calculate the main effects and interactions between regional and generational factors, we adjusted the control variables in the MANCOVA (Table 1) for the following values: gender = 1.49, highest level of education = 4.58, and placement on left-right scale = 5.02.…”

Knowledge and Perceptions of Environmental Issues by African Americans/Blacks in Washington, DC, USA: Giving Voice to the Voiceless

“…Conversations around adaptation and mitigation can be highly technical, which begs the question about whether the average person is able to understand the concept of climate change and its implications for individuals, families or communities. Moreover, residents who have low literacy levels or are uneducated or undereducated may have less understanding of these concepts than those with advanced education [15]. A derivative of environmental justice that recognizes and responds to the injustices of climate change on certain communities is climate justice.…”

“…Knowledge and perceptions about natural resources and climate change may vary due to other demographic characteristics beyond race. For example, those with more education may have more environmental knowledge and place more emphasis on global environmental issues than those with less education [15]. Age may also play a role, but knowledge and pro-environmental behavior are often hard to predict based on age.…”

“…We previously surveyed residents in each of the eight Wards in Washington, DC (Wards are geographic divisions of the District; each ward represents approximately 75,000 people) and found that what people knew and perceived about natural resources and climate change varied based on their educational level [15]. In that study we sampled Blacks more heavily than other racial groups, but they were not the focus.…”

“…In that study we sampled Blacks more heavily than other racial groups, but they were not the focus. In this paper we used responses from the Black participants in our previous publication [15] and expanded our sampling of Blacks to: (1) elucidate knowledge and perceptions of natural resources and climate change by Blacks only since they are a traditionally marginalized population and to see if we could dispel the perception that they have less knowledge and interest in environmental issues; and (2) determine if knowledge and perceptions vary across age groups.…”