Roles of Environmental System Knowledge in Promoting University Students’ Environmental Attitudes and Pro-Environmental Behaviors

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the role of environmental system knowledge in promoting pro-environmental behaviors. Relationships between environmental knowledge and environmental attitudes as well as environmental knowledge and pro-environmental behaviors were analyzed. Environmental system knowledge includes knowledge of political ecology, sustainable development, environment and ecology, and environmental situations. This study included 128 students enrolling in the elective course entitled “Environment and Development” provided by the King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Bangkok city of Thailand and 150 students who were not participating in this course. The results revealed that environmental attitudes of students participating in the course was significantly higher than that of students not attending the course. Only knowledge of the environment and ecology highly correlated with environmental attitudes; on the other hand, diverse environmental knowledge significantly correlated with pro-environmental behaviors. The result also demonstrated that indirect impact environmental behaviors reported by both groups were statistically different, but there was no significant difference in direct impact environmental behaviors. This study suggested that environmental knowledge provided through a formal education could promote environmental attitudes, but it may not contribute to students’ engagement in direct impact environmental behaviors.

Impact of Environmental Moral Education on Pro-Environmental Behaviour: Do Psychological Empowerment and Islamic Religiosity Matter?

“…The effect of EME on PEB has been widely studied across the world. The relationship is diverse depending on the region, religion, culture and many other factors [ 6 , 24 ]. Most of the studies found a positive relationship between EME and PEB; however, still, some studies suggested that a high level of environmental education will not necessarily reflect environmental friendly behaviour [ 25 ].…”

“…Highly educated (those perusing or who graduated from bachelor’s degree programs are considered as educated persons, whereas those enrolled or graduated from master’s or higher degree programs are considered as highly educated persons) persons are more motivated to bettering the environment, because education produces awareness about the potential damage to the environment [ 3 , 4 ]. Mostly, education provides a high level of knowledge and awareness about environmental problems and its solutions which results in sustainable and pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) [ 5 , 6 ]. It is believed that, currently, human behaviour has detrimental impacts on the environment, and, especially, younger generations will be affected more owing to the current global environmental problems which will continue to become worse in the future if not well addressed [ 6 , 7 ].…”

“…Mostly, education provides a high level of knowledge and awareness about environmental problems and its solutions which results in sustainable and pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) [ 5 , 6 ]. It is believed that, currently, human behaviour has detrimental impacts on the environment, and, especially, younger generations will be affected more owing to the current global environmental problems which will continue to become worse in the future if not well addressed [ 6 , 7 ]. Therefore, it is the necessity of time to understand and improve the ecological behaviours of individuals.…”

Environmental Concerns of Russian Businesses: Top Company Missions and Climate Change Agenda

“…Climate change is of utmost importance to modern society [1][2][3][4][5][6][7], and pro-environmental behavior, including climate-friendly actions, can be regarded as an efficient approach to address this challenge [8][9][10][11][12][13]. This behavior can be demonstrated by the general public [14][15][16][17][18], selected groups such as students [19][20][21][22][23], decision-makers [24][25][26][27], and business leaders [28][29][30][31][32][33].…”

The Relationship between the Use of Building Performance Simulation Tools by Recent Graduate Architects and the Deficiencies in Architectural Education

“…The attention paid to climate change will lead to increased interest in the coming years, so universities must engage in the development of more specialized curricula [29][30][31]. There is an urgent need to create multidisciplinary teams in building decision-making that understand the impact of climate on cities [32].…”