How Do University Students Perceive Climate Change? A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Climate change is regarded as one of the most significant issues facing society today. . This problem negatively affects people physically, psychologically, socially and economically. It is necessary to carry out global studies to prevent climate change and minimise its effects. In addition, studies to sensitise individuals to the issue are also of great importance. Because supporting the adoption of different actions can be made possible by having a sensitive awareness of the problem of climate change. The aim of this study is to investigate university students' perception and attitude of climate change. Case study design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. The participants in the study were eight university students. Data was collected through a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researchers. The data obtained from the research was analysed using the content analysis technique. Within the framework of the research, the perceptions of the interviewed university students about climate change were discussed within the framework of the main themes of conceptual perception of climate change, causes of climate change, effects of climate change, prevention of climate change and future of climate change. The results of the research were discussed in the light of the literature and various suggestions were made.

Keywords

• climate change
• environment
• qualitative research

Üniversite Öğrencileri İklim Değişikliğini Nasıl Algılıyor? Bir Nitel Araştırma

Abstract

İklim değişikliği günümüzün en önemli sorunlarından birisi olarak kabul edilmektedir. Bu sorun insanları fiziksel, psikolojik, sosyal ve ekonomik olarak olumsuz etkilemektedir. İklim değişikliğinin önlenmesine ve/veya etkilerinin en aza indirilmesine yönelik küresel düzeyde çalışmaların yapılması gerekmektedir. Ayrıca bireylerin konuyla ilgili duyarlılık kazanmalarına yönelik yapılacak çalışmalar da büyük önem taşımaktadır. Çünkü iklim değişikliği sorununa karşı duyarlılık beraberinde çeşitli önlemlerin alınmasının teşvik edilmesine olanak sağlayabilmektedir. Bu araştırmanın amacı, üniversite öğrencilerinin iklim değişikliğine ilişkin algılarını ve tutumlarını incelemektir. Araştırmada, nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden biri olan durum çalışması deseni kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın katılımcılarını, sekiz üniversite öğrencisi oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmada analiz edilen veriler, araştırmacılar tarafından hazırlanmış yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu ile elde edilmiştir. Araştırmadan elde edilen veriler içerik analizi tekniği ile analiz edilmiştir. Araştırma kapsamında görüşme yapılan üniversite öğrencilerinin iklim değişikliğine ilişkin algıları iklim değişikliğine yönelik kavramsal algı, iklim değişikliğinin sebepleri, iklim değişikliğinin etkileri, iklim değişikliğinin önlenmesi ve iklim değişikliğinin geleceği ana temaları çerçevesinde ele alınmıştır. Araştırmadan elde edilen sonuçlar alanyazın ışığında tartışılmış ve çeşitli önerilerde bulunulmuştur.

Keywords

• iklim değişikliği
• çevre
• nitel araştırma

References

1. Al Mubarak, F., Rezaee, R., & Wood, D. A. (2024). Economic, Societal, and Environmental Impacts of Available Energy Sources: A Review. Eng, 5(3), 1232-1265. https://doi.org/10.3390/eng5030067
2. Anne Vlassopoulos, C. (2012). Competing definition of climate change and the post-Kyoto negotiations. International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, 4(1), 104-118. https://doi.org/10.1108/17568691211200245
3. Ay, F., & Erik, N. Y. (2020). Üniversite öğrencilerinin küresel ısınma ve iklim değişikliğine yönelik bilgi ve algı düzeyleri. Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 44(2), 1-18. http://cujos.cumhuriyet.edu.tr/en/download/article-file/1151863
4. Banda, L. O. L., Banda, C. V., Banda, J. T., Mwaene, E., Munthali, G. N. C., Hlaing, T. T., & Chiwosi, B. (2024). Unraveling agricultural water pollution despite an ecological policy in the Ayeyarwady Basin. BMC Public Health, 24(1), 1562. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-19084-7
5. Brown, C. J., Schoeman, D. S., Sydeman, W. J., Brander, K., Buckley, L. B., Burrows, M., ... & Richardson, A. J. (2011). Quantitative approaches in climate change ecology. Global Change Biology, 17(12), 3697-3713. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02531.x
6. Bunz, M., & Mücke, H.-G. (2017). Climate change - physical and mental consequences. Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz, 60(6), 632–639. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00103-017-2548-3
7. Burke, S. E. L., Sanson, A. V, & Van Hoorn, J. (2018). The psychological effects of climate change on children. Current Psychiatry Reports, 20(5), 35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-018-0896-9
8. Cahill, A. E., Aiello-Lammens, M. E., Fisher-Reid, M. C., Hua, X., Karanewsky, C. J., Yeong Ryu, H., Sbeglia, G. C., Spagnolo, F., Waldron, J. B., Warsi, O., & Wiens, J. J. (2013). How does climate change cause extinction? Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 280(1750), 20121890. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.1890

9. Campbell, J., & Barnett, J. (2010). Climate change and small island states: power, knowledge and the South Pacific. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781849774895
10. Chan, W. P., Lenoir, J., Mai, G. S., Kuo, H. C., Chen, I. C., & Shen, S. F. (2024). Climate velocities and species tracking in global mountain regions. Nature, 629(8010), 114-120. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07264-9
11. Cui, X., & Zhong, Z. (2024). Climate change, cropland adjustments, and food security: Evidence from China. Journal of Development Economics, 167, 103245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103245
12. Erdoğan, S. (2020). Enerji, çevre ve sera gazları. Çankırı Karatekin Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, 10(1), 277–303. https://doi.org/10.18074/ckuiibfd.670673
13. European Commission. (2018). Our planet, our future. https://climate.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2018-06/youth_magazine_en.pdf
14. Emecen, Y. ve Erdem, N. (2022). İklim değişikliğine yönelik farkındalığın üniversite öğrencisi bakış açısıyla değerlendirilmesi: Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi Mimarlık Fakültesi örneği. Meriç Uluslararası Sosyal ve Stratejik Araştırmalar Dergisi, 6(16), 206-224. https://doi.org/10.54707/meric.1118584
15. Erkan, G., & Doğan, M. (2021). Gençlerin çevresel duyarlılıklarının araştırılması: Gençlik merkezlerine üye üniversite öğrencilerine yönelik bir inceleme. Gençlik Araştırmaları Dergisi, 9(24), 49-70. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1306861
16. Filonchyk, M., Peterson, M. P., Zhang, L., Hurynovich, V., & He, Y. (2024). Greenhouse gases emissions and global climate change: Examining the influence of CO2, CH4, and N2O. Science of The Total Environment, 935, 173359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173359
17. Goulder, L. H., & Pizer, W. A. (2006). The economics of climate change. In Nber Working Paper Series (No. 11923). http://www.nber.org/papers/w11923.pdf
18. Guzmán-Luna, P., Mauricio-Iglesias, M., Flysjö, A., & Hospido, A. (2022). Analysing the interaction between the dairy sector and climate change from a life cycle perspective: A review. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 126, 168–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2021.09.001
19. Hardy, J. T. (2003). Climate change: causes, effects, and solutions. John Wiley & Sons.
20. Hazari, A. (2023). Sampling Types and Methods. In: Research Methodology for Allied Health Professionals. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-8925-6_6
21. Heshmati, H. (2020). Impact of climate change on life. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94538
22. Hong, J., Luo, X., Wu, H., Na, X., Chu, H., Gao, B., & Chen, H. (2024). Energy-saving driving assistance system ıntegrated with predictive cruise control for electric vehicles. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles, 9(3), 4515-4528. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIV.2024.3358797
23. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2022a). Climate change 2022: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6/wg2/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FullReport.pdf
24. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2022b). Climate change 2022: Mitigation of climate change. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_Full_Report.pdf
25. IPCC. (2022). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. https://www.ipcc.ch/
26. Jamieson, D. (2007). The moral and political challenges of climate change. In S. C. Moser & L. Dilling (Eds.), Creating a Climate For Change (p. 475). https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511535871.033
27. Kılıç, C. (2009). Küresel iklim değişikliği çerçevesinde sürdürülebilir kalkınma çabaları ve Türkiye. Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, 10(2), 19–41. https://kutuphane.dogus.edu.tr/mvt/pdf.php
28. Kunstler, J. H. (2005). The long emergency. Group West.
29. Liu, X., Shen, C., Yang, H., & Wang, J. (2024). Comprehensive investigation on lighting and energy-saving performance of lighting/heating coupled tubular daylighting devices integrated with nanofluids. Applied Thermal Engineering, 239, 122094. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2023.122094
30. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. (2014). 10 Things You Can Do to Reduce Climate Change. http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/eh/docs/climatechange/ThingYouCanDotoReduceClimateChange.pdf
31. Lovejoy, S. (2013). What is climate? Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 94(1), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013EO010001
32. Luís, S., Vauclair, C.-M., & Lima, M. L. (2018). Raising awareness of climate change causes? Cross-national evidence for the normalization of societal risk perception of climate change. Environmental Science & Policy, 80, 74–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2017.11.015
33. Mansur, F., & Doğuç, E. (2021). Covid-19 Pandemisinde üniversite öğrencilerinin umut düzeyleri. Gençlik Araştırmaları Dergisi, 9(Özel Sayı), 26-51. https://doi.org/10.52528/genclikarastirmalari.845716
34. Mays, L. W. (2010). Water Resources Engineering. Hamilton Printing Company.
35. McNamara, K. E. (2013). Raising awareness about climate change in Pacific communities. Environmental Education Research, 19(6), 864–871. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2013.769046
36. Mechler, R., Singh, C., Ebi, K., Djalante, R., Thomas, A., James, R., ... & Revi, A. (2020). Loss and Damage and limits to adaptation: recent IPCC insights and implications for climate science and policy. Sustainability Science, 15, 1245-1251. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00807-9
37. Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2015). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. John Wiley & Sons.
38. Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2th.ed.). Sage.
39. Mirici, M. E., & Berberoğlu, S. (2022). Türkiye perspektifinde yeşil mutabakat ve karbon ayak izi: Tehdit Mi? Fırsat Mı? Doğal Afetler ve Çevre Dergisi, 8(1), 156–164. https://doi.org/10.21324/dacd.982396
40. Montzka, S. A., Dlugokencky, E. J., & Butler, J. H. (2011). Non-CO2 greenhouse gases and climate change. Nature, 476(7358), 43–50. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10322
41. Naish, S., Dale, P., Mackenzie, J. S., McBride, J., Mengersen, K., & Tong, S. (2014). Climate change and dengue: a critical and systematic review of quantitative modelling approaches. BMC Infectious Diseases, 14, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-14-167
42. Palys, T. (2008). Purposive sampling. In L. M. Given (Ed.), The Sage encyclopedia of qualitative research methods (pp. 697–698). Sage.
43. Panu, P. (2020). Anxiety and the ecological crisis: An analysis of eco-anxiety and climate anxiety. Sustainability, 12(9), 7836. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12197836
44. Pielke, R. A. (2004). What is climate change? Energy & Environment, 15(3), 515–520. https://doi.org/10.1260/0958305041494576
45. Ramanathan, V., & Feng, Y. (2009). Air pollution, greenhouse gases and climate change: Global and regional perspectives. Atmospheric Environment, 43(1), 37-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.09.063
46. Rawat, A., Kumar, D., & Khati, B. S. (2024). A review on climate change impacts, models, and its consequences on different sectors: a systematic approach. Journal of Water and Climate Change, 15(1), 104-126. https://doi.org/10.2166/wcc.2023.536
47. Rolnick, D., Donti, P. L., Kaack, L. H., Kochanski, K., Lacoste, A., Sankaran, K., ..., & Bengio, Y. (2022). Tackling climate change with machine learning. ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), 55(2), 1–96. https://doi.org/10.1145/3485128
48. Sanson, A. V., & Masten, A. S. (2024). Climate change and resilience: Developmental science perspectives. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 48(2), 93-102. https://doi.org/10.1177/01650254231186332
49. Scheffran, J., & Battaglini, A. (2011). Climate and conflicts: the security risks of global warming. Regional Environmental Change, 11(1), 27–39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-010-0175-8
50. Sevim, C. (2011). Enerji teknolojilerindeki anlayış model değişimi ve hızlı iklim değişikliği. Journal of Yaşar University, 21(6), 3515–3522. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/179306
51. Sheffield, P. E., & Landrigan, P. J. (2011). Global Climate change and children’s health: Threats and strategies for prevention. Environmental Health Perspectives, 119(3), 291–298. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1002233
52. Stanley, S. K., Hogg, T. L., Leviston, Z., & Walker, I. (2021). From anger to action: Differential impacts of eco-anxiety, eco-depression, and eco-anger on climate action and wellbeing. The Journal of Climate Change and Health, 1, 100003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joclim.2021.100003
53. Stevenson, R. B., Nicholls, J., & Whitehouse, H. (2017). What is climate change education? Curriculum Perspectives, 37(1), 67–71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-017-0015-9
54. Şen, G. & Özer, Y. E. (2018). Üniversite öğrencilerinin iklim değişikliği ve çevre sorunları konusundaki farkındalıklarının değerlendirilmesi: Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi kamu yönetimi örneği. Bitlis Eren Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 7(1), 667-688. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/599399
55. Tetik, N., & Acun, A. (2015). Turizm öğrencilerinin küresel ısınma ve iklim değişikliği algısı ve görüşleri. Journal of International Social Research, 8(41), 1459-1476. http://dx.doi.org/10.17719/jisr.20154115127
56. The Royal Society, & US National Academy of Sciences. (2020). Climate change. https://royalsociety.org/~/media/royal_society_content/policy/projects/climate-evidence-causes/climate-change-evidence-causes.pdf
57. Tsui, J. L. H., Pena, R. E., Moir, M., Inward, R. P., Wilkinson, E., San, J. E., ... & Sambaturu, P. (2024). Impacts of climate change-related human migration on infectious diseases. Nature Climate Change, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02078-z
58. United Nations. (2016). The Paris Agreement. https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/parisagreement_publication.pdf
59. Uppenbrink, J. (1996). Arrhenius and global warming. Science, 272(5265), 1122. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.272.5265.1122
60. Uzun, K., Öztürk, A. F., Karaman, M., Cebeci, F., Altın, M. O., Arıcı, A., & Artan, T. (2022). Adaptation of the eco-anxiety scale to Turkish: A validity and reliability study. Arch Archives of Health Science and Research, 9(2), 110–115. https://doi.org/10.54614/ArcHealthSciRes.2022.21151
61. Van Valkengoed, A. M., Perlaviciute, G., & Steg, L. (2024). From believing in climate change to adapting to climate change: The role of risk perception and efficacy beliefs. Risk Analysis, 44(3), 553-565. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.14193
62. Wals, A. E. J. (2011). Learning our way to sustainability. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 5(2), 177–186. https://doi.org/10.1177/097340821100500208
63. Wang, J., & Azam, W. (2024). Natural resource scarcity, fossil fuel energy consumption, and total greenhouse gas emissions in top emitting countries. Geoscience Frontiers, 15(2), 101757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2023.101757
64. Wang, T., Yao, P. H., Shen, C. C., Chawchai, S., Torfstein, A., Sinha, A., ... & Tan, L. (2024). Anthropogenically-induced atmospheric Pb cycle in low-latitude Asia since the Industrial Revolution recorded by high-resolution stalagmites. Global and Planetary Change, 232, 104337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104337
65. Yin, R. K. (2017). Applications of case study research. Nobel.
66. Yıldırım, A., & Şimşek, H. (2016). Sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırma yöntemleri. Seçkin.
67. Yılmaz, V., Can, Y., & Şen, H. (2018). Küresel ısınma ve küresel iklim değişikliğine ilişkin bilginin kaygı ile farkındalık üzerine etkisi: Bir yapısal eşitlik model önerisi. Researcher, 6(1), 434-450. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/2151620
68. Yorulmaz, D. S. (2021). Afetlerin mental sağlığa etkileri. Doğal Afetler ve Çevre Dergisi, 7(2), 392–398. https://doi.org/10.21324/dacd.786048
69. Zheng, H., & Cai, J. (2024). Driving Force or Barrier? The impact of climate change on the progress of green technologies. Energy, 307, 132656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2024.132656