Environmental Literacy for Waste Management in an Academic Community: A Case Study

Yıl 2023, Cilt: 6 Sayı: 2, 119 - 142, 01.06.2023

Hélder Spínola

https://doi.org/10.55290/steam.1128303

Cited By: 1

Öz

Excessive waste production has been one of the main causes for the environmental imbalances caused by humanity on the Planet. Minimize this problem demands for the promotion of the environmental literacy on waste management and, to do that, an investment in more and better environmental education. However, first, we need to know the level of environmental literacy each community has developed so far and what is missing to reach an adequate performance. As so, environmental education could be conveniently oriented with a most effective approach and with an adequate match between the defined goals and those really needed. Present study evaluates environmental literacy for waste management in the academic community of the University of Madeira (Portugal), characterizing knowledge, attitude and behaviour among students, teachers, and other staff. Results show a good performance for knowledge, even better for attitude, but only sufficient for behaviours. Additionally, it identifies those knowledges and behaviours that need to be prioritized in future environmental education approaches, besides clarifying that the effectiveness on implementing waste management best practices is most dependent on social, physical, and organizational transformations than on knowledge and attitude.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Waste management, Environmental literacy, Environmental education, University of Madeira, Portugal

Kaynakça

• Azeiteiro, U., Bacelar-Nicolau, P., Caetano, F. & Caeiro, S. (2015). Education for sustainable development through e-learning in higher education: experiences from Portugal. Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 106, 1: 308-319.
• Amador, F., Martinho, A.P., Bacelar-Nicolau P., Caeiro, S. & Oliveira, C.P. (2015). Education for sustainable development in higher education: evaluating coherence between theory and praxis. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 40:6, 867-882, DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2015.1054783.
• Blumstein, D. & Saylan, C. (2007). The Failure of Environmental Education (and How We Can Fix It). PLoS biology. 5. e120. 10.1371/journal.pbio.0050120. Brace, N., Kemp, R. & Snelgar, R. (2016). SPSS for Psychologists, 6th edn. Palgrave: Macmillan Education.
• Caeiro, S. Hamón, L., Martins, R. & Aldaz, C. (2020). Sustainability Assessment and Benchmarking in Higher Education Institutions—A Critical Reflection. Sustainability, 12(2), 543.
• Chen, D.M-C., Bodirsky, B.L., Krueger, T., Mishra, A. & Popp, A. (2020). The world's growing municipal solid waste: trends and impacts. Environment Research Letters. 15 074021.
• Cook, S. & Berrenberg, J. L. (1981). Approaches to encouraging conservation behavior: a review and conceptual framework. Journal of Social Issues, 37 (2): 73-107.
• Dalberg Advisors. (2019). No Plastic in Nature: Assessing plastic ingestion from nature to people. WWF. Gland, Switzerland. Accessed 15th March 2020 at https://d2ouvy59p0dg6k.cloudfront.net/downloads/plastic_ingestion_web_spreads.pdf.
• Department of Economic and Social Affairs (n.d.)a. Goals 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. United Nations. Retrieved 30 March 2022 from https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal12
• Department of Economic and Social Affairs (n.d.)b. Goals 14 Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. United Nations. Retrieved 30 March 2022 from https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal14
• Digby, C.L.B. (2010). An Examination of the Impact of Non-formal and Informal Learning on Adult Environmental Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors. A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor in Philosophy. University of Minnesota.
• Disinger, J.F. & Roth, C.E. (1992). Environmental Education research news. The Environmentalist, 12: 165-168.
• Farinha C., Azeiteiro U. & Caeiro S. (2017) Education for Sustainable Development Through Policies and Strategies in the Public Portuguese Higher Education Institutions. In: Leal Filho W., Azeiteiro U., Alves F., Molthan-Hill P. (eds) Handbook of Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development in Higher Education. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham.
• Farinha, C., Azeiteiro, U. & Caeiro, S. (2018). Education for sustainable development in Portuguese universities: The key actors’ opinions. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 19 No. 5, pp. 912-941. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-09-2017-0168
• Farinha, C., Sandra Caeiro, S. & Azeiteiro, U. (2019). Sustainability Strategies in Portuguese Higher Education Institutions: Commitments and Practices from Internal Insights. Sustainability, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 11(11), pages 1-25.
• Filho, W., Wu, Y.J., Brandli, L., Avila, L., Azeiteiro, U., Caeiro, S. & Madruga, L. (2017). Identifying and overcoming obstacles to the implementation of sustainable development at universities, Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences, 14:1, 93-108, DOI: 10.1080/1943815X.2017.1362007.
• Fonseca, L.M., Portela, A.R., Duarte, B., Queirós, J. & Paiva, L. (2018), “Mapping higher education for sustainable development in Portugal”, Management & Marketing. Challenges for the Knowledge Society, Vol., 13, No 3, pp. 1064-1075, DOI: 10.2478/mmcks-2018-0023.
• Goulgouti, A., Plakitsi, K., & Stylos, G. (2019). Environmental Literacy: Evaluating Knowledge, Affect, and Behavior of Pre-service Teachers in Greece. Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 15(1), e02202. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/6287
• Gregory, J.R., Montalbo, T.M. & Kirchain, R.E. (2013). Analyzing uncertainty in a comparative life cycle assessment of hand drying systems. Int J Life Cycle Assess 18, 1605–1617.
• Hallfreðsdóttir, S. (2011). Eco Schools – Are They Really Better? Comparison of Environmental Knowledge, Attitude and Actions between Students in Environmentally Certified Schools and Traditional Schools in Iceland A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of Lund University International Master’s. Programme in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science (LUMES). Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, LUND, Sweden.
• Krnel D. & Naglič, S. (2009). Environmental literacy comparison between eco-schools and ordinary schools in Slovenia. Science Education International,20(1/2): 5-24.
• Hollweg, K.S., Taylor, J.R., Bybee, R.W., Marcinkowski, T. J., McBeth, W. C., & Zoido, P. (2011). Developing a framework for assessing environmental literacy. Washington, DC: North American Association for Environmental Education.
• Hungerford, H.R. & Volk, T. (1990). Changing learner behavior through environmental education. The Journal of Environmental Education, 21 (3): 8-22.
• Igbokwe, A.B. (2012). Environmental Literacy Assessment: Exploring the Potential for the Assessment of Environmental Education/Programs in Ontario Schools. International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education (IJCDSE), 3 (1): 640-656.
• Jadallah, C.C., & Ballard, H.L. (2021). Social learning in conservation and natural resource management: taking a sociocultural perspective. Ecology and Society 26(4):37. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12654-260437
• Kaiser, F., Wolfing, S. & Fuhrer, U. (1999). Environmental attitude and ecological behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 19: 1-19.
• Kellert, S.R. (1985). Attitudes toward animals; age-related development among children. The Journal of Environmental Education, 16(3), 29-39.
• Kissinger, M., Sussman, C., Moore, J. & Rees, W.E. (2013). Accounting for the Ecological Footprint of Materials in Consumer Goods at the Urban Scale. Sustainability 5, 1960-1973; doi:10.3390/su5051960.
• Kuhlemeier, H., Bergh, H. & Lagerweij, N. (1999). Environmental Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior in Dutch Secondary Education. The Journal of Environmental Education. 30 (2): 4-14.
• Leite, L. & Dourado, L. (2015). Educação ambiental e para o desenvolvimento sustentável na formação de graduados em educação. In: Revista Comunicações, Piracicaba (SP), v. 22, n. 1, p. 285-307.
• Leslie, H.A., van Velzen M.J.M., Brandsma, S.H., Vethaak, D., Garcia-Vallejo, J.J., & Lamoree, M.H. (2022). Discovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood. Environment International, in press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107199
• Liang, A-W., Fang W-T., Yeh S-C., Liu S-Y., Tsai H-M., Chou, J-Y. & Eric Ng, E. (2018). A Nationwide Survey Evaluating the Environmental Literacy of Undergraduate Students in Taiwan. Sustainability, 10, 1730; doi:10.3390/su10061730.
• Lumsden, S. (2018). Ecological Crisis and the Problem of How to Inhabit a Norm. Ethics and the Environment, 23(1), 29-48. doi:10.2979/ethicsenviro.23.1.03.
• Lyons, E. & Breakwell, G.M. (1994). Factor predicting environmental concern and indifference in 13- to 16-years-old. Environment and Behavior, 26(2), 223-238.
• McBeth, W. & Volk, T.L. (2010). The national environmental literacy project: A baseline study of middle grade students in United States. The Journal of Environmental Education, 41(1): 55-67.
• McDonald, F. (2014) Developing an Integrated Conceptual Framework of Pro-Environmental Behavior in the Workplace through Synthesis of the Current Literature. Administrative Sciences, 4 (3), pp. 276-303.
• Otto, D., Caeiro, S., Nicolau, P., Disterheft, A., Teixeira, A., Becker, S., Bollmann, A. & Sander, K. (2019). Can MOOCs empower people to critically think about climate change? A learning outcome based comparison of two MOOCs. Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 222, 10: 12-21.
• Pabortsava, K. & Lampitt, R.S. (2020). High concentrations of plastic hidden beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Nature Communications volume 11, Article number: 4073.
• Pallant, J. (2007). SPSS survival manual: A step by step guide to data analysis SPSS for windows third edition. Open University Press. New York, NY.
• Pe'er, S., Goldman, D. & Yavetz, B. (2007). Environmental Literacy in Teacher Training: Attitudes, Knowledge, and Environmental Behavior of Beginning Students. The Journal of Environmental Education, 39(1): 45-59.
• Schäufele, I. & Janssen, M. (2021). How and Why Does the Attitude-Behavior Gap Differ Between Product Categories of Sustainable Food? Analysis of Organic Food Purchases Based on Household Panel Data. Frontiers in Psychology 12:595636. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.595636.
• Schmidt, L., Guerra, J. & Nave, J. G. (2010). The role of non-scholar organizations in environmental education: A case study from Portugal. International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 9 (1/2/3): 16–29.
• Schmidt, L., Nave, J.G., O'Riordan, T. & Guerra, J. (2011). Trends and Dilemmas Facing Environmental Education in Portugal: From Environmental Problem Assessment to Citizenship Involvement. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning Vol. 13, No.2: 159–177.
• Shin, D., Chu, H., Lee, E., Ko, H., Lee, M., Kang, K., Min, B., & Park, J. (2005). An assessment of Korean students’ environmental literacy. Journal of Korean Earth Science Society, 26(4), 358-364.
• Spínola, H. (2012). Sustainable Development Contributions among University of Madeira (Portugal) Students. World Academy of Science Engineering and Technology, 66: 890- 895.
• Spínola, H. (2014). Forty years of environmental education in the Portuguese Democracy. The Online Journal of New Horizons in Education, 4 (3): 47-55. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/1363
• Spínola, H. (2015). Environmental literacy comparison between students taught in Eco-schools and ordinary schools in Madeira Island region of Portugal. Science Education International, 26 (3): 392-413.
• Spínola, H. (2016). Environmental Literacy in Madeira Island (Portugal): The Influence of Demographic Variables. International Electronic Journal of Environmental Education, 6(2): 92-107. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/1358.
• Spínola, H. (2020). Correlations between environmental literacy components (knowledge, attitude and behavior) in Madeira Island (Portugal) 9th grade students. The Online Journal of New Horizons in Education, 10 (1): 28-36. https://www.tojned.net/journals/tojned/articles/v10i01/v10i01-03.pdf
• Stern, P. (2000). Toward a coherent theory of environmentally significant behavior. The Journal of Social Issues, 56 (3): 407.
• Tarfaoui, D. & Zkim, S. (2017). Ecological Attitude- Behavior Gap: A Theoretical Analysis. International Journal of Economics & Strategic Management of Business Process (ESMB) Vol.8, Issue 1, pp. 33-38
• Tikka, P.M., Kuitunen, M.T., & Tynys, S.M. (2000). Effects of educational background on students’ attitudes, activity levels and knowledge concerning the environment. The Journal of Environmental Education, 31(3), 12-19.
• Timur, S., Timur, B. & Karakas A. (2014). Investigating Pre-service Teachers’ Knowledge and Behaviors toward Environment. Anthropologist, 17(1): 25-35.
• Tracana, R.B., Ferreira, E. & Carvalho, G. (2012). Environmental Education in Portuguese School Programmes andmTextbooks in Two Periods: 1991-2000 and 2001-2006. The Online Journal Of New Horizons In Education, Vol. 2, Issue 1: 57-67.
• Wilson, D.C. & Velis, C.A. (2015). Waste management—still a global challenge in the 21st century: an evidence-based call for action Waste Manage. Res. 33 1049–1051.