Risk perception and response toward climate change for higher education students in Taiwan
| Autor: | Joseph P. Lavallee, Tai-Yi Yu, I-Cheng Chang, Bruno Di Giusto, Tai-Kuei Yu |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Universities
Higher education Climate Change Health Toxicology and Mutagenesis media_common.quotation_subject Taiwan Climate change 010501 environmental sciences 01 natural sciences Effects of global warming Perception Humans Environmental Chemistry Students skin and connective tissue diseases 0105 earth and related environmental sciences media_common business.industry Knowledge level Perspective (graphical) General Medicine Pollution Risk perception Attitude sense organs business Psychology Social psychology University system |
| Zdroj: | Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 27:24749-24759 |
| ISSN: | 1614-7499 0944-1344 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11356-019-07450-7 |
| Popis: | The effects of climate change have already begun to threaten biological diversity and human societies, and these effects will continue to grow over time. To face the challenges related to mitigation and adaptation will require an educated and motivated citizenry. From the perspective of green education, providing knowledge related to climate change and promoting pro-environmental behaviors is imperative. In this study, we assess current levels of knowledge, risk perception and types of pro-environmental behaviors. We administered a questionnaire to 1118 university students in Taiwan evaluating climate change knowledge (15 items), risk perception (23 items), and attitudes toward behavioral change (33 items). Factor analyses were conducted to identify the underlying latent variables for risk perception and obstacles to behavioral change, and ANOVA tests were performed to identify significant associations between three different levels of climate change knowledge and responses to the risk perception and obstacles-to-change items. We found that higher levels of knowledge significantly predicted greater perceptions of risk related to biodiversity threats and increased public costs. In terms of behavior, students with lower levels of knowledge were significantly more likely to find uncertainties related to climate change to be a greater obstacle to engaging in pro-environmental behaviors. Higher levels of knowledge clearly allow individuals to better assess the threats posed by climate change and reduces the perceived level of uncertainty related to climate change and the impact of pro-environmental behaviors. Our results suggest that Taiwan's efforts to implement climate change related information in the public schools and in the university system have been effective and that such efforts should be broadened to reach the public as a whole. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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