DOES A PASSPORT AND A CHECKBOOK MATTER; WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE STUDENTS KNOWLEDGE AND CONCERN FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Currently we are facing a growing number of environmental problems and issues concerning waste disposal, water quality, air pollution, loss of habitat, deforestation, poor agricultural and fishing practices, chemical toxins, etc. What factors may influence a student's views on environmental problems? We sampled a socio-economically and ethnically diverse student body at an introductory college level (777 students total) on their views on the environment, their awareness of environmental issues, and problems dealing with pollution. The results were then analyzed using MINITAB 14.1. We compared their knowledge, understanding, and concern for an array of environmental issues with factors such as age, family income, sex, generic major in college, number of science classes taken, number of countries visited, average miles driven per week, type of vehicle driven, and number of years a student has been in college. We found that these factors influenced their responses to numerous environmental issues dealing with waste and recycling, energy use, water quality, global climate change, and the sustainability of earth's natural resources. For instance, the higher the family income the higher the percentage of students who disagreed that the Earth should be modified to fit human needs. However, we also found that this was not always the case with other factors. For example, a high number of countries visited (over 9) did not correlate with a greater concern for the environment. These results show what factors contribute more to environmental awareness and are indicative of what plays a role in the personal habits of students concerning a diverse array of issues such as vehicle preference, recycling, etc. Determining these factors can help overcome a lack of understanding of environmental concerns, which limits the ability of environmental groups, and the scientific community as a whole, to address these issues.