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Chinese College Students' Perceptions About Global Versus Local Environmental Issues

Posted on: Thursday, 13 October 2005, 09:00 CDT

By Duan, Hongxia; Fortner, Rosanne W

ABSTRACT:

The authors examined Chinese college students' perceptions of internal (certainty, tangibility, complexity, significance, and danger) and external characteristics (personal knowledge, human responsibility, impact on personal life, and predicted trend) of 9 global and 8 local environmental issues. Subjects (N = 108) demonstrated by completing a survey that they perceived the internal and external characteristics of issues differently on global and local scales, and to a degree those characteristics are related. Educators and communicators should take into account the perceived characteristics of environmental issues and choose effective information sources and teaching methods to improve public understanding of human-induced environmental changes.

KEY WORDS: Chinese college students, environmental issue characteristics, global environmental issues, local environmental issues

Environmental education (EE) practice in the People's Republic of China has been associated with the world environmental movement for more than 40 years. In 1992, it entered a new stage that emphasized enhancement of students' understanding of the relationship between humans and environment for a sustainable society (Song & Duan, 2001). Since then, few empirical studies have been conducted to examine achievement of EE in terms of Chinese students' understanding of environmental issues.

For the current project, we used methods from previously reported research and examined Chinese college students' perceptions of different spatial scales and internal-external dimensions of environmental issues. Internal issue characteristics are determined by the extent to which people understand the natural attributes of issues. For this dimension, we explored how Chinese students perceive an issue's level of certainty and tangibility (Lee & Former, 2000), as well as complexity, significance, and danger (Fortner & Camgoz, 2000; Lee, 2000; Lee & Former).

The second dimension, external issue characteristics of environmental issues, concerns students' recognition of how the environmental issues relate to humans and human values. It includes knowledge about how human activities cause the issues, what impacts the issues will have on humans and ecosystems, how people would control the issues, and how people may act to help resolve the issues.

Previous research has revealed that the internal characteristics of environmental issues are related to external features in other cultures. For example, Former and Camgoz (2000) examined environmental issues in Cyprus for certainty, significance, and tangibility (internal characteristics) and subjects' willingness to act for problem solving (external characteristic). They found that respondents from both Greek and Turkish sectors of that country were willing to act on the most significant environmental issues. Importantly, issue significance was related to mass-media coverage.

There remains a need to explore empirically the relationship between the defined internal and external issue characteristics within other cultures. In this study, research from Chinese subjects adds new information about the relationships between the issues' characteristics and can provide useful sources for effective EE programs.

Specifically, we explored the following questions in this research:

* What do Chinese college students perceive to be the internal characteristics of global environmental issues and China's local ones?

* What do Chinese college students perceive to be the external characteristics of global environmental issues and China's local ones?

* What are the relationships between perceived internal and external issue characteristics in the Chinese sample?

Method

Instrument

In this research, we examined the internal features and external characteristics of environmental issues for nine global and eight Chinese (referred to as "local") issues. The global issues-climate change, freshwater pollution and scarcity, deforestation and desertification, loss of biodiversity, ozone depletion, waste disposal, and marine pollution-were selected from the survey of Global Environmental Outlook 2000 (United Nations Environmental Programme, 1999); the issue of acid rain was added from an Internet search on "global environmental issues." Local issues-water pollution in major rivers, coastal pollution, eutrophication and pollution in most lakes, air pollution in industrial cities, soil erosion, and loss of farmland-were selected from China's Environmental Outlook Report 2001 and 2002 (China Environmental Protection Agency, 2002, 2003). Issues of sandstorms and "white pollution" (plastic pollutants) were added because they have emerged recently as serious environmental problems in China.

The written questionnaire was originally developed in English and translated into Chinese by the first author. Before the formal survey was conducted, several Chinese college and high school teachers in Beijing reviewed the instrument and recommended small revisions on some grammar and explanations. Three parts of the questionnaire relate to the research reported here. Section I concerns demographics (gender, age, academic background and voluntary activities related to environmental topics). Section II assesses perception of the five internal characteristics for each environmental issue, using 5-point scales, for the following questions:

* How certain are you that the issue really does present a problem to the natural environment or to human beings? (1 = very uncertain, 5 = very certain)

* How complicated is the issue, that is, to what extent do you consider the problem to involve various interacting factors in processes or consequences? (1 = very simple, 5 = very complicated)

* To what extent can you see, touch, smell, or feel in any other way the causes, processes, or consequences of the problem? (1 = very intangible, 5 = very tangible)

* How serious do you consider the causes, processes, or consequences of the problem to be? (1 = very insignificant, 5 = very significant)

* To what extent do you think the problem is harmful to the human and natural environment? (1 = not dangerous, 5 = very dangerous)

Section III assessed concerns about the external issue characteristics of the same issues. A 5-point scale was used for issue-specific responses to the following questions:

* How do you evaluate your knowledge about the environmental issue? (1 = not knowledgeable, 5 = very knowledgeable)

* How important are human activities in causing the environmental problem? (1 = not important, 5 = very important)

* To what extent are you concerned that the environmental problem would change your life? (1 = not concerned, 5 = very concerned)

* How will the environmental problem be 20 years from now? (1 = worse, 5 = better)

Participants

A total of 108 college students from Beijing Normal University and Beijing Language Institution participated in the research. Most participants (80.5%) were between 21 and 35 years old and approximately 64% were female. Only 6 respondents were members of environmental organizations. During the most recent 2 years, 41 (28.7%) respondents volunteered for some environmental activities, but most of them reported doing this no more than twice. Participants from Beijing Normal University were from engineering backgrounds (e.g., modern technology for education and computer science), whereas students from Beijing Language Institute were from foreign-language backgrounds such as English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, and Italian. Respondents reported hometowns located in 26 of China's 34 provinces and special administrative regions, thus they represent the geographic variability of China.

Data Collection

We collected data during September 2003 in Beijing. For Beijing Language Institution, the questionnaires were distributed in two economics classes. The instructor of those two classes helped administer the data collection in class. For Beijing Normal University, class time was not available, so students received the questionnaires after class and submitted their answers within 5 days.

Results

Internal Characteristics of Environmental Issues

Among the nine global environmental issues, desertification was considered as the most certain (M= 4.41, SD = 0.81) and significant (M = 4.10, SD = 0.95) issue (Table 1). Global climate change (M = 4.10, SD = 1.05) was perceived as the most complicated global issue. Drinking-water pollution in developing countries rated highest in tangibility (M = 3.86, SD = 1.15) and danger (M = 4.47, SD = 0.75). Deforestation in tropical areas was seen as least certain, significant, and dangerous; solid-waste transit between nations and ozone depletion were viewed as the least complex and least tangible issues, respectively.

Among the Chinese (local) issues, students perceived air pollution in major cities as the most certain (M = 4.66, SD = 0.58), complicated (M = 3.88, SD = 1.11), tangible (M = 4.26, SD = 0.98), significant (M = 4.48, SD = 0.71), and dangerous (M = 4.36, SD = 0.86) issue. It should be noted that the emerging issues of white pollution and sandstorms gained mean scores greater than 4 on the 5- point scale in terms of certainty, tangibility, signi\ficance, and danger. Eutrophication of major lakes was scored as the least certain, complicated, tangible, significant, and dangerous issue.

TABLE 1. Chinese Students' Perceptions of Internal Characteristics of Selected Global and Local Environmental Issues (N = 108)

We conducted t tests, which revealed no significant differences in certainty, complexity, and danger by scale (global vs. Chinese issues; Figure 1), but discrepancies were apparent between respondents' perceptions on the scales of significance, t(107) = - 4.50, p < .001, and tangibility, t(107) = -8.90, p < .001. The scores for these two characteristics for global issues were lower than those for Chinese issues.

We calculated Pearson correlations for the five internal characteristics for global and Chinese issues. The results showed a strongly positive correlation between significance and danger (r = .676, p < .001) for Chinese issues, and moderate correlation for global issues (r = .573, p < .001), that is, the environmental issues perceived as significant were those considered dangerous. For Chinese issues, certainty was found to be strongly positively correlated with danger (r = .613, p < .001). A strongly positive correlation was also found between significance and tangibility (r = .669, p < .001). Significant correlations were observed for other paired characteristics for both global and Chinese issues, but the correlations were not strong. For example, certainty and tangibility were weakly correlated for global issues but moderately correlated for Chinese issues at a confidence level of 99%.

FIGURE 1. Comparison of collectively perceived internal characteristics of global and local [Chinese] environmental issues (5 = highest level of the characteristic). *Significantly different at p < .001.

External Characteristics of Environmental Issues

Respondents' self-reported environmental knowledge was highest for global warming (M = 3.81, SD = 0.91), followed by desertification (M = 3.79, SD = 0.89) and drinking water pollution (M = 3.73, SD = 0.90; Table 2). For local environmental issues, Chinese students reported the most knowledge (M = 4.24, SD = 0.86) for the issue of air pollution in major cities, followed by sandstorms (M = 4.15, SD = 0.87 and white pollution (M = 4.11, SD = 0.88). Human effects on the environment generated the strongest response among the external characteristics for both issue scales (M ≥ 4.20 for global issues and M ≥ 4.23 for Chinese issues on a 5-point scale). Respondents thought drinking water pollution (M = 4.22, SD = 1.01) was the most important of global issues likely to change their life. They considered air pollution (M = 4.42, SD = 0.89) the most important local issue to change their life. Means of respondents' perceptions of how each issue would change over the next 20 years were lower than 3 on a 5-point scale for all global issues and for 7 local issues except white pollution (M = 3.14, SD = 1.20) and sandstorms (M = 3.28, SD = 1.17). A score of 3 would have indicated no change, but higher responses indicate feelings that the situation will get better.

Using t tests, we found no significant differences between global and Chinese issues on human responsibility (Figure 2). However, global and Chinese issues were perceived significantly differently on how the issues affect respondents' lives and on the trends of the issues (p < .001). Respondents thought their lives were changed more by local issues than by global issues, and they also considered that global issues would get worse compared with Chinese issues in the next 20 years. Pearson correlation shows that environmental knowledge was not related to perceptions of the trends of global and Chinese environmental issues. We found moderately positive correlations between environmental knowledge and perception of human effects on issues of both scales (r = .446 for global issue, r = .332 for local issue, p < .01). A strong positive correlation was observed between the perceptions of life impacts by Chinese issues and environmental knowledge (r = .630, p < .01), but this relationship was moderate (r = .535) for global issues at the same confidence level.

Internal and External Characteristics of Environmental Issues

Table 3 shows the relationships between internal and external characteristics of Chinese and global issues. Positive correlations were found between the five internal characteristics of global environmental issues and respondents' knowledge on the global issues (p < .01), although some correlations were not strong. Positive correlations were found between environmental knowledge and certainty (r = .565), tangibility (r = .501), significance (r = .461), and danger (r = .444) for Chinese issues (p < .01). Complexity was not related to respondents' knowledge of Chinese issues.

Perceptions of human effects on global issues were positively correlated with issue certainty (r = .671, p < .01), danger (r = .570, p < .01), significance (r = .390, p < .05), and complexity (r = .219, p < .05), but not tangibility. For Chinese issues, people's perceptions of human impacts on local issues were correlated with internal characteristics, with the exception of complexity. Perceptions of how the issues change life were positively associated with all five internal characteristics of global and Chinese issues (p < .01). There was no relationship between the internal characteristics of global and Chinese issues and peoples predictions on the trends.

Discussion

In this study, Chinese college students perceived the selected global and local environmental issues differently in internal characteristics of certainty, complexity, tangibility, significance, and danger. Chinese respondents viewed local environmental issues as more significant and tangible than global issues. Chinese respondents were concerned about the environmental issues related to daily life, but they paid less attention to the problems far away from their life (Chinese Journalism Association for Environment & Unilever, 2001). For both local and global issues, the findings that the five internal characteristics of issues were correlated with each other were consistent with previous research. The positive relationship between certainty and tangibility of selected environmental issues supported the research by Lee and Former (2000). It is reasonable that people would determine that an issue is real if they can see or smell it. The most significant issues are the certain ones that can be directly sensed. The present data also confirmed Former and Camgoz's (2000) study on environmental issues in Cyprus, which found correlations among issues' internal characteristics of significance, certainty, and tangibility.

TABLE 2. Chinese College Students' Perceptions of External Characteristics of Selected Global and Local Environmental Issues (N = 108)

FIGURE 2. Chinese students' perceptions of external characteristics of global and local [Chinese] environmental issues (5 = highest level of the characteristic). *Significantly different at p < .001.

The findings imply that Chinese environmental educators should choose effective sources and formats to make more complicated environmental issues tangible and understandable. For issues such as global climate change, which are fraught with uncertainty, educators need to help audiences become aware of the risk and to report more evidence, scientific explanations and more relevant information on the risky issues. The focus of risk communication should be on "what is being done to reduce the uncertainty" (Frewer et al., 2002, p. 371). Frewer et al. suggested that all information about uncertainty should be available in the public domain. This would serve as a useful general principle for communicating uncertainty related to environmental issues.

TABLE 3. Pearson Correlations for Perceived Internal and External Characteristics for Global and Local Environmental Issues

Chinese respondents perceived that external issue characteristics differ between issues and scales. Respondents were more knowledgeable on local environmental issues than global issues, and their knowledge was also issue related. The results were supported by Chans (1999) report that peoples environmental knowledge was highly specific to issue and geographic scale.

Respondents' prediction of a worsening environment reveals a pessimistic attitude toward future environmental change. In China, teachers sometimes use extreme environmental examples to supplement teaching materials in classroom. As a result, students have been learning about the seriousness of negative changes in the environment, which would lead them to be upset about the future. The results here should remind Chinese educators to pay more attention to how they present the characteristics of danger and significance of environmental issues. If students are taught with only negative environmental facts and events but no solutions, they could be left feeling unsafe, unstable, and hopeless about the world they live in. Younger students could be frightened by the dangers to the world and, as in the first American environmental movement, exhibit feelings of informed futility (Lewandowski, 1986). Our suggestion is that teachers not only provide raw information to their students but also help them realize how people can prevent or manage the problems with certain technologies and at different economic levels and how individuals can take actions to help resolve the environmental issues. Instead of simply talking about the facts, more attention should be put on the relationships of humans and whole ecosystems, social processes and natural processes, environmental issues, and the economic, political, and social systems. The purpose of environmental education is not only for current environmental problem solving but also for a sustainable future.

Chinese students' environmental knowledge was found to correlate with the pe\rception of human impacts on the environment on both issue scales, the result expected by the traditional knowledge- awareness model. This finding implies that the more people know about the issues, the more they understand the role of humans in those issues. It appears that a knowledge-focused environmental education model used by most Chinese environmental educators might be successful for improving students' understanding of the relationship between humans and the environment.

Internal and external characteristics of environmental issues were related to each other in the Chinese sample. Chinese students' overall environmental knowledge levels were positively correlated with the overall levels of certainty, tangibility, significance, and danger that they assigned to environmental issues. Those results suggest that the internal characteristics of environmental issues would affect students' knowledge acquisition. The Chinese data also showed that human responsibility for the global and local environmental changes and perceived impact of issues on human life are related to the internal characteristics of the environmental issues. The results provide evidence for the research that individuals' environmental concern is a function of the risks they attach to the environmental issues (Bamberg, 2003). Perhaps, the perceptions of internal issue characteristics could explain the differences in students' environmental concerns. If students perceive the issues as more significant and dangerous, they could be more concerned about the causes and impacts of the issues. It is possible that the internal characteristics of environmental issues could be factors to influence students' environmental concerns.

The limitation of this research is that the results cannot be generalized for lack of a randomized sample from the general public. However, it provides insights on what a current group of Chinese college students know and feel about environmental issues, which is valuable for curriculum development in both precollege and college levels. In the future, an extended study could be conducted to examine whether the internal characteristics of environmental issues have potential impacts on students' willingness to act and on their actual actions for environmental problem solving at different geo- spatial scales. Such research could strengthen views on the relationship between environmental concerns and behavior (Bamberg, 2003; Hawthorne & Alabaster, 1999).

REFERENCES

Bamberg, S. (2003). How does environmental concern influence specific environmentally related behaviors? A new answer to an old question. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 23, 21-32.

Chan, K. W. (1999). Mass media and environmental knowledge of secondary school students in Hong Kong. The Environmentalist, 19, 85- 97.

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Lewandowski, A. (1986). Global perspectives in geography: analysis of an instructional model. Unpublished masters thesis, Northern Michigan University, Marquette.

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Hongxia Duan is a graduate research associate in the School of Natural Resources and Rosanne W. Fortner is a professor emeritus, Environmental Science Education at The Ohio State University, Columbus. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Hongxia Duan, School of Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, 210 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, Ohio 43210. E-mail: duan.16@osu.edu

Copyright HELDREF PUBLICATIONS Summer 2005

Source: Journal of Environmental Education, The

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