Abstract:

With the release of the sustainable development goals of Agenda 2030, the awareness of environmental issues has increased. In the Agenda 2030, life on land and underwater, as well as climate change and water availability are topics of special interest. Under this context, young people are critical in the achievement of these goals and future world protection. For this reason, knowing the thoughts of this target population about environmental issues is important.

The objective of this work is to better appreciate the thoughts of young people about environmental issues in the educative context. For this purpose, a survey was designed to better understand the environmental awareness of high school students in north-western Spain. The survey consists of 7 items involving perceptions about their knowledge and consciousness of climate change, pollution, or biodiversity, among others. It combines multiple choice with rating scale questions and the age, gender, and geographical region (urban or rural) are considered as independent variables.

The survey was conducted in eight Secondary Schools in the province of Ourense and a total sample of approximately 200 students was obtained. Students considered in the study range in age from 14 to 18 years old. In general terms, students are aware of environmental issues and evaluate this item with 3.4 (out of 5). The topics they are most concerned about are climate change and pollution. They consider having information about environmental protection provided at school, however only 10% of those who replied consider that the information provided is enough. The level of awareness is higher in the surveyed girls than in boys and in rural areas more than in urban ones.

To conclude, a survey was conducted to analyze environmental awareness among high school students in northwestern Spain. Students show moderate consciousness about environmental issues being different results considering gender and geographical area.

Keywords:

Environmental awareness, climate change, high school.