Survey notes that only 13% of young adults practice environmental citizenship
Young adults do not practice extracurricular activities that promote environmental citizenship, with only 13% doing so, namely recycling, volunteering to clean beaches and green areas, participating in awareness seminars and participating in the Lixo Zero Portugal Group (Zero Waste), concludes a survey of the University of Portugal with 155 students, whose aim was to understand the environmental literacy and concerns about climate change among young students.
The survey findings thus dictate that, although these young adults assume they have environmental concerns, there are still few practices that can prove these concerns.
On the other hand, they assume that they would also like to have more information and to be given the opportunity to carry out more environmental awareness actions during their university career, transversal to all courses and all teaching years.
Young people also argue that it is necessary to take measures around education and environmental protection, promoting more recycling and more savings in water and light, but there are still few behaviors around sustainability,
These requirements stem from the fact that human activities, according to the survey data, are the ones that most contribute to climate change and the extinction of some species and, as such, say young people, everyone can contribute to reducing these effects.
As for more sustainable attitudes, it was noticed that there are students who always take a reusable bag to the supermarket, but the vast majority continue to buy products packaged in plastic.
In terms of environmental literacy, it appears that, although students show some concerns about the environment, there are still few actions and behaviors that reveal this concern. In other words, despite the great majority using public transport for their trips to the University, more than 20% still use the private car.
There was also a low level of knowledge of Non-Governmental Organizations in the Environment, with over 50% assuming they did not know any NGO.