Environmental Awareness, Practices, and Attitudes of Selected UNP Students

Abstract

The ill-effect of environmental destruction is evident and its future potentialities are immense. Environmental awareness through education, particularly the youth who bear thefuture responsibility for the stewardship of the environment and pass on their knowledge to future generations is a concern. This study determined the level of environmental awareness, and practices, and attitudes ofthe selectedstudents ofthe University Of Northern Philippines (UNP) in terms of seven environmental themes, namely:
stewardship, finiteness ofresources, diversity and stability, change, material cycle, balance nature, and interdependence. The descriptive surveycorrelational research design was employed using a questionnaire as data gathering instrument. Frequencies and percentages, mean, and correlation analysis were used to treat the data. Results ofthe study showed that the respondents have very high level of environmental awareness and good practices on the overall environmental themes. The respondents did not favor the cutting of trees, forest burning/forest fires, quarrying, hunting, road widening, squatting, mining, river drilling, use of inorganicfertilizer, andindustrialization. Correlation analysis revealed that there is a significant relationship between the level of awareness and extent ofpractice ofthe respondents along the seven environmental themes. Based on the findings and conclusions of the study, it was recommended to improve further the environmental awareness, practices, and attitudes of the students by developing an environmental education program andstrictimplementation ofthe laws and ordinances protecting theenvironmentin the University.