AN ASSESSMENT OF THE PERSPECTIVES OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN TURKEY

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the perspectives of university students about current environmental problems, and students' opinions and ideas on environmental issues and certain current environmental concepts. To this end, a survey study was administered to a total of 446 students continuing their education in various faculties and colleges at the Avcilar Campus of Istanbul University between February and June 2014. The survey studies investigated whether the perspectives of university students about current environmental problems and their opinions and ideas about environmental issues and certain current environmental concepts differed or not based on faculties and colleges in which they were receiving higher education, on gender, and class level (for the students of Environmental Engineering). It was concluded that 37% of university students who participated in the survey deemed air pollution as the most important environmental issue in the environment in which they lived; and when they assessed the said environmental issue based on the level of importance, 86.7% of the students observed air pollution as the most important environmental pollution, and that environmental awareness and anxiety of risk of female students was higher compared to male students. Furthermore, 93% of students were knowledgeable about global warming and climate change, which is a new environmental concept; that they were not knowledgeable about the concepts of carbon footprint, ecological footprint and water footprint; and that 90% were informed about issues related to the environment through the internet and 67% through television. It was also noted that environmental engineering students had higher knowledge/awareness about the environment compared to other faculty and college students and that the awareness was found to increase in the upper years.