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The role of climate change education on individual lifetime carbon emissions
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 15, Iss 2, p e0206266 (2020)
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Strategies to mitigate climate change often center on clean technologies such as electric vehicles and solar panels, while the mitigation potential of a quality educational experience is rarely discussed. In this paper, we investigate the long-term impact that an intensive one-year university course had on individual carbon emissions by surveying students at least five years after having taken the course. A majority of course graduates reported pro-environmental decisions (i.e., type of car to buy, food choices) that can be attributed to experiences gained in the course. Furthermore, our carbon footprint analysis demonstrates that for the average course graduate, these decisions reduced their individual carbon emissions by 2.86 tons of CO2 per year. Focus group interviews identify that course graduates have developed a strong personal connection to climate change solutions, and this is realized in their daily behaviors and through their professional careers. The paper discusses in more detail the specific components of the course that are believed to be most impactful, and it shares preliminary outcomes from similar curriculum designs that are being used with K-12 students. Our analysis also demonstrates that if similar education programs were applied at scale, the potential reductions in carbon emissions would be of similar magnitude to other large-scale mitigation strategies such as rooftop solar or electric vehicles.
- Subjects :
- Atmospheric Science
Social Sciences
Transportation
010501 environmental sciences
Surveys
Graduates
01 natural sciences
Global Warming
Learning and Memory
ComputingMilieux_COMPUTERSANDEDUCATION
Psychology
media_common
Vehicle Emissions
Climatology
Multidisciplinary
Ecology
4. Education
05 social sciences
050301 education
Research Design
Scale (social sciences)
Medicine
Educational Status
Engineering and Technology
Research Article
Science
media_common.quotation_subject
Climate Change
Climate change
Research and Analysis Methods
Course (navigation)
Human Learning
Learning
Humans
Quality (business)
Social Behavior
Students
Curriculum
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Behavior
Survey Research
Global warming
Cognitive Psychology
Biology and Life Sciences
Environmental economics
Focus group
13. Climate action
Greenhouse gas
People and Places
Carbon footprint
Earth Sciences
Cognitive Science
Population Groupings
Business
Anthropogenic Climate Change
0503 education
Neuroscience
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 15, Iss 2, p e0206266 (2020)
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....344f8760491e22a4bc31d93c0792655d
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1101/441170