Are GEES students ‘good environmental citizens’?

Abstract

Abstract This paper reports on the findings from a GEES-funded project carried out at one UK Higher Education Institution comparing the environmental attitudes and behaviour of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) students and those students not studying these overtly ‘environmental’ subjects, and explores some of the motivations for, and barriers to, students becoming ‘good environmental citizens’. The results of questionnaire surveys and focus groups carried out with students as part of this project suggest that students often struggle to put their environmental principles into practice. Although GEES students see environmental matters as the most important issues in the world today, they may be less likely to take part in environmental practices than students studying non-GEES subjects.