Climate Change Consciousness among University Students Implications to Global Education

Climate change is happening. Youth plays a vital role in addressing environmental issues and concerns more particular on climate change. Consciousness on climate change is very essential for its mitigation and adaptation purposes. Thus, this study was conducted to assess the consciousness among university students on climate change and its implications to global education. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine the level of awareness of the university students and (2) to identify the activities undertaken by students incorporating climate change. An adopted close and open-ended questionnaire was administered to obtain data. A total of 64 respondents were involved in the study. Results show that university students were aware on climate change as well as its key causes, effects and possible mitigation. Furthermore, results showed that the university students undertake activities that would mitigate the impact of climate change. Such activities are tree planting activities, clean-up drive and proper disposal/segregation of waste and environmental education campaign. Likewise, the researchers recommend the enhancing of the different curricula to include the incorporation of climate change and related topics. Other activities such as symposium, forum, seminar can also be undertaken to promote environmental awareness and consciousness among the students in relation to climate change.

Keywords: climate change, global education, consciousness, youth