Climate change awareness and environmental attitude of undergraduate students in the maritime academy of asia and the pacific

QUINTO CLIMATE CHANGE AWARENESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDE OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE MARITIME ACADEMY OF ASIA AND THE PACIFIC BACHELOR THESIS Study Mode: Full-time Major: Envi

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL AND FORESTRY

KRYZ IRENE MEGAN S QUINTO

CLIMATE CHANGE AWARENESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDE OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE MARITIME ACADEMY OF ASIA AND

THE PACIFIC

BACHELOR THESIS

Study Mode: Full-time Major: Environmental Science and Management Faculty: Advanced Education Program Office Batch: 2018-2021

Thai Nguyen, 10/01/2022

DOCUMENTATION PAGE WITH ABSTRACT

Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry

Degree Program Bachelor of Environmental Science and Management Student name Kryz Irene Megan S Quinto

Student ID DTN1754290030

Thesis Title Climate Change Awareness and Environmental Attitude of

Undergraduate Students in the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific

Supervisor (s) Assoc Prof Nguyen Thi Ha

Asst Prof Edlynne Fabian-Perona

C M Nestor B Quinto Supervisor’s Signature

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The researcher would like to dedicate this achievement to the following people:

first, to her parents who have cared and supported her all through her studies, and for being her emotional pillar

She is grateful to her supervisors Assoc Prof Nguyen Thi Ha, Asst Prof Edlynne Fabian-Perona, and C.M Nestor B Quinto for their guidance and lessons they have

taught her

She would like to express special thanks to Ma Angelika G Eniceo for her constant encouragement and advices, Kimberly Anne A Bautista for her

contributions to the study and all her other friends that have given their insights

She would like to thank all her professors who have taught her the knowledge she

needed to acquire in order to fulfill this goal

She would also like to express her gratitude to the Advanced Educational Program staff and the University for leading the way especially, as an international student

in a country far from home, they have helped in making her time at the university more comfortable

Last but most definitely not the least, to the Almighty God who bestowed His

blessings, constant guidance, comfort and assurance

TABLE OF CONTENT

List of Figures 1

List of Tables 2

List of Abbreviations 3

PART I INTRODUCTION 4

1.1 Research rationale 4

1.2 Research’s objectives 5

1.3 Research questions and hypotheses 6

1.4 Limitations 7

PART II LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Climate change management and maritime efforts 8

2.2 Awareness and attitude 9

2.3 Related studies 10

PART III OBJECTS AND METHODS 13

3.1 Objects 13

3.2 Methods 13

3.2.1 Samples 13

3.2.2 The research design and methodology 15

3.2.3 Data processing 15

PART IV RESULTS 17

4.1 Demographics 17

4.2 Level of Awareness and Attitude 21

4.3 Differences of the students’ Awareness and Attitude 23

4.4 The relationship between Awareness and Attitude 24

PART V DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 26

5.1 Discussion 26

5.2 Conclusion 31

REFERENCES 32

figures 37

tables 41

appendices 45

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Awareness Continuum 9

Figure 2 Percentage of US adults who say climate changes is a major threat 10

Figure 3 Age of the Respondents 17

Figure 4 Year level of the respondents (%) 17

Figure 5 Major of the respondents (%) 18

Figure 6 The type of high school the respondents attended (%) 18

Figure 7 The monthly family income of the respondents 19

Figure 8 Mother’s educational attainment 19

Figure 9 Father’s educational attainment 20

Figure 10 Mother’s occupation 20

Figure 11 Father’s occupation 21

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Level of Awareness 21

Table 2: Level of Attitude 22

Table 3: Awareness according to groups 23

Table 4: Attitude according to groups 24

Table 5: Spearman Rank Correlation 25

Table 6: The strength of a correlation 30

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CHEAKS – Children’s Environmental Attitude and Knowledge Scale

EEDI– Energy Efficiency Design Index

GDP – Gross Domestic Product

GHG – Greenhouse Gases

HEI – Higher Educational Institution

HPA – High Personal Awareness

IMO – International Maritime Organization

LPA – Low Personal Awareness

MAAP – Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific

MARPOL – The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships

PhP– Philippine Peso

PIDS – The Philippine Institute for Development Studies

SDGs – Sustainable Development Goals

SEEMP – Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan

UNFCCC – UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

PART I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research rationale

Climate change is one of the factors that complicate sustainable food and nutrition security and is found to alter micronutrient availability in some parts of the world

more than others (Nelson et al., 2018) According to Shanyal & Shuvo (2020)

coastal hazards due to climate change that are mostly reported in Asian Countries are: sea-level rise, cyclonic disturbances with strong winds/gusts, water surges, salinity intrusion in soil and water, coastal erosion, rise in sea surface temperature and coral bleaching

Philippines ranked third as the most vulnerable country to climate change and its impact on the country tremendous, i.e Yearly GDP loss, changes in rainfall patterns and distribution, droughts, threats to biodiversity and food security, public, sea-level rise, public health risks, and risks for the vulnerable groups (NICCDIES, 2020) In the country, climate change have created super typhoons with increasing magnitude although, some impacts are also caused by mal-development practices and misuse of local resources (Holden, Nadeau and Porio, 2017)

Cultivating knowledge about the significance of the environment is the initial step for an environmental-friendly community (Ramadhan, Sukma and Indriyani, 2019) Through knowledge and awareness, positive values and attitudes form and change people’s way of living (Kwan & Stimpson, 2003; Ramadhan et al., 2019) Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are responsible for training professionals

who will protect the environment (Galang, 2010; Heyl et al., 2013) Environmental education is important in raising environmental awareness (Ma, Men and Cui, 2020) A previous similar study found that there is a significant relationship between climate change awareness and environmental attitudes (Magulod Jr., 2018)

This research was conducted in order to provide data about climate change awareness and environmental attitude of Philippine undergraduate students particularly in Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP) Students of the said academy are future seafarers, their knowledge, attitude and actions would impact the marine environment The results of this study provided data in the Philippine context and can also be used for further researches that may concern environmental education and implementation of pedagogies Furthermore, the study results are useful to the institute itself to revise their training program if required

1.2 Research’s objectives

This study aimed to attain the following objectives:

General objective: Assess the climate change awareness and environmental

attitude of the Philippine undergraduate students

Specific objectives

1 Identify what might have influenced the Philippine undergraduate students’ responses by grouping them based on their demographics

2 Ascertain the relationship between climate change awareness and

environmental attitude of the Philippine undergraduate students in studied institute

1.3 Research questions and hypotheses

This research aimed to determine the level of awareness on climate change and the environmental attitude of Philippine undergraduate students and ascertain if there is a difference between the awareness and attitude of the respondents when grouped based on their profiles The following research questions that will be

answered to accomplish this objective

1 What is the level of climate change awareness of the respondents?

2 What level of environmental attitude do the students display?

3 Are there significant differences in the respondents’ awareness and attitude

of target groups according to their demographic profile?

4 Is there any significant relationship between the respondents’ awareness and attitude?

Statistical analyses will test the following hypotheses:

H1a: There is a significant difference between the responses when they are grouped according to the respondents’ demographic profile

H10: There is no significant difference between the responses when they are grouped according to the respondents’ demographic profile

H2a: There is a significant relationship between climate change awareness and environmental attitude

H20: There is no significant relationship between climate change awareness and environmental attitude

1.4 Limitations

The study was limited to awareness and attitude since it would be difficult to gauge the students’ behavior due to the on-going covid-19 pandemic For the same reason, the entire research was conducted online and therefore, had limited reach

to the entire population during the data collection

PART II LITERATURE REVIEW

Climate change is a problem for everyone around the world It is one of the most serious challenges in the 21st century (Howard-Grenville et al., 2014) All people,

from the older generations or the younger ones, it is undeniably an issue to be concerned about As its effects worsen, especially for countries that are more vulnerable to it like the Philippines, it is encouraged to take actions that will manage

it

2.1 Climate change management and maritime efforts

Climate change is an alteration in the normal weather found in an area This could be

an alteration in how much precipitation a location typically receives in a year Or it could be a shift in a place's regular temperature for a month or season Climate change also affects the global climate This could be a change in the global average temperature and distortion on the snow and rainfall in certain areas (NASA, 2014)

The objective of Climate change management is to stabilize, slow or prevent its effects by reducing the production and presence greenhouse gas emissions globally (Rhodes, 1992) Efforts to limit the risk of climate change have taken place under

1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Kyoto Protocol Many countries began at an early stage, to control or limit their carbon emissions such

as China and United Kingdom (Howard-Grenville et al., 2014) Furthermore, in

September 2015, UN’s campaign for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) commenced of which “climate action” that mentions the urgency to combat climate change and its effects, was set aiming for sustainable development for all (UN, 2015)

The production and consumption of energy for human activities is responsible for two-thirds of the Greenhouse Gases (GHG) that’s one of the main causes of climate change Emissions from international shipping are part of the remaining third and thus, play a role in its reduction An International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulation was placed on the 1st of January 2013 written in The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) Annex VI Chapter 4 which declares that new ships should abide with the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) and a Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) to all ships be implemented (Ölçer and Ballini, 2018; International Maritime Organization, 2019)

2.2 Awareness and attitude

In the study of Trevethan (2017), knowledge and awareness dictionary definitions were reviewed and discussed Due to the vague definitions of the terms, they are often interchanged by researchers however; there are some that use the words to refer different meanings The two have been depicted in a continuum where general awareness is at the low end and specific knowledge is at the high end This would imply that general awareness or general awareness is having ‘little’ or ‘less’ knowledge about the topic He then proposed an awareness continuum where awareness has its domain that involves personal engagement or concern

Figure 1 Awareness Continuum

Low Personal

Awareness (LPA)

High Personal Awareness (HPA)

Albarracin and Shavitt (2018) defined attitude as the willingness to take action or respond but without complete guarantee A subject or a target is needed for attitude which can be a person, an object or an idea therefore; it concerns many disciplines which includes (but not limited to) health, politics and marketing In this context, action is excluded from the scope of attitude

According to statistical data awareness-earth-day/) of U.S adults who view climate changes as a major threat showed the marked increasing between 2009 and 2020, reflecting growing awareness

(https://www.statista.com/chart/21415/climate-change-of the problem (see Figure 2)

Figure 2 Percentage of US adults who say climate changes is a major threat

(Adopted from

https://www.statista.com/chart/21415/climate-change-awareness-earth-day/)

2.3 Related studies

A previous study that was performed on primary students in Australia through Children’s Environmental Attitude and Knowledge Scale (CHEAKS) and interviews discovered that year 4 students had a higher commitment that year 5, students who

are gifted had more knowledge and girls are express their commitment more verbally than boys However they concluded that the level of knowledge does not certainly

affect their commitment or their actions (Treagust et al., 2016)

Wachholz, Artz and Chene (2014) expressed concern on the lack of research on the climate change knowledge and attitude of college students and thus, executed a study

in a university in New England They determined that their respondents believe that climate change does exist, that it is happening and were also concerned about it However; they did not necessarily take measures to solve climate change problems

The findings of the study Magulod Jr (2018) conducted revealed that the students of Cagayan State University had high climate change awareness and environmental attitude inferring that there is a positive correlation between the two variables Although with a different result, the study of Calvo and Apilado (2015) implies the same assumption when they found that the students in East Samar State University had low knowledge, awareness and attitude Both studies were conducted in the Philippines within HEIs in different areas They utilized similar methods (survey questionnaire) however there may have been differences with what they regard as

‘awareness’

’Knowledge’, ‘Awareness’, and ‘Attitudes’ were used as variables by the studies that were reviewed However, it is unclear whether they used the terms to describe the same idea (attitude could mean concern for climate change effects or the intention to act) Though there were different methods and results, most of the discoveries could point out that many are still not taking action to combat climate change for various

possible reasons Further studies that could uncover these causes can give more hints how to convince people to participate in climate change mitigation

PART III OBJECTS AND METHODS

3.1 Objects

The participants in this study were the undergraduate students of MAAP who will be part of the maritime industry in the future The industry has taken steps towards climate mitigation and educational institutions have the responsibility to guarantee that students would have the knowledge necessary to maintain the standards that have been previously implemented

The data gathering was conducted through an online survey because of the on-going pandemic

The research takes a descriptive correlational design as it aims to define the variables and their relationships

3.2 Methods

3.2.1 Samples

The study was conducted in MAAP Samples were taken from the population of undergraduates of the Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation and Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering programs The overall population of undergraduate students under the two programs is about 2,000 From this population, a total of 159 (n=159) responses were received

The samples were divided according to the responses on the demographics portion of the questionnaire For age categories, 1 respondent is <18, 92 respondents are 18-20,

58 respondents are 21-23, and 8 respondents are >23 For year level, 23 respondents

are 1st years, 58 respondents are 2nd years, 58 respondents are 3rd years and 20 respondents are 4th years For major, 75 respondents are in Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation and 84 respondents are in Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering For the type of high school, 47 respondents attended a public high school, 101 respondents attended a private high school and 11 respondents attended a science high school For family monthly income, 43 respondents answered ”<11,000 PhP/Month”, 39 respondents answered “11,000-22,000 PhP/Month”, 37 respondents answered “22,000-44,000 PhP/Month”, 21 respondents answered “44,000-77,000 PhP/Month”, 9 respondents answered “77,000-131,000 PhP/Month”, 4 respondents answered “131,000-219,000 PhP/Month” and 6 respondents answered “>219,000 PhP/Month” For mother’s education, 4 responded “No schooling completed”, 8 responded “Grade School graduate”, 34 responded “High School graduate”, 20 responded “Some College” and 93 responded “College degree” For father’s education, 2 responded “No schooling completed”, 5 responded “Grade School graduate”, 39 responded “High School graduate”, 36 responded “Some College” and

77 responded “College degree” For mother’s occupation, 48 students responded

“Jobless”, 61 students responded “Employed for wages”, 43 students responded employed” and 7 students responded “Retired” For father’s occupation, 18 students responded “Jobless”, 70 students responded “Employed for wages”, 45 students responded “Self-employed” and 26 students responded “Retired”

“Self-3.2.2 The research design and methodology

The research design and methodology was patterned to an existing study that was conducted in the Philippines in a different area by Magulod Jr (2018) The research followed a descriptive correlational design which aimed to define the variables and the relationships between them (Sousa, Driessnack and Mendes, 2007) The questionnaire consisted of 3 parts; first part is the respondents’ demographic profile (age, year level, and major, type of high school, family monthly income, parents’ educational attainment and occupation) The questions for second part were adapted from Carr et al., (2015) to assess the climate change awareness of students which has 5 awareness sub-scales: (1) on weather and climate (2) on causes of climate change (3) on effects

of climate change (4) on mitigation and adaptation methods to climate change and (5) questions related to ocean science The questions for third part which will measure the environmental attitude of the students, was adapted from Ugulu et al., (2013) It has four subscales which are: (1) environmental awareness, (2) attitude toward recovery (3) attitudes toward recycling and (4) environmental consciousness and behavior The questions were answered in a 5-point likert scale

3.2.3 Data processing

Data was initially analyzed using descriptive statistics to find the frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations of each item in questionnaire using excel Then inferential statistics (t-test and one-way ANOVA) was performed in SPSS to determine if there are significant differences in the responses when grouped according

to the respondents’ demographics excluding groups that had >10 respondents Those

groups are: age groups <18 and >23, monthly family income groups 77,000-131,000 PhP/Month, 131,000-219,000 PhP/Month and >219,000 PhP/Month, for both mother’s and father’s education, groups No schooling completed and Grade School graduate are excluded, and lastly, the group that responded retire in mother’s occupation Spearman Rank Correlation, which was done in SPSS, determined if there was a significant relationship between climate change awareness and environmental attitude It was performed on the subscales of climate change awareness and environmental attitude mentioned in research design and methodology

PART IV RESULTS 4.1 Demographics

The following table shows the ages of the respondents most of which are within 18-20 and 21-23 years old

Figure 3 Age of the Respondents

This pie graph represents the percentages of the respondents according to their year which tells that most of them are in their 2nd and 3rd year.

Figure 4 Year level of the respondents (%)

0 20 40 60 80 100

12.58

1st year2nd year3rd year4th year

The majors of the respondents are almost equal, with Bachelor of Science in Marine engineering at 53% and Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation at 47%

Figure 5 Major of the respondents (%)

A majority of the respondents attended a private high school followed by those who attended public school and then science high school which has the lowest number

Figure 6 The type of high school the respondents attended (%)

Figure 6 demonstrates the income class of the respondents which is according to the Filipino income class There’s a noticeable downward trend in the table with a slight increase in the last category (>219,000)

47.17 52.83

Transportation Engineering

29.56

63.52

6.92

Public Private Science High School

Figure 7 The monthly family income of the respondents

More than half (58%) of the respondents’ mother’s educational attainment is a college degree The remaining 42%, from the highest to lowest, is divided into high school graduate, some college, grade school graduate and no schooling completed

Figure 8 Mother’s educational attainment

The results in figure 8 illustrates that 48% of the respondents said that their father’s highest educational attainment is a college degree, followed by high school graduate which is only 2% more than the category some college which consists 23% The least

0 20 40 60

No schooling completed Grade School graduate High School graduate Some College College degree

part are grade school graduate and no schooling completed which are less than 5% when combined

Figure 9 Father’s educational attainment

Figures 9 and 10 are about the occupation of the respondents’ parents and both charts show that most of their mothers and fathers are employed for wages (38 and 44%) followed by self-employed (27 and 28%) 30% of the respondents’ mothers and 11%

of their fathers are jobless and the remaining category which is retired comprises 4 and 16% for figure 9 and 10, respectively

Figure 10 Mother’s occupation

2

5 39

36 77

No schooling completed Grade School graduate High School graduate Some College College degree

Figure 11 Father’s occupation

4.2 Level of Awareness and Attitude

Table 1 summarizes the means and standard deviation of each subscale of Climate Change Awareness In order to assert the level of the students’ awareness, the means are classified into the ranges stated below the table In general, the students have a high level of awareness, having the highest mean in Awareness on mitigation and adaptation methods subscale which was interpreted as very high

Table 1 Level of Awareness

Awareness on causes of climate change 2.90 0.99 High

Awareness on causes of climate change 2.48 1.16 High

Awareness on effects of climate change 3.12 0.95 High

Awareness on mitigation and adaptation methods 3.22 0.84 Very high

Very low=0.00-0.79, Low=0.80-1.59 Middle=1.60-2.39, High=2.40-3.19, Very

High=3.20=4.00

18

70 45

25

Jobless Employed for wages Self-employed Retired

Table 2 displays the results for the students’ attitude level Among the 4 subscales, 2 were considered to be high Those subscales are: Environmental awareness and Environmental consciousness and behavior The other 2 subscales: Attitude toward recovery and Attitude towards recycling fall in the range that is interpreted to be very high

Table 2 Level of Attitude

Attitude towards recycling 3.22 0.81 Very high Environmental consciousness and behavior 3.11 0.87 High

Very low=0.00-0.79, Low=0.80-1.59 Middle=1.60-2.39, High=2.40-3.19, Very

High=3.20=4.00

4.3 Differences of the students’ Awareness and Attitude

Table 3 contains the results of the t-test and ANOVA that was performed to determine if there were any significant differences between the awareness of the students if they were grouped according to their demographics Only age, father’s education and father’s occupation showed insignificant results

Table 3 Awareness according to groups

The results for the differences of the students’ attitude which are shown on table 4 were interpreted as insignificant except for one which in the type of high school the students attended

Table 4 Attitude according to groups

4.4 The relationship between Awareness and Attitude

It was determined that there is a significant relationship between climate change awareness and environmental attitude through Spearman rank correlation although, the value of the correlation coefficients suggest very weak to modest correlations The results that were marked significant displayed a positive value indicating a

positive relationship between the variables

Table 5 Spearman Rank Correlation

Sub-scales

Environmental awareness

Attitude towards recovery

Attitude towards recycling

Environmental Consciousness and behavior Awareness on

**Significant at 0.01 level; * Significant at 0.05 level