Sustainability Literacy: Scale Development

Transcription

1 Sustainability Literacy: Scale Development posted to aashe bulletin Carl Obermiller April Atwood Albers School of Business Seattle University contact: 1

2 Introduction Seattle University was an early signatory to the American College and Unifversity Presidents Climate Commitment agreement. To assist in the goal of educating our students in sustainability, we developed SUstLit, an objective, internet questionnaire to measure sustainability literacy. Sustainability: Construct Definition The principle of sustainability is generally understood in terms of the ability to maintain activity or development. The most widely used definition in this context, from the 1987 Brundtland Commission report, refers to sustainable development-- sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Central to the sustainability construct are the notions of limits and interconnections. There are limits to resources; and, all things elements of the planet are interconnected, both within and across times. The sustainability of a system can be considered from three perspectives: First, the well-being of the individual unit. If behavior threatens the health or life quality of the individual/organization/group, that behavior cannot continue indefinitely. Second, the well-being of social order. Humans and human organizations need significant social relationships, ranging from family and friends, through neighbors and community, members of work and life networks, through political states. Behavior that degrades the health or life quality of those relationships cannot continue indefinitely. Third, resources from the natural environment. All the individual and social life takes place within the 2

3 natural system, subject to the constraints of that system. This category can be broken into various aspects of natural capital, including predictable climate, energy, clean air and water, productive land, and bio-diversity. Behavior that threatens the necessary quality of these resources cannot continue indefinitely. These categories, individual, social order, and natural environment, correspond to popular sustainability frameworks--"triple- Bottom Line--financial profit, stakeholder well-being, and environmental health"; "3 Ps-- Profit, People, Planet"; and, "3 Es--Economy, Equity, and Ecology". In the past few decades, sustainability concern has focused on threats to natural resources. Global climate change is resulting from increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; scientists agree that human behavior is contributing. Rising sea levels threaten millions of people around the globe. Many of those who are threatened already live in relative poverty. Energy concerns focus on the limited supply of fossil fuels as well as the contribution of those fuels to climate change. Clean water and arable or livable land may not exist in available supply to meet the needs of human growth and development. We increasingly recognize the value of bio-diversity to maintenance of soil and water quality and even human life. One specific aspect of these threats to natural capital is waste, a result of linear resource processing; waste handling is often both expensive and unhealthy. We have also seen a recent increase in concern for social justice problems associated with the threats to natural resources (environmental justice), as well as social justice effects of business decisions on employees and communities. Our conceptualization of sustainability was broad, including the specific categories of natural resources, individual/organizational well-being objectives 3

4 (happiness/profit), and social order well-being objectives. The categories of the construct's domain are discussed below. Our goal was to develop an objective scale of sustainability literacy. Literacy typically refers to ability to read or write; but, it also may refer generally to education, knowledge or competence in a specific area, which is our use of the word. Sustainability has related knowledge, and we wanted to measure that knowledge. But, sustainability education requires more than mastery of a set of terms and principles. Sustainability is important because it relates to significant problems that require action. Teachers in all disciplines hope their students will love and use the material they teach. For sustainability education, however, positive attitudes and behavior change should also be learning objectives. The aim of sustainability education is for students to internalize sustainability into their world views, their daily behaviors, and their professional decision frameworks. Thus, by literacy, we mean a set of beliefs representing acquired knowledge, and a related set of attitudes and behaviors. In measurement, the content domain of a construct is the set of elements or "stuff" the construct represents. The content domain of sustainability is sometimes debated because it is multi-dimensional. As noted, we used a multi-dimensional definition of sustainability and identified the following as the most important categories of sustainability knowledge: climate change energy planetary assets--land, water, air, biodiversity systems concepts 4

5 people organizations Climate change is one of focal challenges or our time; and, we include knowledge about the implications for changing configuration of the planet, food growing and water capacities, politics, and development. Energy is related to climate change, but energy knowledge also includes developing technologies associated with a shift away from traditional fossil fuels. Planetary assets are essential components of the environment; and, relevant knowledge connects to fertile land, clean water, clean air, and biodiversity-- their roles in the planetary system and current threats. Systems concepts are crucial to an understanding the interrelationships that are fundamental to sustainability. The key concepts are interrelatedness across aspects of the environment and between the environment and humans; the constraints of closed systems (with emphasis on issues of resources and wastes); and changes of systems over time. The people dimension is general. The well-being of people, as individuals and social groups, is fundamental to sustainability. Sustainability literacy implies knowledge about what contributes to that well-being and how to measure it. It also reflects an understanding of the extent to which unsustainable actions disproportionately affect groups with fewer resources. More broadly, it implies knowledge about the implications of climate change and various systems elements on the well-being of people. Organizations, of course, are collections of people; but, because of their power, they are considered as a separate context. Knowledge about the roles and influences of organizations, especially corporations, is the final dimension of our construct. 5

6 Our set of dimensions for sustainability was determined from discussion with various experts. To determine if our six categories were perceived as relevant subdomains, we surveyed 175 students, who were given the prompt, "Many people now talk about "sustainable practices". Please check ALL the dimensions below that you think are part of "sustainability". The list was an arbitrary ordering of our six dimensions along with politics, arts, religion, family values, and "other". The six proposed dimensions were selected, on average by 60% of respondents, ranging from 35% for systems to 80% for planetary assets. None of the other options, including "other", was selected by more than 15% of the sample. These results suggest that our conceptualization of sustainability knowledge is shared by our target population. For each of these dimensions, we identified measures of knowledge beliefs, attitudes toward the content principles, and relevant behaviors. The knowledge beliefs are measures of terms, principles, and relationships that we hope students will master. For example, for climate change, a crucial belief is that carbon dioxide is the biggest contributor to the green house gas effect. Attitudes are measures of the goodness or importance of the content issues. For climate change, our goal is that students will regard sustainability as a proper perspective and an important part of their lives. For climate change, an example measure of attitude would be "How important is it that people consider the carbon effects when they purchase cars or major appliances?" Behaviors (self reports of behaviors) are measured for actions that are both relevant to the content and to the respondents--university students. An example measure: "How frequently do you walk, ride a bike, or take mass transit, instead of driving to school or work?" 6

7 Sustainability literacy Scale Framework The scale assessed multiple dimensions of sustainability content over the three response outcomes: knowledge, attitudes, and current behaviors. The framework was based on the presumed Beliefs-->Attitudes-->Behavior relationship: Behaviors reflect the relative attitudes toward the alternative actions (all things equal, people will select actions that they find most desirable). And, attitudes are a summary evaluative disposition that reflects what people know about an object or action, the beliefs they hold. In addition to changing beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors in support of sustainability, educators should hope to develop other skills and competencies that support and encourage the development of richer cognitive structures around sustainability. Although much basic knowledge and some attitudes and behaviors can result from rote learning, one hopes for higher levels of learning--critical and scientific thinking, synthesis across disciplines, evaluative analysis, persistence, and enthusiasm. The current scale is limited to assessing lower levels of learning, but we plan to develop more sophisticated assessment tools in subsequent work. Scale Validation Two applications of the scale provided data for psychometric analysis of the scale. Overall, the scale demonstrated good internal reliability and predictive validity. Poor accuracy and low inter-item correlations were useful in making revisions to several questions and in completely replacing two items. Details of the analyses are available from the authors. The scale with means scores for the first of these applications is attached in the Appendix. 7

8 Application of the Scale Our plan is to use the scale to assess progress toward our objective of teaching sustainability to all students. In Summer of 2013, we will begin with an administration to incoming freshmen. Beginning Spring of 2014, we plan annual iterations of the survey. As we put in place changes in our courses and co-curricular activities, we expect to see improvements in scale scores. Specific faculty have discussed using SustLit at the beginning and end of their courses to assess their success in teaching sustainable business material. With each use of the scale, we will repeat analyses of the items. We will also make the scale available to anyone with an interest. It will be available via our websites and shared through the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). We encourage adoption, adaptation, and sharing of findings of SustLit by other schools and organizations. 8

9 Appendix SUstLit Items and First Administration Means Climate Change 1. Most scientists believe that climate change is happening Human behavior plays a significant part in climate change The " greenhouse effect" is caused by depletion of the ozone layer. (Subsequently replaced by "The lives of many people living near the Pacific Ocean are threatened by the melting of glaciers in Greenland.") Climate and Weather mean pretty much the same thing Weather is easy to predict accurately; Climate is impossible to predict accurately. (Subsequently revised to "The fact that we cannot predict climate accurately, even a few years into the future, proves that we do not understand what factors influence climate.") Recent mild winters prove that climate change is not happening Change in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 100 years has been a slow steady increase. 2.7 Average 3.4 Energy 1. An appliance that is rated "65% efficient" requires 1000 watts to do the work 3.1 of 650 watts. (Subsequently replaced by "Increasing the use of wind turbines could eliminate our dependence on foreign oil within a few years.") 2. Water (hydroelectric) is considered a "renewable" energy source Coal is considered a "renewable" energy source The largest use of energy per year in a typical US home is lighting A refrigerator typically requires more energy per year than a personal computer. (Subsequently revised to "A typical home refrigerator requires more energy per year than a typical desktop personal computer.") Most electricity in the US is produced by burning coal The origin of all fossil fuels is the decomposition of dinosaur bones

10 8. Wind energy is theoretically possible but not a practical source of renewable energy. 3.0 Average

11 Planetary Assets 1. The major cause of coral bleaching--the death of coral reefs--is chemical spills in the oceans. 2. There is no need to conserve water because water is constantly being replenished by the earth's natural water cycles. 3. Fewer people in the world have access to clean water than have access to cell phones. 4. Switching from meat to vegetable meals in the U. S. can make more clean fresh water available to people in developing countries. 5. The amount of high quality, fertile land for growing food products, worldwide, is constantly decreasing It is important to preserve plants and animals that are threatened by extinction The earth, plants, and animals exist only for the support of humans Soil erosion peaked during the Dust Bowl (1930s); in today's world, it is no longer a problem. 3.6 Average 3.6 Systems 1. We will always have enough resources. When something runs out, we find it somewhere else or find something else that works just as well What we do today affects the lifestyles of future generations My responsibility is to myself and my family, not to the world or to the future The best way to deal with waste is to seal it away so that it cannot affect us. 3.8 Average

12 People 1. The best measure of the quality of life for an individual is material wealth The best measure of the quality of life for a society is gross national product Abuses of the environment disproportionately diminish the lives of the poor My decisions and actions affect me and those close to me, not other people or places around the globe. 3.8 Average 3.7 Organizations 1. Businesses should be concerned not only with making profits but also with the welfare of their employees and the communities in which they operate Businesses must be profitable to survive The only proper objective of business is to maximize its profits Businesses should pay their employees and their suppliers fair compensation, even if that is more than the market requires Businesses have an obligation to make positive contributions to society I am willing to pay more for products from business that are socially responsible. 3.7 Average

13 Definitions of Terms 1. On foods, the label "organic" means the food is not genetically modified On meats, the label "free range" means the animal had access to the outdoors On meats the label "grass fed" means the animal had some grass in its diet On coffee or other products, the label "Fair Trade" means the products are 3.5 extra high quality. 5. On appliances, the label "Energy Star" means the products are made of 3.3 recycled materials. 6. On products, the label "natural" has no legal meaning On products, the label "recyclable" means that the material in the product can 2.8 be used to make more of the same product. 8. On products, the label "made of recycled material" means that the product is 3.7 of low quality. 9. A "carbon tax" would prevent the manufacture or sale of products that add 2.8 carbon to the atmosphere. 10. A "carbon cap and trade policy" would set a limit on the total amount of 3.4 carbon added to the atmosphere. 11. A business practices "triple bottom line" planning when it focuses on unit 2.8 sales, dollar sales, and market share. Average 3.3 Overall Knowledge 1. In general, I think I know everything I need to know about sustainability

14 Attitude Measures 1. People should recycle and reuse, even if it is less convenient People should choose a method of transportation other than driving a car 3.6 alone, even if it is less convenient. 3. People should be willing to lower the quality of their lives in order that other 3.2 people in the world can live better. 4. People should be willing to spend more to get products and services that are 3.6 better for the environment. 5. People should be willing to spend more to get products and services, if that is 3.5 what it takes to make life better for other people. 6. People should support higher taxes, if that is what it takes to make life better 3.0 for other people. 7. In general, I think climate change issues are among the most important 3.6 challenges in the world today. 8. In general, I think energy issues are among the most important challenges in 3.7 the world today. 9. In general, I think environmental threats are among the most important 3.6 challenges in the world today. 10. In general, I think social justice issues are among the most important 3.7 challenges in the world today. 11. In general, I think the effects of businesses on society are among the most 3.5 important challenges in the world today. Average

15 Behaviors (never-every single opportunity) (not applicable) 1. Buy organic produce. 3.0 (3) 2. Buy shade grown coffee or tea. 2.3 (29) 3. Buy seafood certified as sustainable. 2.6 (27) 4. Buy farm-raised seafood. 2.4 (26) 5. Buy organic eggs. 2.9 (4) 6. Buy organic dairy products. 2.8 (4) 7. Buy organic meat. 2.8 (5) 8. Buy grass-fed beef. 2.6 (9) 9. Buy recycled-content paper products. 3.1 (3) 10. Travel by mass transit. 3.0 (8) (Subsequently revised to "Choose mass transit as a means of local travel.") 11. Car/van pool. 3.0 (8) Subsequently revised to "Use car/van pool for travel to work or school.") 12. Travel by bike (excluding pleasure/fitness rides). 2.1 (22) Subsequently revised to "Choose bicycling for local travel.") 13. Travel by foot (excluding pleasure/fitness trips). 3.3 (7) Subsequently revised to "Choose walking for local travel.") 14. Consider the working conditions of product producers, before buying. 2.8 (7) 15. Boycott a company because of its social practices. 2.3 (11) 16. Voted for or supported a candidate because of his/her position on 2.8 (16) environmental issues. Average