Ecology – is the knowledge of Polish people on this subject sufficient?
At the beginning of November, in one of the high schools in Sieradz, we conducted an anonymous survey to check knowledge of the environmental protection. Almost 200 people took part in it and results of the poll are surprising (read to the end).
Climate changes- school community’s knowledge
We started the survey by asking respondents how they rate their knowledge of climate changes. Most of them (almost 60%) described their knowledge as average. Quite a lot of participants replied that their knowledge was at a high level (about 32% of people) and only 8% of them claimed that their knowledge in this area was poor.
The mistakes of society
There were many different questions in the field of ecology in the survey. We mainly referred to problematic issues and frequently made mistakes disadvantageous for the environment. We asked the students, e.g. how often they segregate waste, leave open taps, lights turned on and chargers and power adapters in the socket. In most cases, they describe their actions as preventing the degradation of nature. However, they believe that people and their actions on Earth are the most responsible for climate changes.
How to take care of the environment?
Our main goal was to find out how, according to the respondents, people should protect the environment. Their responses mainly referred to activities that they themselves can undertake and propagate in their households and surroundings. Examples of the proceedings they have proposed are:
• waste segregation
• saving water and energy
• reduction of plastic consumption
• using of bicycles and public transport instead of cars and planes
• increasing students’ awareness of climate changes in schools
Is the meat reduction in the diet important for the climate?
We asked in the survey: Will less meat consumption have a positive effect on climate change? Almost 50% of the respondents said that this is a significant issue in the fight for the environment and they are absolutely right! Few people know that meat production causes the emission of methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, each of which has a negative impact on the climate. Interestingly, almost 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions are gases produced during the digestive processes of farm animals (mainly cattle and sheep). However, beef and dairy production cause 65% of all derived from farm animals emissions.
Education of young people
Despite the upward trend in the knowledge of climate change among students, their knowledge base is still incomplete. We have to strive to broaden horizons and increase the knowledge of this topic, especially among young people, on whom the fate of our planet depends the most. What makes us content is that young people are aware of the seriousness of the drastic situation in which we are. We have to remember that we only have one Earth and we must all take care of it!
