Undergraduate Students' Views of Sustainability

• In Event: Sustainability Education Across Settings and Generations

Abstract

Prior research has shown that college students’ sustainability literacy is limited, especially where it connects to social justice issues. In this study we surveyed 261 undergraduate students to understand how they conceptualize sustainability and recognize its intersection with social justice. Participants were asked to rate the importance of 15 values as guiding principles in their life and asked to the best of their ability to explain the terms sustainability, social justice, and environmental justice. We found that students conceptualized sustainability in a variety of ways and few mentioned social justice and that students either knew what environmental justice meant or did not. Our results have implications for the expansion of sustainability education in higher education.

Authors

• Jennifer Gribben, University of Southern California

• Gale M. Sinatra, University of Southern California