SUMMER 2005, VOL. 36, NO. 4 23

Research Summary

Chinese College Students’ Perceptions About GlobalVersus Local Environmental Issues

Hongxia Duan and Rosanne W. Fortner

ABSTRACT: The authors examined Chinese college students’ perceptions of internal (certainty, tan-gibility, complexity, significance, and danger) and external characteristics (personal knowledge,human responsibility, impact on personal life, and predicted trend) of 9 global and 8 local environ-mental issues. Subjects (N = 108) demonstrated by completing a survey that they perceived the inter-nal and external characteristics of issues differently on global and local scales, and to a degree thosecharacteristics are related. Educators and communicators should take into account the perceivedcharacteristics of environmental issues and choose effective information sources and teaching meth-ods to improve public understanding of human-induced environmental changes.

KEY WORDS: Chinese college students, environmental issue characteristics, global environmentalissues, local environmental issues

nvironmental education (EE) practice in the People’s Republic of China has been associat-ed with the world environmental movement for more than 40 years. In 1992, it entered anew stage that emphasized enhancement of students’ understanding of the relationship

between humans and environment for a sustainable society (Song & Duan, 2001). Since then, fewempirical studies have been conducted to examine achievement of EE in terms of Chinese students’understanding of environmental issues.

For the current project, we used methods from previously reported research and examined Chinesecollege students’ perceptions of different spatial scales and internal–external dimensions of environ-mental issues. Internal issue characteristics are determined by the extent to which people understandthe natural attributes of issues. For this dimension, we explored how Chinese students perceive anissue’s level of certainty and tangibility (Lee & Fortner, 2000), as well as complexity, significance, anddanger (Fortner & Camgoz, 2000; Lee, 2000; Lee & Fortner).

The second dimension, external issue characteristics of environmental issues, concerns students’recognition of how the environmental issues relate to humans and human values. It includes knowl-edge about how human activities cause the issues, what impacts the issues will have on humans andecosystems, how people would control the issues, and how people may act to help resolve the issues.

E

Hongxia Duan is a graduate research associate in the School of Natural Resource,s and Rosanne W.Fortner is a professor emeritus, Environmental Science Education at The Ohio State University,Columbus. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Hongxia Duan, School ofNatural Resources, The Ohio State University, 210 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, Ohio43210. E-mail: duan.16@osu.edu

Previous research has revealed that the internal characteristics of environmental issues are relatedto external features in other cultures. For example, Fortner and Camgoz (2000) examined environ-mental issues in Cyprus for certainty, significance, and tangibility (internal characteristics) and sub-jects’ willingness to act for problem solving (external characteristic). They found that respondentsfrom both Greek and Turkish sectors of that country were willing to act on the most significant envi-ronmental issues. Importantly, issue significance was related to mass-media coverage.

There remains a need to explore empirically the relationship between the defined internal andexternal issue characteristics within other cultures. In this study, research from Chinese subjects addsnew information about the relationships between the issues’ characteristics and can provide usefulsources for effective EE programs.

Specifically, we explored the following questions in this research:

• What do Chinese college students perceive to be the internal characteristics of global envi-ronmental issues and China’s local ones?

• What do Chinese college students perceive to be the external characteristics of global envi-ronmental issues and China’s local ones?

• What are the relationships between perceived internal and external issue characteristics in theChinese sample?

Method

InstrumentIn this research, we examined the internal features and external characteristics of environmental

issues for nine global and eight Chinese (referred to as “local”) issues. The global issues—climatechange, freshwater pollution and scarcity, deforestation and desertification, loss of biodiversity, ozonedepletion, waste disposal, and marine pollution—were selected from the survey of GlobalEnvironmental Outlook 2000 (United Nations Environmental Programme, 1999); the issue of acidrain was added from an Internet search on “global environmental issues.” Local issues—water pollu-tion in major rivers, coastal pollution, eutrophication and pollution in most lakes, air pollution inindustrial cities, soil erosion, and loss of farmland—were selected from China’s Environmental OutlookReport 2001 and 2002 (China Environmental Protection Agency, 2002, 2003). Issues of sandstormsand “white pollution” (plastic pollutants) were added because they have emerged recently as seriousenvironmental problems in China.

The written questionnaire was originally developed in English and translated into Chinese by thefirst author. Before the formal survey was conducted, several Chinese college and high school teach-ers in Beijing reviewed the instrument and recommended small revisions on some grammar andexplanations. Three parts of the questionnaire relate to the research reported here. Section I concernsdemographics (gender, age, academic background and voluntary activities related to environmentaltopics). Section II assesses perception of the five internal characteristics for each environmental issue,using 5-point scales, for the following questions:

• How certain are you that the issue really does present a problem to the natural environmentor to human beings? (1 = very uncertain, 5 = very certain)

• How complicated is the issue, that is, to what extent do you consider the problem to involvevarious interacting factors in processes or consequences? (1 = very simple, 5 = very complicated)

• To what extent can you see, touch, smell, or feel in any other way the causes, processes, orconsequences of the problem? (1 = very intangible, 5 = very tangible)

24 THE JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

• How serious do you consider the causes, processes, or consequences of the problem to be? (1 =very insignificant, 5 = very significant)

• To what extent do you think the problem is harmful to the human and natural environment?(1 = not dangerous, 5 = very dangerous)

Section III assessed concerns about the external issue characteristics of the same issues. A 5-pointscale was used for issue-specific responses to the following questions:

• How do you evaluate your knowledge about the environmental issue? (1 = not knowledgeable,5 = very knowledgeable)

• How important are human activities in causing the environmental problem? (1 = not impor-tant, 5 = very important)

• To what extent are you concerned that the environmental problem would change your life?(1 = not concerned, 5 = very concerned)

• How will the environmental problem be 20 years from now? (1 = worse, 5 = better)

ParticipantsA total of 108 college students from Beijing Normal University and Beijing Language Institution

participated in the research. Most participants (80.5%) were between 21 and 35 years old andapproximately 64% were female. Only 6 respondents were members of environmental organizations.During the most recent 2 years, 41 (28.7%) respondents volunteered for some environmental activ-ities, but most of them reported doing this no more than twice. Participants from Beijing NormalUniversity were from engineering backgrounds (e.g., modern technology for education and com-puter science), whereas students from Beijing Language Institute were from foreign-language back-grounds such as English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, and Italian. Respondents reportedhometowns located in 26 of China’s 34 provinces and special administrative regions, thus they rep-resent the geographic variability of China.

Data CollectionWe collected data during September 2003 in Beijing. For Beijing Language Institution, the ques-

tionnaires were distributed in two economics classes. The instructor of those two classes helpedadminister the data collection in class. For Beijing Normal University, class time was not available,so students received the questionnaires after class and submitted their answers within 5 days.

Results

Internal Characteristics of Environmental IssuesAmong the nine global environmental issues, desertification was considered as the most certain

(M = 4.41, SD = 0.81) and significant (M = 4.10, SD = 0.95) issue (Table 1). Global climate change(M = 4.10, SD = 1.05) was perceived as the most complicated global issue. Drinking-water pollu-tion in developing countries rated highest in tangibility (M = 3.86, SD = 1.15) and danger (M =4.47, SD = 0.75). Deforestation in tropical areas was seen as least certain, significant, and danger-ous; solid-waste transit between nations and ozone depletion were viewed as the least complex andleast tangible issues, respectively.

Among the Chinese (local) issues, students perceived air pollution in major cities as the most cer-tain (M = 4.66, SD = 0.58), complicated (M = 3.88, SD = 1.11), tangible (M = 4.26, SD = 0.98),

SUMMER 2005, VOL. 36, NO. 4 25

26 THE JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

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significant (M = 4.48, SD = 0.71), and dangerous (M = 4.36, SD = 0.86) issue. It should be notedthat the emerging issues of white pollution and sandstorms gained mean scores greater than 4 onthe 5-point scale in terms of certainty, tangibility, significance, and danger. Eutrophication of majorlakes was scored as the least certain, complicated, tangible, significant, and dangerous issue.

We conducted t tests, which revealed no significant differences in certainty, complexity, and dan-ger by scale (global vs. Chinese issues; Figure 1), but discrepancies were apparent between respon-dents’ perceptions on the scales of significance, t(107) = –4.50, p < .001, and tangibility, t(107) =–8.90, p < .001. The scores for these two characteristics for global issues were lower than those forChinese issues.

We calculated Pearson correlations for the five internal characteristics for global and Chineseissues. The results showed a strongly positive correlation between significance and danger (r = .676,p < .001) for Chinese issues, and moderate correlation for global issues (r = .573, p < .001), that is,the environmental issues perceived as significant were those considered dangerous. For Chineseissues, certainty was found to be strongly positively correlated with danger (r = .613, p < .001). Astrongly positive correlation was also found between significance and tangibility (r = .669, p < .001).Significant correlations were observed for other paired characteristics for both global and Chineseissues, but the correlations were not strong. For example, certainty and tangibility were weakly cor-related for global issues but moderately correlated for Chinese issues at a confidence level of 99%.

SUMMER 2005, VOL. 36, NO. 4 27

FIGURE 1. Comparison of collectively perceived internal characteristics of global

and local [Chinese] environmental issues (5 = highest level of the characteristic).

*Significantly different at p < .001.

Complexity Tangibility* Significance*

Chinese issues Global issues

External Characteristics of Environmental IssuesRespondents’ self-reported environmental knowledge was highest for global warming (M =

3.81, SD = 0.91), followed by desertification (M = 3.79, SD = 0.89) and drinking water pollution(M = 3.73, SD = 0.90; Table 2). For local environmental issues, Chinese students reported themost knowledge (M = 4.24, SD = 0.86) for the issue of air pollution in major cities, followed bysandstorms (M = 4.15, SD = 0.87 and white pollution (M = 4.11, SD = 0.88). Human effects onthe environment generated the strongest response among the external characteristics for both issuescales (M ≥ 4.20 for global issues and M ≥ 4.23 for Chinese issues on a 5-point scale). Respondentsthought drinking water pollution (M = 4.22, SD = 1.01) was the most important of global issueslikely to change their life. They considered air pollution (M = 4.42, SD = 0.89) the most impor-tant local issue to change their life. Means of respondents’ perceptions of how each issue wouldchange over the next 20 years were lower than 3 on a 5-point scale for all global issues and for 7local issues except white pollution (M = 3.14, SD = 1.20) and sandstorms (M = 3.28, SD = 1.17).A score of 3 would have indicated no change, but higher responses indicate feelings that the situ-ation will get better.

Using t tests, we found no significant differences between global and Chinese issues on humanresponsibility (Figure 2). However, global and Chinese issues were perceived significantly differentlyon how the issues affect respondents’ lives and on the trends of the issues (p < .001). Respondentsthought their lives were changed more by local issues than by global issues, and they also consideredthat global issues would get worse compared with Chinese issues in the next 20 years. Pearson cor-relation shows that environmental knowledge was not related to perceptions of the trends of globaland Chinese environmental issues. We found moderately positive correlations between environmen-tal knowledge and perception of human effects on issues of both scales (r = .446 for global issue, r =.332 for local issue, p < .01). A strong positive correlation was observed between the perceptions oflife impacts by Chinese issues and environmental knowledge (r = .630, p < .01), but this relationshipwas moderate (r = .535) for global issues at the same confidence level.

Internal and External Characteristics of Environmental IssuesTable 3 shows the relationships between internal and external characteristics of Chinese and

global issues. Positive correlations were found between the five internal characteristics of globalenvironmental issues and respondents’ knowledge on the global issues (p < .01), although somecorrelations were not strong. Positive correlations were found between environmental knowledgeand certainty (r = .565), tangibility (r = .501), significance (r = .461), and danger (r = .444) forChinese issues (p < .01). Complexity was not related to respondents’ knowledge of Chinese issues.

Perceptions of human effects on global issues were positively correlated with issue certainty (r =.671, p < .01), danger (r = .570, p < .01), significance (r = .390, p < .05), and complexity (r = .219,p < .05), but not tangibility. For Chinese issues, people’s perceptions of human impacts on local issueswere correlated with internal characteristics, with the exception of complexity. Perceptions of howthe issues change life were positively associated with all five internal characteristics of global andChinese issues (p < .01). There was no relationship between the internal characteristics of global andChinese issues and people’s predictions on the trends.

Discussion

In this study, Chinese college students perceived the selected global and local environmental issuesdifferently in internal characteristics of certainty, complexity, tangibility, significance, and danger.

28 THE JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

SUMMER 2005, VOL. 36, NO. 4 29

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Chinese respondents viewed local environmental issues as more significant and tangible than globalissues. Chinese respondents were concerned about the environmental issues related to daily life, but theypaid less attention to the problems far away from their life (Chinese Journalism Association forEnvironment & Unilever, 2001). For both local and global issues, the findings that the five internalcharacteristics of issues were correlated with each other were consistent with previous research. The pos-itive relationship between certainty and tangibility of selected environmental issues supported theresearch by Lee and Fortner (2000). It is reasonable that people would determine that an issue is real ifthey can see or smell it. The most significant issues are the certain ones that can be directly sensed. Thepresent data also confirmed Fortner and Camgoz’s (2000) study on environmental issues in Cyprus,which found correlations among issues’ internal characteristics of significance, certainty, and tangibility.

The findings imply that Chinese environmental educators should choose effective sources and for-mats to make more complicated environmental issues tangible and understandable. For issues suchas global climate change, which are fraught with uncertainty, educators need to help audiencesbecome aware of the risk and to report more evidence, scientific explanations and more relevant

30 THE JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

FIGURE 2. Chinese students’ perceptions of external characteristics of global and

local [Chinese] environmental issues (5 = highest level of the characteristic).

*Significantly different at p < .001.

5

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information on the risky issues. The focus of risk communication should be on “what is being doneto reduce the uncertainty” (Frewer et al., 2002, p. 371). Frewer et al. suggested that all informationabout uncertainty should be available in the public domain. This would serve as a useful general prin-ciple for communicating uncertainty related to environmental issues.

Chinese respondents perceived that external issue characteristics differ between issues and scales.Respondents were more knowledgeable on local environmental issues than global issues, and theirknowledge was also issue related. The results were supported by Chan’s (1999) report that people’senvironmental knowledge was highly specific to issue and geographic scale.

Respondents’ prediction of a worsening environment reveals a pessimistic attitude toward futureenvironmental change. In China, teachers sometimes use extreme environmental examples to sup-plement teaching materials in classroom. As a result, students have been learning about the serious-ness of negative changes in the environment, which would lead them to be upset about the future.The results here should remind Chinese educators to pay more attention to how they present thecharacteristics of danger and significance of environmental issues. If students are taught with onlynegative environmental facts and events but no solutions, they could be left feeling unsafe, unstable,and hopeless about the world they live in. Younger students could be frightened by the dangers tothe world and, as in the first American environmental movement, exhibit feelings of informed futil-ity (Lewandowski, 1986). Our suggestion is that teachers not only provide raw information to theirstudents but also help them realize how people can prevent or manage the problems with certaintechnologies and at different economic levels and how individuals can take actions to help resolve theenvironmental issues. Instead of simply talking about the facts, more attention should be put on therelationships of humans and whole ecosystems, social processes and natural processes, environmen-tal issues, and the economic, political, and social systems. The purpose of environmental educationis not only for current environmental problem solving but also for a sustainable future.

Chinese students’ environmental knowledge was found to correlate with the perception of humanimpacts on the environment on both issue scales, the result expected by the traditional knowledge-awareness model. This finding implies that the more people know about the issues, the more they

SUMMER 2005, VOL. 36, NO. 4 31

TABLE 3. Pearson Correlations for Perceived Internal and External Characteristicsfor Global and Local Environmental Issues

Internal characteristic

External characteristic Certainty Complexity Tangibility Significance Danger

Global Knowledge .571** .269** .431** .387** .433**Human impacts .671** .219* .159 .390** .570**Life change .503** .390** .416** .521** .467**Predicted trends .041 .044 .117 .118 –.024

LocalKnowledge .565** .143 .501** .461** .444**Human impacts .516** .070 .367** .486** .439**Life change .572** .260** .399** .520** .461**Predicted trends .094 .028 –.013 .012 –.094

*Significant at the .05 level (two-tailed). **Significant at the .01 level (two-tailed).

understand the role of humans in those issues. It appears that a knowledge-focused environmentaleducation model used by most Chinese environmental educators might be successful for improvingstudents’ understanding of the relationship between humans and the environment.

Internal and external characteristics of environmental issues were related to each other in theChinese sample. Chinese students’ overall environmental knowledge levels were positively correlatedwith the overall levels of certainty, tangibility, significance, and danger that they assigned to envi-ronmental issues. Those results suggest that the internal characteristics of environmental issues wouldaffect students’ knowledge acquisition. The Chinese data also showed that human responsibility forthe global and local environmental changes and perceived impact of issues on human life are relatedto the internal characteristics of the environmental issues. The results provide evidence for theresearch that individuals’ environmental concern is a function of the risks they attach to the envi-ronmental issues (Bamberg, 2003). Perhaps, the perceptions of internal issue characteristics couldexplain the differences in students’ environmental concerns. If students perceive the issues as moresignificant and dangerous, they could be more concerned about the causes and impacts of the issues.It is possible that the internal characteristics of environmental issues could be factors to influence stu-dents’ environmental concerns.

The limitation of this research is that the results cannot be generalized for lack of a randomizedsample from the general public. However, it provides insights on what a current group of Chinesecollege students know and feel about environmental issues, which is valuable for curriculum devel-opment in both precollege and college levels. In the future, an extended study could be conductedto examine whether the internal characteristics of environmental issues have potential impacts on stu-dents’ willingness to act and on their actual actions for environmental problem solving at differentgeo-spatial scales. Such research could strengthen views on the relationship between environmentalconcerns and behavior (Bamberg, 2003; Hawthorne & Alabaster, 1999).

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