1. Introduction
Rapid industrialization, urbanization, and over-exploitation of natural resources have caused huge environmental degradation and an imbalance among components of the biosphere such that maintenance of the modern lifestyle of the human is inviable. Harmful waste secretions, climate change, ozone layer depletion, acid rains, and eutrophication are a few familiar environmental catastrophes [
1]. Such global issues will vary between regions, causing diverse impacts on agriculture, forestry, human health, and biodiversity, and these are all very severe when manifested as local problems [
2]. Globally, natural systems, such as coral reefs, mangroves, tropical, temperate, and boreal ecosystems, are at the risk of irreversible damages [
3]. Such pieces of evidence indicate that
Homo sapiens is the most dangerous and self-centered animal in the world who is now endangered, and will receive negative feedback from nature in the near future. So, humans are formulating different types of environmental conservation strategies for their survival. Until a human understands their real position and role in a cyclical biosphere, the world is at risk. The change of the human mind and developing a positive attitude toward the environment is an effective way to conserve nature. Increasing environmental literacy in every stage of life will lead to a change in attitude and resulting behaviors or actions of an individual, which will ultimately protect the entire world. It is important to determine what people know, how they feel, and what actions are required to protect the environment [
4].
Environmental education (EE) is a process that allows individuals [
5] and communities, and organizations [
6,
7] to learn and explore the environment and its issues, engage in problem-solving, and take action to improve the environment to address global or local challenges. According to Meredith [
8], EE is the ability to emotionally understand the natural laws, all the changes, cause-and-effect relationships between the quality of the environment, and human behavior. The person’s environmental literacy is parallel to individual perception, knowledge, awareness, and attitude towards environmental issues. So, increasing environmental literacy will lead to a change in the behavior or action of a person. Hence, the recognition of existing knowledge in different sectors of the environment is very important to make conservation strategies for the environment. Most of the former studies have mainly paid attention to the quantification of environmental literacy of school students and the public, lacking study at the university level [
4,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14]. Very few studies have been carried out on environmental education and the urgent need to conserve this biodiversity hotspot in tropical Asia through awareness of Sri Lankan folk [
15].
Examining the existing environmental knowledge of university students, who are future policymakers, is very important. Such examinations are mostly carried out by surveying techniques with help of structured types of questionnaires [
4,
9,
10,
11,
16]. There are diverse aspects of the environment and its effects, such as purchase intention on greener products [
17], the effect of materialism on environment knowledge [
18], perception of exceptional risks [
19], impact on climate change [
20], and the perception of awareness, attitude, and knowledge of the environment [
21]. Gulgun et al. [
9] recognized public awareness as the key factor of sustainable environmental protection and explained the importance of environmental education starting from nursery school levels.
A lack of awareness was the leading factor for environmental problems in Bangladesh [
16] and therefore public awareness and education were recommended to mitigate the negative impact on the environment. Contreras, [
22] highlighted the importance of integrated approaches in upgrading the literacy level of university students. Selvam and Nazar [
10] recommended integrating approaches with government, private, and non-government sectors to make university students aware of environment and disaster management. Aminrad et al. [
23] recommended coordinating knowledge, attitude, and behavior of students. Misfud [
24] suggested the importance of linking the ecological knowledge of students with social concepts.
Liu and Lin [
11] have investigated the undergraduates’ ideas about nature and human–nature relationships and to find whether students show pro-ecological behavior; the ideas of students about nature and human–nature relationships often seemed to be a mixture of worldview tendencies. The findings of Veisi et al. [
25] indicated that university students had a positive attitude, a high degree of concern, and showed sensitivity to the environment, but that they had only low-to-moderate levels of knowledge. The study explores how gender, age, and the environmental experience had a significant effect on environmental literacy, and how mass media served as the main source of environmental information. Similarly, Teksoz et al. [
26] demonstrated that environmental knowledge was highly correlated with attitude and responsibilities when undergraduates were involved in outdoor activities. Finally, to upgrade the environmental literature level of university students, it is highly recommended to include environment-related course units in any degree program [
27].
Universities are the foundations that educate people who will be community leaders and managers in the future world [
28]. To make the world successful, future leaders must pay attention to corporate social responsibilities including high environmental literacy and a positive attitude toward nature. There is a lack of studies carried out to quantify the environmental literacy level of students of higher education institutions [
29,
30].
Examining the existing knowledge, attitudes, and positive involvement in environmental conservation in undergraduates is very important for future sustainability [
31]. Thus, the findings of this study would provide strong evidence for policymakers to plan environment-friendly strategies in the higher education sector. This study aims to explore existing environmental knowledge, awareness, attitude, behavior, and perceived suggestions regarding major environmental issues by university students of different disciplines within two different teaching methodologies.
3. Results
The results are presented according to the objectives of the study under the following subtitles: recognize the socioeconomic background of the target group; identify the interest in environmental-related activities of the university students; recognize the source of acquired environmental information, existing knowledge and awareness levels on major environmental issues of students of the two universities and make comparison among factors; find out the attitudes and behavior of the university students’ about the environment; find out reasons for the environmental issues in Sri Lanka and solutions perceived by the target group.
3.1. Socioeconomic Background
Items 1–12 of part A of the questionnaire are structured to detect the socioeconomic and demographic nature of the study sample. The majority of students in both universities below 30 years were females excluding law (40%) of the OUSL (OUSL 62%, UP 57.52% except engineering of OUSL (43.6%), UP (40.6%)). Only the OUSL showed representative married or unemployed undergraduates in arts/social sciences (43.3%, 66.7%), law (33.7%, 63.2%), management (10%, 93.2%), engineering (8.5%, 50%), and Science (7.5%, 26.6%) respectively. The majority of engineering (50%) and science (45.6%) students of OUSL, and arts/social sciences (52.4%) of UP, resided in village areas. Except for law (41.7%) and arts/social sciences (38.6%) of UP, other undergraduates studied (approximately 60%) were from popular schools.
The majority of family members of engineering (60.4%) and science (57.9%) students of UP are graduates or higher, while engineering (75%), and science (70%) students of OUSL showed in majority to have less qualified family members. The family members of students within the management (43.3%), law (46.3%), and arts/social sciences (41.7%) disciplines of OUSL showed higher educational status than their peers in UP as well as in other disciplines of the OUSL. The highest monthly family income category was shown by students of engineering (58.3%) and science (53.7%) of UP and management (43.3%) and law (42.1%) of the OUSL. Management (58.1%), law (83.3%), and arts/social sciences (48.8%) of UP undergraduates were from the middle-income category. Students with a high educational background get more opportunities to enter professional fields in UP.
3.2. Interest in Environmental Related Activities
Recognition of a person’s interest is very important in the awareness and education sector. Perceived answers recognized that “hiking” was the most interested activity of the UP undergraduates (25.7%) and the least interested activity of the OUSL undergraduates (11.2%). OUSL undergraduates (22.7%) were most interested in “tree planting/gardening.” However, UP undergraduates (16%) placed said activity in fourth place, which would be because UP is surrounded by sufficient tree cover and vice versa for OUSL. Approximately equal percent of undergraduates in both universities were interested in “bird watching” (UP 17.7% and OUSL 16.5% respectively). In both universities, more than 94% of undergraduates were interested in any of the environmental-related activities. On the other hand, nearly 9% of engineering and 12% of science undergraduates of the UP and 11% of engineering, 4% of science, 5% of law and 7% of social sciences of OUSL undergraduates had no interest in any environmental activities.
3.3. Major Source of Information for Environmental Knowledge
Undergraduates of UP (37.7%) and undergraduates of OUSL (40.5%) have recognized that “school education” is the main information provider of their environmental awareness (
Figure 1). A total of 22.5% of undergraduates of the UP acquired their environmental knowledge from the printed media. Undergraduates of both universities (11%) perceived “university” as a source of information given as 4th and 5th priority by undergraduates of UP and OUSL respectively. Very poor priority responses (5.2% undergraduates of UP and 2.7% OUSL respectively) were given to the “friends or peers” as a source of information.
3.4. Diversity of Existing Environmental Knowledge among Different Disciplines
Results of the one-way ANOVA showed in
Figure 2. There was a significant difference between the mean percentages of environmental knowledge among all the discipline groups (F = 9.453,
p < 0.05). The environment knowledge was high among Science (37.34% ± 1.63) and Law (34.74% ±1.6) students of the OUSL and Science (34.61% ± 1.75) and Engineering (31.9% ± 63) of UP. Only 45.6% of undergraduates of both universities were scored with more than 30% of the mean percentage of knowledge on the environment.
3.5. Comparison of Existing Level of Knowledge on Environment among Undergraduates
Environmental knowledge between UP and OUSL was compared using an independent t-test. Results showed that there was no significant difference (
p > 0.05) between undergraduates of UP and the OUSL on environmental knowledge. The mean % frequency of the undergraduates of UP and OUSL was 29.1% and 30% respectively (
Table 1). Our sample size is large (800,
n > 30) and therefore the sampling distribution is close to a normal distribution. The t-test results showed that there was a significant difference between environmental knowledge and the education level of the family (F = 2.64,
p < 0.05). The results revealed that the educational qualification of family members of undergraduates was positively correlated with environmental knowledge in students. Having a graduate or higher educated family member, G.C.E. (A/L), G.C.E. (O/L), and Lower than G.C.E. (O/L) showed the percentage mean of existing knowledge as 31.27 ± 0.95, 28.61 ± 0.8, 27.12 ± 2.04, and 24.31 ± 3.98, respectively, in the students. If the educational qualification of a family member is high, the environmental knowledge of the undergraduate increases accordingly.
3.6. Comparison of Existing Level of Environmental Knowledge with Family Income
The environmental knowledge of the respondents significantly varied with their family income (F = 5.387,
p < 0.001). Students from the lowest income (<SLR 10,000.00/month) families showed lesser environmental knowledge (23.21% ± 3) than those with the highest monthly family income (SLR > 40,001) (31.8% ± 0.94). Results of this study highlighted that economic status and the education level of the family influence the student’s knowledge of the environment (
Table 2).
3.7. Awareness of Different Local/Global Environmental Problems
We analyzed the student’s perception of environmental issues using a word cloud analysis. The frequency of words is represented by font size, with the most frequent words being the largest. The major environmental issues identified by students are deforestation, solid waste management, air/water pollution, global warming, and soil erosion (
Figure 3). The main causes identified for these environmental consequences are unawareness, human activities, and loopholes in law and policy. Undergraduates of UP (52.2%) and OUSL (41.2%) have given their priority in the same order, with global environmental issues and perceived global warming as the most serious problems. Then, ozone layer depletion (19% both UP and OUSL), loss of biodiversity (UP 15.2%, OUSL16.5%), acid rains (UP 2.7%, OUSL 7.2%), agricultural pollutants (UP 9.5%, OUSL 10.2%), and depletion of fossil fuels (UP 1.2%, OUSL 4.2%) were recognized as the next priorities.
3.8. Awareness on Global Warming and Its Effects
Part B, item 17 was designed to evaluate the effect of global warming. Most environmental global issues are interconnected and have effects at both the global scale and the regional level. Undergraduates of UP (25.3%) perceived that the most serious effect of global warming was unbalanced natural ecosystems (
Table 3). However, the perception of undergraduates of the OUSL (23.5%) was recognized as sea level rising. The second most serious effect was the rising of sea level for UP students and unbalanced natural ecosystems for OUSL respondents. Both universities perceived the third highest risk as a change of global weather conditions (undergraduates of UP 18% and OUSL 19.3%).
3.9. Awareness of Ozone Layer Depletion (OLD) and Its Effects
Understanding among undergraduates of the effects of ozone layer depletion (OLD) was evaluated from Part B, item 19 of the questionnaire. Both respondents of UP (50.5%) and OUSL (53.8%) perceived an increase in skin cancer as the most serious issue due to the OLD. Undergraduates of UP (26%) perceived that the second serious issue as suppression of the immune system and OUSL undergraduates (17.8%) perceived the increase of eye cataracts as the second serious issue. They both perceived an increase of eye-burning as the least serious problem due to the OLD as UP (2%) and OUSL (5.3%) respectively.
3.10. Awareness of Acid Rain and Its Effects
Evaluation of the perceived knowledge of acid rain and its effects was arranged under Part B in item 21 of the questionnaire. Undergraduates of both universities prioritized acidification of lakes and streams and harm to aquatic ecosystems as the most serious effects (UP 27.8%, OUSL 31%), damage to flora/fauna as the second most serious risk (UP 22.5%, OUSL 26.5%), with degradation and harms the public health categorized as a third risk (UP 22%, 15.8% OUSL).
3.11. The Attitude of the Undergraduates towards the Environment
The importance of the statement “The present generation should ensure that the environment is maintained or enhanced for the benefit of future generations” was recognized through the survey. Undergraduates (UP 79.5%, OUSL 75%) perceived this statement with a high percentage of positive attitudes, responding “agree” or “strongly agreed” to the said statement. However, undergraduates of both universities disagreed or strongly disagreed (UP 75%, OUSL 51.75%) with the statement “Humans have the right to modify the environment to suit their needs”. This implies that undergraduates of UP show a comparatively higher level of positive attitudes toward the environment than OUSL undergraduates. For the statement “Humans must live in harmony with nature to survive” both undergraduate groups show a good attitude, with 79.5 % of UP and 75% OUSL undergraduates responding “agree” or “strongly agree”. Although students exhibited favorable attitudes to the environment, our results show that there is a need for further improvement of environmental attitude because approximately more than 20% are on the unfavorable side.
3.12. The Behavior of the Undergraduates toward the Environment
Understanding pro-environmental concern and behavior is far more complex, as influences include personal and social factors or undetected combinations. Perceived behavior of students regarding the provided statement “I try my best to reduce waste in my daily life” indicates strong support by students in both universities (UP 71%, OUSL 64%). However, undergraduates (UP 20%, OUSL 22%) perceiving that they are neutral to the situation is questionable, both in attitude and behavior. The majority responses to the statement of “I report possible offenses of environmental regulations to authorities” were “neutral” (UP 37%, OUSL33%) and “act not” (UP 21%, OUSL: 20%). Of the undergraduates, 23% of UP responded as “never act on”, while 25% of OUSL responded as “act on.” A small portion of undergraduates responded as “always acting on” (UP 3%, OUSL 9%).
3.13. Perceived Responses to the Most Viable Solutions for Environmental Issues in Sri Lanka
Undergraduates of most disciplines, including engineering (39.6%), science (35.8%), and arts/ social sciences (63.3%) of UP, and science (51.9%), and social sciences (38.3%) of OUSL have recognized the most practical solution for solving environmental issues in Sri Lanka as “Education for raising the awareness of public” (
Table 4). OUSL law undergraduates (37.9%) have perceived that both “Education for raising the awareness of public” and “Legal regulations” were the best options. OUSL engineering students (38.7%) have perceived “Technological improvements” as the best solution as consistent with their technological backgrounds. Undergraduates of management (UP 38.7%, OUSL 43.3%), and Law of UP (91.7%) have perceived that “Legal regulations” were the best answer to solve environmental problems in Sri Lanka. Engineering groups of both universities (UP 26%, OUSL 37.7%) and science undergraduates (29.5%) of UP have recognized their second-best solution as “Legal regulations” while management students (33.3%) of OUSL have recognized their second solution as “Education for raising the awareness of the public.”
3.14. Perceived Solutions for Way to Attract Public Attention towards Environmental Issues in Sri Lanka
As shown in
Table 5, undergraduates of the various disciplines, engineering (50%), science (45.3%), and arts/social sciences (31.9%) of UP and management (50%), engineering (35.8%), sciences (39.2%), and social sciences (33.3%) of the OUSL, have recognized that “TV- Radio” is the most effective activity to attract public attention towards environmental issues in Sri Lanka. Management undergraduates of UP (29%) have perceived that both “Conference and seminar” and articles in “Newspapers, books, and magazines” were good approaches for the dissemination of knowledge on the environment. Law students of UP (50%) selected “Newspaper, book and magazines” as the best approach, while OUSL Law students (38.9%) perceived the best option as “Telephone/fax, the internet, and Email.”
The OUSL adapted open distance learning (ODL) system includes printed materials and electronic media (including video, TV, and online components), which can be recognized as the major delivery components in the teaching–learning process and model [
38]. So, OUSL students mostly preferred such printed and electronic materials for awareness programs. However, some OUSL science undergraduates (38%) have perceived that their second choice is “Campaigns/Activities of non-governmental organizations.”
3.15. Perceived Solutions for the Way of Improving Environmental Policy Implementation
There are different approaches to enhancing the effectiveness of environmental management in Sri Lanka. Engineering (31.2%), Science (32.6%), and Arts/Social Sciences (33.7%) of the UP and Science (39.2%), Law (26.3%), and Engineering (24.5%) of OUSL reported “Broadening Environmental Education” as the most important approach (
Table 6). Law undergraduates of the UP (33.3%) perceived their first preference as “Strengthening policy implementation” and Management undergraduates of UP (25.8%) perceived the priority as “Decentralizing economic decision-making.” Management (31.7%), Law (27.4%), and Social Sciences (30%) undergraduates of OUSL perceived the best approach as “Encouraging public participation.” All respondents agreed that Public participation and awareness were the most effective approaches to conservation of nature.
5. Conclusions
The aim of this study was to explore undergraduate perceptions of major environmental issues on a global scale. The majority of university students (94%) are engaged in environmental-related activities. School education was recognized as a major source of information about environmental awareness, i.e., UP (37.7%) and OUSL (40.5%) hence recommended providing the environmental concepts from primary school levels. This study found that peer discussions on the environment were lacking amongst undergraduates.
Significant differences were found in the environmental literacy level of the respondents according to the course discipline, family income, and the educational background of the family. However, no such differences are recognized between ODL and conventional learners. It would be due to gaining literacy of the environment mainly in the school setup. The existing knowledge level on the environment was less than 40% for all the study samples. Hence, we recommend strengthening the environment-related courses in the formal school curriculum as well as at the university level, with special attention paid to the socioeconomically oppressed and vulnerable students.
Both undergraduate groups (52.2% of UP and 41.2% of OUSL) have identified global warming as the major environmental issue in the world. This could be due to electronics and printed media keeping global warming as the first priority. It is recognized that both undergraduate groups showed a satisfactory level of environmental attitude and behavior, but necessary openings must be made for undergraduates to actively engage in environment-related activities. Undergraduates recognized that the use of TV- Radio is the most effective medium for public awareness of environmental issues. However, few of them utilized said media to gain information on the environment. University students were knowledgeable about electronic online media and educational technologies. Improving awareness in students through mobile and web-learning would be highly effective for future generations. Undergraduates of both institutions repeated on several occasions that the “Expansion of Environmental Education” is the most important approach to sustainable management and protecting the environment. The study revealed that school education is the main source of environmental awareness and the university sector is not highlighted. In addition, undergraduates believed that political intervention seems to be an obstacle to solve environmental issues, especially in Sri Lanka. Finally, the study recommends that future investigations should be formulated with diverse social strata to see the overall picture.