Influence of education and the media on the awareness of climate change ( Influencia de la educación y la comunicación en la concienciación sobre el cambio climático )

Abstract

Education and the media are two factors that affect a person’s level of awareness of the climate. This study was conducted around these two axes with surveys of 565 secondary, baccalaureate, vocational and university students with the goal of ascertaining whether there is a different degree of awareness according to educational level and to what extent education and the media have contributed to the different sensibilities of these students, who are the future of society. To do so, stratified sampling and principal components, cluster and linear correlation analyses were conducted. The main results include that the group of students with the highest level of awareness and activity regarding climate change are university women, while the media have a heavier influence on youths than education, which should therefore reinforce its role through strategies like environmental educommunication.