Sustainability and Climate Change

When correlated to a broad range of pro-environmental behaviors, biospheric values typically have a positive correlation while egoistic values typically have a negative correlation. However, people who strongly endorse egoistic values might undertake pro-environmental behavior involving attempts to influence others. This article describes a study that assessed the relationship between values and the likelihood of students to attempt to influence their housemates in engaging in pro-environmental behavior. To measure this type of influence behavior, the authors developed the Environmental Social Influence Behavior questionnaire, which was then used with 193 students for this study. Both biospheric and egoistic values correlated with influence behaviors. Biospheric values more strongly related to the likelihood of social-influence actions as egoistic values decreased, except when egoistic values were high. The results are included in a discussion about the connections between values and social-influence behaviors, and current knowledge of the role of egoistic values in environmental actions.

Students play a vital role in achieving sustainability at Institutes of Higher Education (IHEs). Since the framework of Education for Sustainable Development in IHEs is mostly geared toward formal curricula, the importance of informal/extracurricular activities is generally sidelined. By reviewing some of the barriers facing student-led sustainability activities and using the Universiti Sains Malaysia's Kampus Sejahtera initiative as an example, the present study provides a practical analysis of the less-explored question, Do on-campus student-led sustainability initiatives impact off-campus higher level sustainability policies? The current work demonstrates how a project under the Kampus Sejahtera initiative could make an impact at the state level in Malaysia. Using desktop research, document analysis, and interviews with relevant stakeholders, a total of 705 projects posted on social media of which 20 relevant documents were analyzed in search of the impact of student-led campus initiatives on higher level off-campus sustainability policies. The White Coffin campaign was identified as the most successful student initiative at the university to date. Findings revealed the bottom-up approach left a greater mark on the student community due to empowerment and freedom given to students toward achieving the Sustainable Development Agenda. The results of this work provide insight into student-led initiatives and serve as a transfer learning initiative to other IHEs.

Harris County, Texas, is home to thousands of documented sources of environmental pollution. It is also highly vulnerable to impacts from natural hazards, including floods. Building on the Toxics Mobility Inventory (TMI), this article discusses how the authors developed a Toxics Mobility Vulnerability Index (TMVI) and applied it to Harris County to assess potential exposure risks to residents from the transfer of toxic materials during flood events. The TMI concept was operationalized and standardized by combining multiple spatial data sets to simultaneously evaluate various factors in the weather hazards—extant toxics—social vulnerability nexus (e.g., floodplain area, industrial land use, social vulnerability measures). Findings indicated hot spots of vulnerability to hazard-induced toxics transfer concentrated in Northeast Houston US Census tracts in Harris County. The main drivers of increased risk in these areas include the proportion of the area that is impervious surface, consistently high social vulnerabilities, and poor health. However, the most vulnerable areas also have overlapping exposure to both industrial land use and floodplains. Assessing the contribution of a set of industrial land use, social vulnerability, natural hazard, emergency response, and topography variables in a single index on the same spatial scale (e.g., US Census tract) provides detailed information for policy makers tasked with mitigating risk. Applying tools such as the TMVI to highly vulnerable urban and coastal locations may help identify changes needed for preparedness and mitigation planning and highlight areas where limited resources for investment- and policy-related remediation should be focused, both before and after disasters.

Disaster mitigation education—even during the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic—must be carried out to face the problem of flooding. It can be argued that the worst impacts of floods can be prevented by way of a young generation that is armed with Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) and disaster mitigation behaviors acquired through environmental education. This study measured HOTS related to disaster mitigation behaviors of the young generation during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. The research utilized a descriptive methodology, with a data collection technique conducted through online surveys. The collected data was referred to a survey that designed questions to be scaled against a HOTS skill hierarchy, and then assigned a score based on the skill weight in that hierarchy. The results highlight that most of the young generation's HOTS scores were averaged in the very low category (26.88), even though the score for flood disaster mitigation behavior was in the high category (77.40). The low score is mostly attributable to the lack of disaster mitigation education at schools, universities, and for the public in general. The study concluded that the young generation's Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) must be improved. Developing innovative learning tools and disseminating information are a necessary prerequisite for increasing these skills.