THE NEED FOR PUBLIC
EDUCATION IN
COMBATING CLIMATE
CHANGE
By: Ms Joanne Chin Sang
Climate Change
Implications for Caribbean Health,
Agriculture, Ecology, Industries and
Building Codes
November 12 – 14, 2010
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
• Problem Statement
• Background:
Why is there a need for public education?
• Observations and Assessments
• Current Action
• Recommendations
• Summary
PROBLEM STATEMENT
• There is a severe lack of knowledge
among the general public in the
Caribbean on the issue of climate
change and the devastating impact
due to the region’s high vulnerability.
ADVERSE EFFECTS
Bleached
Coral,
Tobago
2010 Flooding
and Forest Fire,
Trinidad
Aftermath of
Hurricane Ivan,
Jamaica
BACKGROUND
Why is there a need for public education?
• Educating the public is strategically imperative when
addressing the challenges of climate change.
- CAISE (2009) stated that the implementation of [Public Engagement with
Science] in the science policy arena has helped to develop and articulate
new understanding of and expectations for the relationship between
science and public in policy making and other contexts.
- Trinidad and Tobago’s Draft Climate Change Policy (2009) considers
education and awareness of national efforts for addressing climate
change to be critical to the success of the implementation of the Policy.
BACKGROUND
Why is there a need for public education?
• A positive correlation exists between
educational attainment and stewardship
towards the environment.
• Public education at a young age may also inspire
future careers in current and emerging scientific
disciplines which can help combat the climate
challenge.
BACKGROUND
Why is there a need for public education?
• The collective outcome of individual actions are
often underestimated:
Planting a tree - A single tree can absorb over 1 tonne of CO2
in its lifetime. Trees properly placed around buildings can
reduce air conditioning needs by 50 %.
Walking with reusable bags - Over 12 million barrels of oil are
used per year to make plastic bags. These bags take over 1000
years each to decompose.
Recycling - Recycled paper requires 64% less energy than
making paper from virgin wood pulp. A single plastic bottle
recycled can conserve enough energy to light a 60W bulb for
up to 6 hours.
OBSERVATIONS AND ASSESSMENTS
• In 2008, NIHERST’s Statistical Unit
conducted a survey of Environmental
Awareness and Practices.
• The survey sample included 2,121
households within all administrative
areas in Trinidad and Tobago.
OBSERVATIONS AND ASSESSMENTS
The majority of
respondents in all
age groups showed
reasonable interest
in the environment.
Households with no
educational
attainment showed
little interest in the
environment.
OBSERVATIONS AND ASSESSMENTS
• 79% of the respondents with primary education
compared to 96% with a bachelor's degree and
above reported an extremely high level of
responsibility towards the environment.
OBSERVATIONS AND ASSESSMENTS
•The majority of households
practise switching off lights
and equipment and
conserving water.
Table 1: Practices of Positive Impact on the Environment
•There is least emphasis on
participating in clean-up
campaigns and donating
money to environmental
causes.
•Practices of recycling/
reusing material, buying
recycled / eco-friendly
products and buying low
energy lighting and
equipment were also
limited.
OBSERVATIONS AND ASSESSMENTS
More than 70% of the respondents with tertiary level
education were very familiar and familiar with the terms
global warming, ozone layer and greenhouse effect.
OBSERVATIONS AND ASSESSMENTS
OBSERVATIONS AND ASSESSMENTS
The data indicates positive correlation between respondent's
educational attainment and familiarity with each of the
climate change related terms.
OBSERVATIONS AND ASSESSMENTS
The multimedia tools, television (59%) and internet
(6%), account for 65% of the source where
environmental information is received by the public.
OBSERVATIONS AND ASSESSMENTS
Most Effective Mechanisms of Public Education
• Research on learning in informal science education programmes
confirms that experiential learning involving the five senses is the most
powerful form of learning.
• Lloyd (2001) yielded the following results from a survey done in the US
to rate the effectiveness of learning environments by students:
Mode of Instruction
Mean Rank
Computer-Based Instruction
3.59
Lectures Supported by Slides
3.54
Videos
3.38
Discussing Current Events
3.09
Lectures without Slides
3.02
Reading Text Book
2.93
Table 2: Student Rating Mode of Instruction
CURRENT ACTION
• NIHERST has sought to address the lack of experiential
learning and interactive education material on climate
change through the development of multimedia
learning resource tools with a Caribbean focus.
• These include:
- 3-part video series on climate change
- 4 interactive exhibits on climate change
- an interactive DVD-ROM on climate change
CURRENT ACTION
Video Documentary on Climate Change
The Basics
The Impacts
Taking Action
CURRENT ACTION
Interactive Exhibits
Where in the World
is Carbon Sandiego?
Greenhouse Blanket
CURRENT ACTION
Interactive Exhibits
Alternative energy
Carbon Footprint
CURRENT ACTION
DVD-ROM on Climate Change
This tools aims to disseminate information on all aspects of climate
change with a particular focus on the Caribbean.
CURRENT ACTION
DVD-ROM on Climate Change
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUIZZES
CURRENT ACTION
DVD-ROM on Climate Change
RECOMMENDATIONS
• It is well known that attitudes and behaviours are
seeded in the formative years of an individual,
making it critical to impart environmental education
at an early age.
• Public education should focus on the personal
impact of climate change in order to invoke strong
emotion to act at the level of the individual.
RECOMMENDATIONS
• General audiences, and youth in particular,
should be exposed to the pressing issues that
we face from climate change through
appealing and effective multimedia
resources. This can be achieved by
development of learning resource tools such
as video documentaries, interactive CD/DVDROMs and hands-on travelling exhibitions.
SUMMARY
• It is expected that the general public of the region
would be encouraged to actively practise energy
efficiency and other preventative and adaptive
measures for climate change as they become aware
of the Caribbean’s vulnerability and impacts on them
personally.
SUMMARY
• Interactive multimedia tools are an effective
means by which this knowledge can be shared,
through both public/informal science education
channels and the formal education system.
• It is important that emphasis be placed on
development and distribution of such tools in
order to fill the gaps in knowledge and
awareness of climate change.
“Treat the earth well. It was not given to
you by your parents, it was loaned to
you by your children.”
-Kenyan Proverb-
THANK YOU!
QUESTIONS???
Joanne Chin Sang
Research Officer
NIHERST
43 – 45 Woodford Street,
Newtown, Port of Spain
Trinidad and Tobago
Tel: (868) 622-7880
Fax: (868) 622-1589
[email protected]