Department of Meteorology and Climate Science, San José State University, San José, California, United States of America.
Department of Communication Studies, San José State University, San José, California, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Feb 4;15(2):e0206266. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0206266. eCollection 2020.
Strategies to mitigate climate change often center on clean technologies, such as electric vehicles and solar panels, while the mitigation potential of a quality educational experience is rarely discussed. In this paper, we investigate the long-term impact that an intensive one-year university course had on individual carbon emissions by surveying students at least five years after having taken the course. A majority of course graduates reported pro-environmental decisions (i.e., type of car to buy, food choices) that they attributed at least in part to experiences gained in the course. Furthermore, our carbon footprint analysis suggests that for the average course graduate, these decisions reduced their individual carbon emissions by 2.86 tons of CO2 per year. Surveys and focus group interviews identify that course graduates have developed a strong personal connection to climate change solutions, and this is realized in their daily behaviors and through their professional careers. The paper discusses in more detail the specific components of the course that are believed to be most impactful, and the uncertainties associated with this type of research design. Our analysis also demonstrates that if similar education programs were applied at scale, the potential reductions in carbon emissions would be of similar magnitude to other large-scale mitigation strategies, such as rooftop solar or electric vehicles.
应对气候变化的策略通常集中在清洁技术上，例如电动汽车和太阳能电池板，而高质量教育体验的缓解潜力很少被讨论。在本文中，我们通过调查至少在修完课程五年后的学生，研究了为期一年的密集大学课程对个人碳排放的长期影响。大多数课程毕业生报告了他们认为至少部分归因于课程中获得的经验的环保决策（即购买汽车的类型、食物选择）。此外，我们的碳足迹分析表明，对于普通课程毕业生，这些决策使他们的个人碳排放量每年减少了 2.86 吨二氧化碳。调查和焦点小组访谈表明，课程毕业生与气候变化解决方案建立了强烈的个人联系，这体现在他们的日常行为和职业发展中。本文更详细地讨论了课程中被认为最有影响力的具体内容，以及这种研究设计的不确定性。我们的分析还表明，如果类似的教育计划大规模实施，那么在碳减排方面的潜在效果将与其他大规模缓解策略（如屋顶太阳能或电动汽车）相似。
