Ram Sherry Ann, MacLean Heather L, Tihanyi Deborah, Hannah Liam, Posen I Daniel
University of Toronto, Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering, 35 St George St, Toronto, ON, M8Z 3Y6, Canada.
University of Toronto, Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education and Practice (ISTEP), 55 St. George Street, Room 723, Toronto, ON, M5S 0C9, Canada.
Heliyon. 2023 Oct 4;9(11):e20634. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20634. eCollection 2023 Nov.
Lifestyle choices and consumption play a large role in contributing to per capita greenhouse gas emissions. Certain activities, like fossil fuel ground transportation, long-haul flights, diets with animal products and residential heating and cooling contribute significantly to per capita emissions. There is uncertainty around whether literacy about these actions encourages individuals to act pro-environmentally to reduce personal carbon footprints or to prioritize the most effective actions. This study investigated the relationship between carbon literacy and pro-environmental actions performed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions among undergraduate engineering students at the University of Toronto. The pro-environmental actions by the participants produced an average carbon footprint of 4.8 tCO (within the subset of actions included in the survey) which was lower than the average for residents each of Toronto, Ontario, and Canada overall but still higher than the global target of ∼2.8 tCOe. The carbon literacy by participants was best for high impact actions like ground transportation and dietary choices but less so for air travel and there was mixed awareness for the moderate and low impact actions. For high impact actions and many moderate and low impact actions, participants who thought the action was high impact (even if incorrect) had lower carbon footprints related to the associated activity than those who thought the action was moderate or low impact. The overall relationship between pro-environmental action and carbon literacy was weak. It showed that for high impact actions, there is a slight negative correlation between carbon literacy and personal carbon footprint whereas for moderate and low impact actions, there is a positive correlation.
生活方式的选择和消费在人均温室气体排放中起着很大作用。某些活动，如化石燃料地面交通、长途飞行、含动物产品的饮食以及住宅供暖和制冷，对人均排放有显著贡献。关于这些行为的认知是否会鼓励个人采取环保行动以减少个人碳足迹或优先采取最有效的行动，目前尚不确定。本研究调查了多伦多大学本科工科学生的碳认知与为减少温室气体排放而采取的环保行动之间的关系。参与者的环保行动产生的平均碳足迹为4.8吨二氧化碳当量（在调查所涵盖的行动子集中），低于安大略省多伦多市及加拿大全国居民的平均水平，但仍高于约2.8吨二氧化碳当量的全球目标。参与者对地面交通和饮食选择等高影响行动的碳认知最佳，但对航空旅行的认知较差，对中低影响行动的认知则参差不齐。对于高影响行动以及许多中低影响行动，认为某项行动是高影响的参与者（即使不正确）与该活动相关的碳足迹低于那些认为该行动是中低影响的参与者。环保行动与碳认知之间的总体关系较弱。结果表明，对于高影响行动，碳认知与个人碳足迹之间存在轻微负相关，而对于中低影响行动，则存在正相关。
