Attitudes and Awareness on Campus

A 1991 survey of 2nd year students revealed substantial and surprising differences between faculties in terms of attitudes towards environmental issues on campus. In general over 80% of students recycle except in Math where the number is 50%. Students were most concerned by air pollution and water pollution and seemed unaware of some pressing concerns such as water conservation which ranked third from last.

A 1992 survey of 3rd year WLU business students found the same perceptions of issues. A surprising 42% of students would take a joint Honours with Business and Environment and Resource Studies if it existed and only 15% were opposed to a mandatory environment course in the Business Admin. degree.

In 1996, a student project looked at attitudes that lead to a sense of community. They developed a checklist that can be used to determine the degree of sustainability within a community. Another project looked at the purchasing attitudes of UW Bookstore customers. A survey indicated that 54% of the bookstore's customers were willing to buy more locally (Canadian products). Still another project looked at the level of awareness amoung students of the recycling systems on campus. They concluded that recycling on campus was functioning well, but improvements could be made in the residences recycling system.

Environmental Attitudes of Second Year Students (1991)
Campus Attitudes (1991)
Environmental Attitudes of Thrid Year WLU Business Students (1992)
Business students and the environment (1993)
Position Paper for Environmental Education in the BBA Program at Wilfred Laurier University (1993)
Moving Toward Community (1996)
Greening the UW Bookstore (1996)
Recycling Education at the University of Waterloo (1996)
Cycling at UW (1997)
Lug-a-Mug Assessment in the Engineering Society C & D (1997)
Recycling Awareness at the University of Waterloo (1999)
Lug-A-Mug: Use in Modern Languages Cafeteria (2001)
Awareness of the West Nile Virus on the University of Waterloo Campus (2002)
Attitudes Surrounding Pesticides in the City of Waterloo (2002)
Environmental Attitudes (2002)
How Far Would You Go to Recycle? (2003)

Projects are available either on the world wide web or in the Dana Porter (Arts) Library, Special Collections

[WATgreen Homepage] [Projects Page]

Last updated: December 10, 2003 plc