In order to assess the current awareness of issues of environmental sustainability in New Zealand, a country with a long history of education about environmental issues, 192 university students completed an online survey in which the authors attemptedto evaluate attitudes toward sustainability and self-reported sustainable behavior. Students generally showed a low level of environmental awareness, with more students mentioning social issues as the most important global issue. Many students demonstrated pro-environmental attitudes, but electricity use and self-reported pro-sustainable behavior indicated that those attitudes did not reliably translate into sustainable practice. Thus, despite a long history of environmental awareness and education, agroup of citizens presumed likely to be environmentally aware were not particularly knowledgeable about environmental sustainability and did not behave in sustainable ways. This article suggests that strong national leadership, a reduced emphasis on economic growth, and education about direct costs rather than hypothetical environmental effects, will be needed to obtain genuine behavioral change in democratic societies.
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