essay on environment protection and public awareness

Environmental Awareness Essay

Environmental awareness is discussed and studied by many. However, to make an impact, we must be aware of the problems and solutions. We will start with what we are doing wrong and move toward what needs to be done to improve our environment . Some ways to take care of our environment are to practise recycling, follow proper garbage disposal protocol, avoid using our cars too much and rely more on public transportation instead.

Every day we hear about how our planet is changing. The need for environmental protection arises from the changes in rising carbon dioxide levels, which causes drastic changes in our environment. The rising levels of carbon dioxide result in changes in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide traps heat, which leads to a rise in atmospheric temperature. When a plant dies, more carbon dioxide is released into the air. This can cause more temperature changes and less oxygen in the air. To help slow down this process, we have to take care of the environment before it is too late. Now, let us read BYJU’S essay on environmental awareness and understand the importance of protecting the environment.

Importance of Environmental Awareness

We wish to have a good life for our children. We can ensure our children and future generations enjoy the best quality of life by taking small steps every day towards protecting the planet. Let us read about environmental awareness by referring to BYJU’S environmental awareness essay .

One of the first steps to becoming more environmentally conscious or environmentally aware is by reducing our energy usage. This may also mean driving less polluting vehicles.

Environmental awareness is critical because it can help us to become aware of the impacts on the Earth created by human activities, leading to global warming. It can also help us to create a more sustainable world by promoting renewable resources, such as solar, wind and water .

Causes of Environmental Pollution

The environmental pollution that we face today is caused by many factors. A major cause of environmental pollution is mismanagement of oil production and transportation. Due to this, there are oil spills worldwide that destroy aquatic life. Another issue related to environmental pollution is global warming . The increase in greenhouse gases causes a rise in the planet’s atmospheric temperature. Hence, it is important to be environmentally aware and protect the environment. To understand more about this cause, read BYJU’S environmental problems essay.

To conclude, being environmentally aware is essential. We must ensure not to pollute our precious nature and exploit natural resources. For more kids learning activities, such as GK questions and stories , visit BYJU’S website.

Frequently Asked Questions on Environmental Awareness Essay

Why should we protect the environment.

Environmental protection is so vital that each person can make a difference. Whether it’s recycling, lowering your carbon footprint, or driving electric cars, there are many ways to reduce pollution. By reducing pollution and keeping the Earth healthy, we can continue to live on the planet for years to come.

What are the causes of environmental pollution?

The causes of environmental pollution are many, but the most common is improper disposal of waste and overconsumption. We must take care of our planet and use resources wisely not to leave future generations with a polluted Earth.

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Public awareness and support for environmental protection—A focus on air pollution in peninsular Malaysia

Contributed equally to this work with: Yunn Shin Jocelyne Chin, Laura De Pretto

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Project administration, Writing – original draft

Affiliation School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department of Applied Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia, Mindset Interdisciplinary Centre for Environmental Studies, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia, Department of Psychology, School of Social and Health Sciences, Leeds Trinity University, Leeds, United Kingdom

Affiliations Mindset Interdisciplinary Centre for Environmental Studies, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia, School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia

Roles Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliations School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia, Mindset Interdisciplinary Centre for Environmental Studies, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia

• Yunn Shin Jocelyne Chin, 
• Laura De Pretto, 
• Vivek Thuppil, 
• Matthew J. Ashfold

• Published: March 14, 2019
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212206
• Reader Comments

As in many nations, air pollution linked to rapid industrialization is a public health and environmental concern in Malaysia, especially in cities. Understanding awareness of air pollution and support for environmental protection from the general public is essential for informing governmental approaches to dealing with this problem. This study presents a cross-sectional survey conducted in the Klang Valley and Iskandar conurbations to examine urban Malaysians’ perception, awareness and opinions of air pollution. The survey was conducted in two languages, English and Malay, and administered through the online survey research software, Qualtrics. The survey consisted of three sections, where we collected sociodemographic information, information on the public perception of air quality and the causes of air pollution, information on public awareness of air pollution and its related impacts, and information on attitudes towards environmental protection. Of 214 respondents, over 60% were positive towards the air quality at both study sites despite the presence of harmful levels of air pollution. The air in the Klang Valley was perceived to be slightly more polluted and causing greater health issues. Overall, the majority of respondents were aware that motor vehicles represent the primary pollution source, yet private transport was still the preferred choice of transportation mode. A generally positive approach towards environmental protection emerged from the data. However, participants showed stronger agreement with protection actions that do not involve individual effort. Nonetheless, we found that certain segments of the sample (people owning more than three vehicles per household and those with relatives who suffered from respiratory diseases) were significantly more willing to personally pay for environmental protection compared to others. Implications point to the need for actions for spreading awareness of air pollution to the overall population, especially with regards to its health risks, as well as strategies for increasing the perception of behavioural control, especially with regards to motor vehicles’ usage.

Citation: Chin YSJ, De Pretto L, Thuppil V, Ashfold MJ (2019) Public awareness and support for environmental protection—A focus on air pollution in peninsular Malaysia. PLoS ONE 14(3): e0212206. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212206

Editor: Carla A. Ng, University of Pittsburgh, UNITED STATES

Received: August 7, 2018; Accepted: January 29, 2019; Published: March 14, 2019

Copyright: © 2019 Chin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

Over the last half-century, many countries have transformed from an agrarian-based rural economy towards an industrial-based urban economy [ 1 ]. As a consequence, various human activities in these countries now emit harmful particulates (often defined as PM 10 or PM 2.5 ) and gases (e.g. ozone, nitrogen dioxide) and thus severely pollute the air [ 2 ]. The World Health Organization (WHO) noted that each year poor air quality causes over seven million premature deaths globally, with higher impacts in developing nations [ 3 ], such as in Indonesia [ 4 ], India [ 5 ] and China [ 6 ]. The detrimental impacts on human health strongly correlates with the polluted environment, which subsequently degrades life satisfaction [ 7 ].

As with other developing nations, Malaysia has experienced rapid industrial development and urbanization, and aims to become a developed country by the year 2020 [ 8 ]. This economically beneficial development process, however, has also polluted the atmosphere (see [ 9 ]), especially in conurbations (e.g. [ 10 ]), of which the largest three are the Klang Valley (containing Kuala Lumpur and adjoining cities), Greater Penang, and Iskandar Malaysia (containing Johor Bahru and adjoining cities). These three urban agglomerations contain about a third of the overall country’s population. While comprehensive data on pollutant emissions are limited, mobile sources have been identified as the main contributor (70–75%) to urban air pollution [ 11 , 12 ].

Malaysia also experiences regional air pollution, such as severe ‘haze’ episodes mostly caused by widespread forest fires in Indonesia (e.g. [ 13 ]). The 1997 Southeast Asian haze event was the first such event [ 9 ]. Subsequent regional haze events reoccurred, with the most recent one in 2015 being notably the worst since 1997 [ 14 ]. In addition to releasing harmful pollutants (e.g. [ 15 ]; [ 16 ]), for about two weeks of the two-month period of September–October 2015, the fires producing the haze were also emitting up to 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent per day, surpassing the entire output of the United States for that period [ 17 ]. These environmental effects, combined with socioeconomic and health impacts, have caused international political concern among the member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) over the haze [ 18 , 19 ].

Official statistics for 2013 list respiratory illnesses as the second highest principal cause of both hospitalization (12.4% of cases) and mortality (21.7%) in Malaysia [ 20 ]. There is also growing evidence for the impacts of air pollution in Malaysia on health related to respiratory organs (e.g. [ 21 ]). Furthermore, during haze episodes, a positive correlation has been observed between pollution levels and increases of asthma, acute respiratory infection, and conjunctivitis outpatient visits in several states [ 11 ]. Other lines of evidence show Malaysian commuters exposed to the haze reported substantially greater adverse health experiences, with complaints such as headache, coughing, and breathing difficulties [ 22 ]. The 2015 Southeast Asian haze event had particularly serious health impacts, with smoke exposure during the episode estimated to have resulted in an excess of 6,500 deaths in Malaysia [ 23 ], substantially higher than the 2,300 deaths estimated from the 2006 Southeast Asian haze event [ 23 ].

Pollution is controlled in Malaysia through various environmental policies and laws, such as the Environmental Quality Act 1974, with subsidiary legislation such as the Malaysian Ambient Air Quality Standard 2013, Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulations 2014, and the like. These regulatory approaches act to mitigate and supervise pollutants (including particulates, ozone and nitrogen dioxide) emitted from different sectors [ 24 ]. Despite this regulatory framework, Malaysia still suffers from air pollution. As suggested by Inglehart [ 25 ], the success of government efforts and policies designed to resolve environmental issues can only be achieved with citizens’ support for environmental protection. It follows that government efforts to enhance air quality in Malaysia will be helped by an improved understanding of the awareness and support for environmental protection among the country’s citizens. Studies conducted in Malaysia on air pollution have mainly focused on the environmental and atmospheric aspects of pollution, particularly with a focus on quantifying the level and nature of pollutants [[ 9 ], [ 10 ], rather than the social aspect of pollution investigating topics such as citizens’ attitudes.

The Theory of Planned Behaviour in psychology [ 26 , 27 , 28 ] explains that people’s positive attitudes will lead to good behavioural intentions [ 29 , 30 ]. When considering economic valuation, the environmental attitudes-behaviour link explained in the Theory of Planned Behaviour translates into willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental protection when pro-environmental attitudes are present [ 31 , 32 ]. In various studies, this WTP for environmental protection has been linked to affluence [ 33 , 34 , 35 ]. Awareness of environmental problems has been shown to be positively correlated with factors such as age, education level, health conditions and parenthood in various studies conducted in developing countries such as Indonesia [ 36 ], Turkey [ 37 ], Malaysia [ 38 ] and China [ 39 ].

Studies of public perception, awareness, and attitudes (including WTP) towards air pollution are rare in Malaysia. Thus, this study attempts to explore this topic by understanding the public’s perception of current air pollution, their environmental awareness, and attitudes towards environmental protection. The rationale for conducting this study is that the implementation of any programme or legislation could not be successful without public awareness and support for environmental protection. In short, only citizens who are well aware of the situation and fully dedicated to their right to a quality environment could then drive possible environmental protection practices. More detailed insights gained from this type of study can help to frame and design the most appropriate policy options.

Materials and methods

Participants.

Malaysians from the Klang Valley and Iskandar Malaysia conurbations were targeted as survey subjects because, as residents of among the largest urban and industrial areas in Malaysia, they are likely to be most affected by air pollution from vehicular and industrial emissions. The Klang Valley (KV hereafter), as the metropolitan area of Kuala Lumpur is usually referred to, is near the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and comprises the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and the highly urbanized towns and cities in Selangor state surrounding these federal territories. Iskandar Malaysia (IM hereafter), occupies the southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia facing the island nation of Singapore, and includes the city of Johor Bahru and surrounding municipal areas. Malaysian citizens residing within these survey sites were eligible to participate in the study. The sample includes Malaysian participants from the three major ethnicities, i.e. Malay, Chinese and Indian, present in the survey areas. Non-Malaysian residents were excluded from the study, based on considerations related to methods and implications of the study. Methodologically, targeting Malaysians only helps making the sample more uniform, which means other related variables are controlled. For instance, non-Malaysian individuals could have moved to Malaysia too recently (or plan to stay for a too short amount of time) to be really affected by the air pollution. Or they could have developed their attitudes towards air pollution based on their experience in a country or context where they lived prior to moving to Malaysia. In terms of implications of the study, knowing specifically what Malaysian citizens think is more relevant for policy makers. Malaysians are the group of people being affected and controlled by the government’s regulations, plans and incentives, thus targeting Malaysians only provides the authors with a more applied view on attitudes towards environmental protection, especially with regards to factors related to taxes (as measured by some of the items in the survey).

Instrumentation

The framework of the survey instrument was adapted from our recent study [ 38 ] that was carried out in Malaysia with similar objectives. This survey was created via an online research software, Qualtrics (Qualtrics LLC, Provo, UT, USA) in the form of a self-administered questionnaire. Participants were expected to complete the survey without any guidance provided by the researchers. The online questionnaire was designed in two languages: English and Malay, in order to ensure that targeted respondents were able to comfortably answer the questions with their preferred language.

The survey questionnaire ( S1 and S2 Files) contained three sections. Section A, on Background and demographic descriptors , was composed of 13 questions to obtain sociodemographic information from the respondents. Section B was in two parts. Section (B.1), on Air pollution perception , was composed of 2 questions designed to understand public perceptions on the condition of air quality and the factors causing air pollution in each study site. Section (B.2), on Air pollution awareness , was composed of 9 true/false/no-answer questions to examine public awareness of air pollution and its associations with health, economic costs and governmental pollution management practices. Section C was an Environmental protection attitude questionnaire composed of 18 statements on a 5-point Likert scale, including statements created by the researcher and statements adapted from the International Social Survey Programme ( http://www.issp.org ) 1993 & 2000, World Values Survey ( http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org ) Wave 2, 4, 5 & 6, and De Pretto et al . [ 38 ]. As suggested by Maloney et al . [ 40 ], a scale aiming to investigate attitude should comprise three components–conative, affective and cognitive. Here, the cognitive component consists of 8 statements while affective and conative consist of 5 each, adding up to 18. The intention was to examine general support for environmental protection and willingness-to-pay (WTP) towards environmental protection pertinent to air pollution.

Data collection

The survey was performed for a total of 80 days between November 2016 and January 2017. Prior to the commencement of actual data collection, two rounds of pilot studies were conducted with 20 people. This was to ascertain that all questions could be correctly interpreted and rationally answered. The survey was then distributed via Qualtrics with the use of an anonymous link through social media platforms and personal networks. In total, 327 responses were collected. Each survey took an average of 15 minutes to complete. This research was reviewed and approved by the Science and Engineering Research and Ethics Committee, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus.

Data treatment and analysis

Data was first managed by grouping and cross-checking the recorded responses in Qualtrics. Responses with extensive missing answers (a total of 28) or with all identical answers (a total of 43), were considered as unqualified and removed from further analysis. Questionnaires filled out by respondents who are not residing in KV or IM (a total of 38) were also deemed ineligible. As a screening measure before formally starting the survey potential participants were asked to continue only if they were Malaysian. There was no question pertaining nationality in the survey itself. However, the screening proved not to be error free, as four participants, in answering a question about their ethnicity, declared their (non-Malaysian) nationality instead (confusing “nationality” and “ethnicity”). This information was used to discard these four participants from the study. So in total, 113 questionnaires were discarded. This provided a final sample ( S3 File ) size of 214, with 97 surveys collected from KV (45% of the total respondents) and 117 surveys collected from IM (55%). Data analyses were done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY).

In Section B.1, respondents were required to rank the significance of four factors based on what they think contributes most to the air pollution at their respective place of residence. Their responses were then normalized using the ‘Relative Priority Index’ (RPI) method, which is adapted from De Pretto et al . [ 38 ]. With regards to the awareness scale in Section B.2, a score of 1 was awarded for each right answer, -0.2 for wrong answer and zero for any ‘no-answer’ option chosen. This mild negative scoring system was used to distinguish participants who did not know the answer and those who made an error. An average ‘awareness’ score was then calculated for every respondent. This approach has been adopted in various past research [ 38 39 , 41 ].

In Section C, scores on various statements related to environmental protection attitudes were determined from the 5-point Likert scale answers. A higher score indicates a more positive attitude. Statements 2, 5, 7, 11, 12, 14 and 18, which refer to negative attitudes towards environmental protection, were reverse scored. We initially intended to develop a scale for measuring the level of support for environmental protection. In exploring this possibility we used Cronbach’s alpha, which is “perhaps the most widely used measure of the reliability of a scale” ([ 42 ], p. 99). A lack of homogeneity in the items that comprise a scale cause reliability errors. It is assumed that the items on a scale are a random sample of all possible items that could measure a certain attribute; thus, those items should be highly correlated. While judgment on an ideal value of alpha needs to be made on a case to case basis, it is commonly understood in the social sciences that good alpha values should be between .7 and .9. However, in the current study the pool of items as a whole (after the removal of outliers) had a low internal consistency (α = .494), which would not significantly increase with the deletion of a few items. For this reason, results will be mainly presented based on descriptive (rather than inferential) statistics.

Nonetheless, 5 out of the 18 items, which were meant to represent the conative component of the attitude scale (denoting behavioural intentions), possessed adequate reliability (α = .62). This level of alpha, which is greater than .6, is acceptable for measures used for the first time in a new culture [ 43 ]. Our conative component is composed of items referring to the willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental protection. Two of the items were derived from the World Value Survey (WVS), Wave 4 and Wave 5, (2000–2004; 2005–2009), two from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP, 1993), and one was self-developed. The items derived from WVS and ISSP were slightly modified in order to adapt them to the Malaysian socio-cultural context. They were administered for the first time to a Malaysian sample as a cluster. Items included “I do not mind paying more money to use better quality gasoline which leads to less pollution” and “I am willing to accept cuts in my standard of living in order to protect the environment” (see Table 1 for the complete list of items). In addition to being used in a new culture for the first time, the scale is composed of only five items. Cortina [ 44 ] (as cited in [ 45 ]), stated that a low number of items in a scale will lead to a low Cronbach’s alpha value. We believe that a Cronbach’s alpha of .62 is acceptable for a scale composed of five items, using our judgment consistently with the recommendations provided by Streiner [ 42 ]. Thus, the five items composing WTP were treated as a scale, and, with regards to this scale, inferential statistics was used in addition to descriptive statistics to produce more insightful results.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212206.t001

The associations of all demographic factors (the independent variables) on awareness and attitude scores were analysed using a univariate analysis in the form of t-tests, chi-squared tests of association or ANOVA tests.

Characteristics of respondents

The sample characteristics are summarized in Table 2 . Most of the respondents were between 21–55 years old (68.2%), equipped with a tertiary educational attainment (65.4%), and worked in non-environmental private industry (55.7%). The employment status of the entire sample was primarily student (46.3%) or full-time worker (30.8%). In terms of household monthly income, over 50% of the sample reported an amount of ≤ Malaysian Ringgit 5000 per month. Household vehicle ownership was high among the entire sample (95.6%), with 80.7% of vehicles using petrol as fuel. The proportion of Chinese, Malay and Indian races was approximately 5:4:1.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212206.t002

The populations from KV and IM differed significantly in only two demographic parameters. Respondents from KV tend to have higher education level and were more likely to have more vehicles in the household, as compared to IM’s respondents. Other variables such as employment status, income, age and parenthood did not vary significantly between the two populations.

Health condition in relation to air pollution

Respondents from IM reported significantly fewer cases of air pollution-caused respiratory disease among the household (6.8% vs 16.5%; p < .05; Table 2 ). IM respondents also reported a smaller percentage of ‘family members being hospitalized due to air pollution’ as compared to KV (10.3% vs 15.5%), though this difference was not statistically significant (p > .05).

Perception of current air quality

Most respondents rated the atmospheric condition at their residential areas as ‘somewhat polluted but causes no harm’, with 66% from IM and 65% from KV being positive towards the air quality ( Fig 1 ). However, there was a slight increase of respondents from KV who perceived their air as ‘severely polluted’ (11%) compared to IM (5%).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212206.g001

Vulnerability to air pollution might have influenced perception in respondents. For example, respondents who tend to report the atmospheric condition as ‘severely polluted’ were more likely to have children (χ 2 = 12.272, df = 3, p = .007; Fig 2a ). Respondents who stated that they or their family members have had respiratory disease were more likely to view air quality as ‘somewhat polluted and causes harm’ and ‘severely polluted’ (χ 2 = 5.355, df = 3, p = 0.148; Fig 2b ), and those being hospitalized showed a larger and statistically significant difference in perception of air quality (χ 2 = 15.105, df = 3, p = 0.002; Fig 2c ).

Perception levels reported among levels of (a) parenthood, (b) sickness and (c) hospitalization; x-axis indicates percentage.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212206.g002

Perception of air pollution factors

To obtain a more comprehensive picture of how respondents perceive the air quality, respondents were asked to rank which factor they believed contributes the most to the air pollution at their residential areas. Results showed that respondents in both KV and IM ranked ‘motor vehicle emissions’ as the most significant contributor (RPI = 100), ‘industrial emissions’ as the second highest factor (RPI = 81.67/81.25 in KV and IM respectively), followed closely by ‘open burning’ (RPI = 79.44/79.91), and, with much lower priority, ‘haze episode’ (RPI = 62.22/52.23). Overall, the pattern of the respondents’ choice was not significantly different in the two study sites (χ 2 = 0.539, df = 212, p > .05; Fig 3 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212206.g003

Awareness of air pollution related information

The ‘awareness of air pollution’ was defined by the awareness score obtained from the respondents. The mean (±SD) awareness score of the entire sample was 4.1 ± 1.7 (respondents’ score range = 0 to 9, due to the negative scoring applied for incorrect answers). The awareness scores among different demographic variables was statistically tested and is summarized in Table 3 . There was no significant difference among the awareness level of populations from KV and IM (p > .05, Table 3 ). Female respondents had significantly lower awareness than males (3.8 ± 1.7 vs. 4.3 ± 1.6, p < .05). Factors such as age, income, employment sector, education level, income and parenthood had no significant effect on awareness level. Respondents who had respiratory disease or had been hospitalized showed no significant difference in overall awareness level compared to those who did not (p > .05, Table 3 ). However, when we analysed the sample responses against a false statement “respiratory diseases were the leading cause of death among Malaysians”, we found similar patterns among both aforementioned subsamples, with a higher percentage of them believing respiratory diseases were the primary lethal cause in Malaysia ( Fig 4 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212206.t003

Respondents who “have respiratory disease” or “have been hospitalized” due to air pollution were more likely to think that this false statement is true.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212206.g004

Opinions on environmental protection

Attitude statements consisted of a mix of statements that were pro environmental protection and statements that placed environmental protection as unimportant or secondary to something else, such as economic growth ( Fig 5a, 5b and 5c ). The mean scores for the statements for environmental protection were all greater than 3.0 (neutral), with the strongest agreement observed for general statements, such as “Educating younger generations about the knowledge of environmental protection (e.g. encourage carpool) is important” (mean = 4.37), or “Taking care of the environment is something I really care about” (mean = 3.98). More than 80 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with both of these statements ( Fig 5a ). Mean scores that were closest to neutral were statements that required individual action on the part of the respondent, such as “I often cut back on driving a car for environmental reasons” (mean = 3.01), or “I do not mind an increase in taxes if the extra money is used to prevent further atmospheric pollution” (mean = 3.01), where less than 40 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with these statements ( Fig 5c ). Another statement that required individual action had substantially higher agreement from respondents, “I would contribute part of my income if I were certain that the money would be used to prevent atmospheric pollution” (mean = 3.52), with nearly 60 percent of respondents either agreeing or strongly agreeing with it ( Fig 5c ).

The proportion of participant responses for each question is shown in the chart. The statements against environmental protection (b) were reverse scored, with the strongly disagree response correlating with the highest pro-environmental opinion. Fig 5. Mean pro-environmental scores are shown next to each question on a scale of 1–5. Pro-environmental opinions are indicated by shades of green in all panels.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212206.g005

There was broader variation in responses to statements that were against environmental protection, which were reverse scored when calculating mean pro-environmental opinion scores. The lowest agreement and therefore highest pro-environmental scores were seen in responses to questions that downplayed environmental protection, such as “In order to protect the environment, Malaysia needs economic growth” (mean = 3.40) and “Malaysia’s government has to reduce atmospheric pollution, but it should not cost me any money” (mean = 3.40), with less than 25 percent of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with either of these statements ( Fig 5b ). The highest agreement and therefore lowest pro-environmental scores were seen in responses to statements that framed these issues as beyond the scope of an individual’s action, such as “Malaysians worry too much about industrial development polluting the atmosphere and degrading human’s health” (mean = 2.65) and “Nothing can be done by me or my family / friends to improve the current atmospheric situation” (mean = 2.36), with a majority of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with these statements ( Fig 5b ).

Willingness To Pay for environmental protection

As explained in the materials and methods section, we defined the items clustered among the initially intended conative component of a potential attitude scale as ‘willingness-to-pay’ (WTP hereafter) for air pollution prevention control. As mentioned previously, these items had properties that allowed it to be treated as a scale ( Fig 5c ). Thus, the sample’s levels of WTP were explored as follows. The mean (±SD) WTP score of the entire sample was 3.3 ± 0.6 (range 1–4.8). The WTP level among different demographic variables was summarized in Table 4 and statistically tested. Respondents who owned more than three vehicles in their household showed a significantly higher WTP (4.1 ± 0.3, p < .05); respondents who had family members who suffered from respiratory disease had significantly higher WTP compared with those who did not (3.3 ± 0.7 vs 3.0 ± 0.5, p < .05). Other demographic factors such as gender, age, education level, income, and parenthood did not have a significant effect on the level of WTP. We also found no significant relationship between WTP and awareness level, nor between WTP and the perception of air quality.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212206.t004

This study examined urban Malaysians’ perceptions of air pollution at their place of residence, their awareness of the causes and impacts of air pollution, their opinions on air pollution, and their willingness to pay for environmental protection. Around two thirds of respondents from both KV and IM were generally positive about air quality where they live, believing the air to be either “not polluted at all” or “somewhat polluted but causes no harm”. This is somewhat surprising because unhealthy air appears to be globally pervasive [ 46 ], and in Malaysia, there is particularly strong evidence of harmful levels of pollution in KV (e.g. [ 10 ]; [ 47 ]; [ 48 ]). As such, many Malaysian citizens may not be perceiving a real threat to their health from air pollution. As outlined by Bickerstaff [ 49 ], risk perception is influenced by complex social, political and cultural processes, and so further work to understand associated impacts on behaviours related to air pollution would be valuable. Of the minority of respondents who did perceive a harm from air pollution, those in KV had a higher tendency to report the air as severely polluted, perhaps reflecting the reality of higher pollution levels in the more populous KV. Similarly, Awang et al . [ 9 ] pointed out that particulate pollution has been an issue in KV for decades, with measurements from the early 1980s showing particulate matter to be above standard limits 99% of the time in one measurement site in KV.

We also attempted to determine public perceptions of the factors contributing to the air pollution in KV and IM. The two populations had similar perceptions of ‘motor vehicle emissions’ as the major contributing factor, followed by industrial emissions, and other burning sources such as local burning and forest fires. This perception is consistent with Makmom Abdullah et al . [ 47 ] and official statistics [ 12 ], which suggest that motor vehicles are the major source of airborne pollutants in Malaysia. Nevertheless, despite most respondents (65%) believing that pollution from vehicles endangers health, only a minority (31%) reported often reducing driving for environmental reasons. Bazrbachi et al . [ 31 ] reported that most Malaysians who rejected the idea of using public transport and would rather drive private vehicles had an unfavourable impression of the accessibility and efficiency of local public transportation. These new findings highlight the potential of improved public transport options in combating urban air pollution in Malaysia.

We found perceptions of air pollution to be influenced by aspects of vulnerability to its health impacts. For example, respondents with children were more likely to perceive air as severely polluted. This may relate to the intuitive parental reaction that recognises the long-term effects of local air pollution, which is more pertinent to children [ 50 ] and thus increase perceptions of a health-related problem [ 7 ]. In addition, respondents whose family members were suffering from respiratory disease were more likely to perceive conditions as harmful and more likely to believe (incorrectly) that respiratory disease is the leading cause of death among Malaysians. Together, these findings suggest direct experience among Malaysians of health problems perceived to be caused by air pollution is an important determinant of perceptions of air pollution. They are consistent with work (e.g. [ 49 ]) emphasizing the centrality of practical everyday experiences in shaping such perceptions.

We found that while male respondents in this study showed a statistically significant higher awareness of air pollution compared to female respondents, the magnitude of the difference was extremely small. The literature in this area is contradictory, with some findings that men are likely to be more scientifically literate and knowledgeable than women [ 51 , 52 ] and other studies reporting that females tend to have higher awareness towards environmental issues [ 53 , 54 ]. We found some effect of age on awareness level, but no effect from levels of education and income. Studies such as Qian et al . [ 41 ] and Rotko et al . [ 55 ] support this finding, yet others contain opposing results [ 56 , 57 ]. This lack of clarity in the relationship between awareness level and gender, education, age and income could be due to the different control of demographic background of research subjects and a lack of a uniform assessment criteria for awareness level among different studies. Thus, further research is needed to help understand detailed factors shaping people’s awareness.

We found that respondents with experience of respiratory illness in their family were more willing to pay to protect the atmosphere compared with those without. This result corroborates previous studies, which found that respondents with pollution-related health problems were more eager to improve air quality [ 31 , 58 ]. It is worth noting that a vast majority of the people surveyed (87%) agreed that educating younger generations about the knowledge of environmental protection is highly important. In relation to this, our results suggest that a relation between awareness of environmental issues (which could be gained through education) and opinions in favour of environmental protection does exist, but is rather weak. This is consistent with previous studies that, applying the theory of planned behaviour [ 28 ] to environmental problems, found gaps both in the relation between awareness and attitude [ 38 , 59 ] and between attitude and behaviour [ 60 , 61 , 62 ], suggesting the investigation of additional variables that could fill the gaps.

As mentioned in the results, while the respondents were largely in agreement with a statement that they deeply cared about the environment (“Taking care of the environment is something I really care about”) and were understanding that actions to combat air pollution would not come without some personal cost (“Malaysia’s government has to reduce atmospheric pollution but it should not cost me any money”), they were also sceptical of actions that could be taken at an individual level to meaningfully combat air pollution (“Nothing can be done by me or my family / friends to improve the current atmospheric situation”). Furthermore, over 50% of the sample also indicated a lack of initiative unless everyone does the same (“There is no point in doing what I can for the environment unless everyone does the same”). This shows that the public has a tendency to feel that their actions have little or no impact as far as reducing air pollution is concerned and this perceived low level of control over environmental problems may discourage affected populations from becoming part of the solution. The role of perceived behavioural control on behavioural intentions and on actual behaviour is well established in the literature [ 63 , 64 ], and, more specifically, the association of air pollution with perceived ability to deal with the problem has also been demonstrated in several studies (e.g. [ 65 ]; [ 66 ]).

We also asked questions on the relationship between economic growth and environmental protection. We found a large minority (45%) overtly prioritizing economic growth over environmental protection (“The economic growth of Malaysia is currently more important than environmental protection”) and a larger number of respondents (55%) agreeing or strongly agreeing that “In order to protect the environment, Malaysia needs economic growth”. We also found significant support (52% agreeing or strongly agreeing) for the statement “Protecting the environment should be given priority, even if it causes slower economic growth and some loss of jobs”, and analogously, significant disagreement (47%, similar to [ 38 ]) with the statement “Haze is a fair price to pay for economic development”. Overall this is a mixed set of responses, but there appears to be at least some support for the idea that Malaysia’s economic development demands some environmental sacrifices. In this context Malaysia is delicately positioned, with its citizens having experienced rapid development over several decades, but with recent economic instability causing doubts about achieving a long-stated goal of ‘developed nation’ status by 2020 [ 67 ]. Further studies will be necessary to assess the importance of changing economic conditions for such attitudes, and also to assess how Malaysian respondents compare with those from other countries (e.g. [ 34 ]; [ 68 ]).

Despite some respondents’ emphasis on economic growth, many are willing to pay for environmental (here specifically atmospheric) protection. Overall, more than half of the respondents are willing to contribute part of their income (59%), willing to pay more money for cleaner petrol (55%), and willing to accept cuts in their living standard for the sake of environmental protection (51%). These findings are very encouraging for the future success of implementing various environmental policies. However, willingness-to-pay was substantially reduced in the form of tax payment, indicating selective preferences in the nature of payment mechanisms [ 69 , 70 ]. Among the entire sample, only 38% do not mind the government increasing taxes for the purpose of preventing future air pollution. This lower WTP in the form of a tax may be linked to the implementation of a Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2015 [ 71 ]. The tax implemented by the Malaysian government in 2013 was unpopular and one of the driving forces behind the victory of the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition, which has now scrapped the tax, in the 2018 Malaysian General Election. Further, it has been shown that citizens’ compliance in paying their tax obligations is greater if there is a perception that their taxes will be used wisely [ 72 ] and transparency in government engenders greater trust from citizens. Political events of recent years in Malaysia, such as the 1MDB scandal, may have reduced public faith in government [ 73 ], which is reflected in the lower willingness-to-pay towards environmental protection through government taxation. However, if public perception towards the government changes with regards to the newly elected administration, it may be possible that WTP in this context will increase to match WTP in the other contexts.

Despite rigorous design, this survey still has several limitations. For instance, the categorization of survey sample requires further refinement. In this study, participants are only from large urban areas, and the sample is unlikely to be socio-economically representative of the overall population, as nearly 74% of participants had received some tertiary education and 56% worked in private industry. Thus, application of this study’s findings to other groups in Malaysia with different educational backgrounds, professional degrees and other areas should be done with caution, and further country-wide research is required to better understand this wider context. Moreover, open-ended questions need to be incorporated to reveal new problems and deepen the understanding of the respondents’ attitudes towards current air quality. For example, the reason why respondents are not willing to pay more taxes for cleaner air may relate to multiple reasons, such as political views, health conditions, social psychological pressure, and other factors. These need to be addressed more comprehensively in future studies. In the present study, attitudes towards environmental protection have been analysed mainly descriptively because of the lack of internal consistency of the clustered attitude items, which therefore could not form a reliable scale. Further studies should consider the use of new items, specifically developed for and tested in the Malaysian context, in order to develop a Malaysian scale for support of environmental protection.

Supporting information

S1 file. survey (english)..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212206.s001

S2 File. Survey (Bahasa Melayu).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212206.s002

S3 File. Raw dataset with responses to Section A (containing personal information on age, ethnicity, gender, income, health conditions etc.) removed to avoid the risk of breaching confidentiality.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212206.s003

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the voluntary participation of all respondents. We thank Stephen Acreman for his helpful comments on the manuscript.

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Essay on Environmental Awareness

Students are often asked to write an essay on Environmental Awareness in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Environmental Awareness

Understanding environmental awareness.

Environmental awareness means knowing about the natural world and how our actions affect it. It’s like being a good friend to the Earth. We learn what helps or hurts our planet, like recycling helps but pollution hurts.

Why It Matters

Caring for the environment is important because we all need clean air, water, and soil to live. If we don’t look after the Earth, our health and the health of animals and plants can suffer.

What We Can Do

Everyone can help the environment. Simple acts like turning off lights, saving water, and planting trees make a big difference. It starts with each of us doing our part.

250 Words Essay on Environmental Awareness

What is environmental awareness.

Environmental awareness is understanding the importance of looking after our planet. It means knowing how our actions can hurt or help the Earth. Just like we keep our homes clean, we need to keep our environment clean too.

Our environment gives us air to breathe, water to drink, and food to eat. If we do not take care of it, we can face big problems like dirty air, unsafe water, and a shortage of food. Animals and plants also suffer if we do not look after their homes.

How to Help

We can all do simple things to help. Turning off lights when we leave a room saves energy. Walking or biking instead of using a car reduces air pollution. Recycling things like paper, plastic, and glass means less trash in landfills. Planting trees helps because trees clean the air.

Learning and Sharing

Learning about the environment is fun. We can read books, watch documentaries, or go on nature walks. Sharing what we learn with friends and family can help them understand too. When more people know about the importance of the environment, they can start making changes as well.

Being aware of the environment is very important. It’s about knowing that every little thing we do can help or harm our planet. By making better choices every day, we can all help to keep our environment safe and healthy for ourselves and for the animals and plants that share our world.

500 Words Essay on Environmental Awareness

Environmental awareness is about understanding the world around us and knowing how our actions can affect it. It’s like being a good friend to the Earth. We learn how to take care of nature, the air, the water, and all the living things, including people, animals, and plants. By being aware, we make sure our planet stays healthy and beautiful for everyone.

Why is Environmental Awareness Important?

Our planet is the only home we have, and it gives us everything we need to live: food, water, and a place to stay. But sometimes, we use too much, waste things, or harm nature by accident. When we know about the environment, we can make better choices, like recycling or saving water. This helps our Earth last longer and keeps it a safe place for animals and plants, too.

How to Learn About the Environment

School is a great place to start learning about the environment. Teachers can show us how to take care of the Earth. We can also read books, watch movies, or use the internet to find out more. Talking with family and friends about what we learn is a good way to spread awareness.

Simple Ways to Help the Environment

There are many easy things we can do to help. Turning off lights when we leave a room saves energy. Walking or biking instead of asking for a ride in a car can help keep the air clean. We can also plant trees and flowers to give homes to birds and insects. Using less plastic by carrying a reusable water bottle or bag helps keep our oceans and rivers clean.

Environmental Awareness at Home

At home, we can do a lot to be kind to the Earth. Saving water by taking shorter showers, recycling paper, cans, and bottles, and not wasting food are simple habits that make a big difference. We can also ask our families to buy things that are good for the environment, like products that can be used again or are made without hurting nature.

Environmental Awareness at School

In school, we can start clubs to learn more about the environment and do projects to help. We can also make sure our schools recycle and use resources wisely. Even small actions, like picking up trash on the playground, show that we care for our surroundings.

Sharing What We Know

The more we talk about the environment, the more people will understand how important it is. We can share what we know with others by making posters, writing stories, or even putting on plays. When we all work together, we can make a big change for the better.

In conclusion, environmental awareness is about being a good friend to our planet. It means learning how the Earth works and how we can take care of it. By doing simple things at home and school, and sharing what we learn, we can help make sure the Earth stays a happy and healthy place for all living things.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Environment Then And Now
• Essay on Environment Issues
• Essay on Bucket List

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News from the Columbia Climate School

The Growing Awareness and Prominence of Environmental Sustainability

Steve Cohen

I know that there is a great deal of ideological intensity in our culture today: our attention is constantly drawn to distinctions between red states and blue states and between conservatives and liberals. While conservatives often oppose government action to remedy problems, most environmental problems are plain to see, and there is more consensus than you’d think on the need to keep our air, water, and land free of poisons. We agree there is a problem, we don’t always agree on the solution.

Throughout the 21st century Gallup has asked its respondents: How much do you personally worry about the quality of the environment? In March of 2001, 77% responded: “a great deal” or a “fair amount” and 22% said “only a little” or “not at all.” In 2021, the response was 75%-24%, and this past March, 71%-28%. Given the margin of error in those surveys, those responses are substantively the same—most Americans are worried about environmental quality. In 2001, 57% of those sampled thought the environment was getting worse, and 36% thought it was getting better. This past spring, 59% thought it was getting worse, and 35% thought it was getting better. The stability of these perceptions of the environment is striking. Americans in the 21st century worry about the environment, but unlike 20th century Americans, they no longer identify with environmentalism.

Gallup paints a picture of an American electorate that does not consider itself to be “environmentalists”—57% rejected that label in 2022. But at one time, many more Americans considered themselves environmentalists. In 1989, 76% said they were environmentalists, and only 20% said they weren’t. What changed? People still see the problem, but they have come to mistrust the solutions proposed by “environmentalists.” The image of environmentalism has suffered as environmental advocacy left the political center and became a left-wing issue. But paradoxically, most Americans care about environmental quality and for a long time have worried that it is getting worse . Environmentalism and environmental advocacy have become victims of America’s polarization politics.

People continue to worry about the environment, but is environmental quality actually getting worse? The issue is complicated. Some environmental resources, such as America’s air and water, are cleaner today than they were in 1970 when we established EPA. We have moved millions of people out of pathways of exposure to toxic waste. But biodiversity is threatened, invasive species have increased, and the climate is being altered. Drinking water and sewage infrastructure has been allowed to deteriorate. I think Americans are correct to worry that the environment is getting worse. More to the point, when we ignore the environment, it gets worse; when we apply attention, ingenuity, and new technology to its care, it gets better. Despite many more motor vehicles in 2022 than in 1970, air pollution from motor vehicles is lower today than it was 50 years ago.

But what happened to environmentalism? What went wrong? In my view, there have been two forces at work here. One is corporate and conservative propaganda arguing that regulation harms the economy. That is the “job-killing regulation” argument. The fact that regulation tends to create jobs as industry complies with new standards seems to be ignored. The second force that has harmed environmentalism is self-inflicted. It’s the arrogant scolding attitude of some environmentalists: Shaming families for buying SUVs. Telling people that their consuming behaviors are unethical. The first environmentalists were conservationists aiming to preserve forests and lands for posterity but also for hunting and fishing. With over six million members, the National Wildlife Federation is America’s largest environmental organization. It was founded in the 1930s, at the height of the Great Depression. Its founders and many of its members were and are hunters and anglers. Vegetarian environmentalists came a little later.

What is needed is a big-tent version of environmentalism comprised of rural hunters and anglers, environmental justice advocates, and environmentalists willing to work with people who share environmental values but differ on other issues. That coalition is sitting there, ready to activate.

While the last few decades have made environmental protection a more partisan issue, there is strong evidence that young liberals and conservatives are more concerned about the environment than older conservatives. Cary Funk and Brian Kennedy of the Pew Research Center wrote in 2020 that:

“There is strong consensus among Democrats that the federal government is doing too little on key aspects of the environment, such as protecting water and air quality and reducing the effects of climate change. But among Republicans, there are sizable differences in views by generation. Millennial and younger Republicans – adults born in or after 1981 – are more likely than Republicans in the Baby Boomer or older generations to think government efforts to reduce climate change are insufficient (52% vs. 31%).”

Young conservatives do not buy the solutions to environmental problems proposed by liberals and supported by young progressives, but they understand the problem. Part of the reason for this growing awareness is that senior-level private sector managers have begun to see both the risk and opportunity in environmental problems. The opportunity lies in the new products and services that are finding market appeal because they appeal to environmental values. Investors are devoting capital to electric vehicles, sustainable fashion, physical and nutritional wellness, nature excursions, and sustainable supply chains. Corporations are conducting life cycle analyses of their products to identify places to reduce waste, costs, and environmental impacts. Agri-businesses like Land O’Lakes are using automation, artificial intelligence, and satellite data to precisely calibrate the water, fertilizer, and pesticides they apply to crops—reducing pollution run-off while saving massive amounts of money.

Investors have begun to see the financial risks posed by environmental degradation. They are demanding that companies analyze and disclose those risks, and the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission is proposing a complex rule governing the requirements for soon-to-be-mandated climate risk disclosures . Extreme weather, sea level rise, and shifting climates are impacting agriculture, manufacturing, shipping, and virtually all economic activities. Young conservatives are unlikely to reject an assignment from their CEOs to analyze and discuss climate risk. CEOs need to understand that risk since it has started to hit their bottom line and investors need to understand environmental risk to assess the financial risk of their investments.

What we are seeing is that environmental awareness has come full circle. In the 1970s and 1980s, preventing pollution was a consensus issue since pollution was observable and obviously dangerous. It is returning to consensus status for the same reason. In the later part of the 20th century, air, water, and toxics regulation stimulated private sector technological innovation: water filtration, sewage treatment, waste-to-energy, catalytic converter, and stack scrubber technologies enabled cost-effective compliance with environmental rules. Climate policy is starting to do the same thing in the 21st century. Advances in renewable energy and battery technologies are occurring with growing frequency. Electric vehicles are no longer visionary prototypes but mass market production models.

Anyone paying attention realizes we are on a more crowded and polluted planet. If we are to continue to grow our economies, we need to pay greater attention to the environmental impact of our production and consumption. The field of sustainability management has been developed to ensure we learn how to do that, and the entire field is built on a growing awareness of the needs of environmental sustainability.

Objective conditions have always been the foundation of environmental policy. You could see and smell polluted air, water, and toxic waste. Moreover, cause and effect could also be observed: You could see the pipes and smokestacks spewing out poison. Climate change and biodiversity are more subtle and less easily observable problems, and, unlike many 20th-century issues, the cause and effect are global and beyond the reach of sovereign states. Nevertheless, the impacts predicted by climate modelers decades ago can now be seen, and the risks posed are being internalized by capital markets resulting in the demand for corporate climate disclosure. Ideological efforts to oppose these disclosures will have the same impact as a move to end financial accounting might have: no impact whatsoever. Growing environmental threats have increased environmental awareness throughout society and increased the prominence of our efforts to ensure that economic growth is accomplished with as little environmental impact as possible.

Views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Columbia Climate School, Earth Institute or Columbia University.

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Protect the environment, prevent pandemics, ‘nature is sending us a clear message’

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On this year’s World Environment Day , celebrated on June 5, the UN is drawing links between the health of the planet, and human health, and highlighting the importance of protecting biodiversity, the system that supports life.

“At least 70 per cent of emerging infectious diseases” such as COVID-19 , are crossing from the wild, to people, and “transformative actions are urgently required to protect environment and human rights”. This was the message from David Boyd, the independent UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, ahead of this year’s Day.

Mr. Boyd added that countries should take urgent action to protect the environment and stop climate disruption, biodiversity loss, toxic pollution and diseases that jump from animals to humans.

Get the message

UN chief António Guterres said in his message that “nature is sending us a clear message. We are harming the natural world, to our own detriment.”

He noted that habitat degradation and biodiversity loss were accelerating, “climate disruption is getting worse…To care for humanity, we must care for nature.”

Time for natureSince World Environment Day was launched in 1974, it has grown to become the UN’s biggest annual event, advocating for environmental action and raising worldwide awareness of the need to increase protection for the planet’s long-term survival.

The 2020 edition, which has the tagline “Time for Nature”, is being hosted by Colombia, which is organizing several events, streamed live, which can be accessed here, or on social media. The theme is biodiversity protection, at a time when one million animal and plant species are believed to be on the brink of extinction.

This year’s Day inevitably references the global COVID-19 health crisis, noting that, with the population doubling over the past 50 years, and the global economy growing fourfold over the same period, the delicate balance of nature has been disrupted, creating ideal conditions for pathogens, such as COVID-19, to spread.

As countries open up, and governments approve stimulus packages to support job creation, poverty reduction, development and economic growth, the UN Environment Programme ( UNEP ), is urging them to “build back better”.

This involves capturing opportunities for green investment — such as renewable energy, smart housing, green public procurement, and public transport — guided by the principles and standards of sustainable production and consumption. 

A failure to do so, warns UNEP, and an attempted return to business as usual, risks seeing inequalities rising even further, and a worsening of the degradation of the planet, at a time when one million animal and plant species are on the brink of extinction. 

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• Environmental Protection Essay

Essay on Environmental Protection

Environmental protection is improving, defending, and maintaining the quality of the environment. The main methods of environmental protection are recycling, reusing, and reducing; however, some other methods such as Green Energy production, green transportation development, and eco-friendly industrialization also exist. Not only residents but also businesses and industries should play their basic roles to improve the environment.

The History of Environmental Protection  

Humankind has always been concerned about the environment. The ancient Greeks were the first to develop environmental philosophy, and they were followed by other major civilizations such as India and China. In more recent times, the concern for the environment has increased because of growing awareness of the ecological crisis. The Club of Rome, a think tank, was among the first to warn the world about the dangers of overpopulation and pollution in its report "The Limits to Growth" (1972).

In the early days of environmentalism, people thought that the best way to protect nature was to set aside areas where humans would not disturb the environment. This approach, which is known as preservation, was given a major boost in the United States with the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916.

The modern environmental movement began in the 1960s when concerns about the negative impact of humans on the environment began to increase. In response to these concerns, governments around the world began to pass legislation to protect the environment. In the United States, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established in 1970.

The Principles of Environmental Protection

There are three fundamental principles of environmental protection:

The precautionary principle: This principle states that if an activity has the potential to cause harm to the environment, then steps should be taken to prevent that harm even if there is no clear evidence that the activity is damaging.

The polluter pays principle: This states that the party responsible for causing pollution should be held responsible for cleaning it up.

The public right to know the principle: This principle states that the public has a right to know about any potential threats to the environment and what is being done to address them.

The goals of Environmental Protection

There are three main goals of environmental protection:

To protect human health: This is the most important goal of environmental protection because humans cannot survive without a healthy environment.

To protect ecosystems: Ecosystems are the foundation of life on Earth, and they provide many benefits to humans, such as clean air and water, food, and fiber.

To promote sustainable development: Sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Environmental protection is a practice that aims to protect the natural environment from the hands of individuals, organizations, and governments. It is the need of the hour because the Earth's environment is deteriorating every day, and the reasons are human beings. They are mishandling the Earth's environment to fulfill their needs. If it goes like this, then it is difficult to say that the future generation will have a safer environment to live in. Through this essay, you will learn the importance of environmental protection.

A Long Essay on Environmental Protection

It is imperative to protect our natural environment from deteriorating, and the only way to do that is through environmental protection. This process should be adopted by every country as soon as possible before it is too late. The objective of this process is to conserve all the natural resources and try to repair some parts of the environment that are possible to get repaired. The biophysical environment is getting degraded permanently because of overconsumption, population growth, and the rapid development of technology. This can be stopped if the government plan strategies to restrict these activities to perform in a controlled way. This environmental protection essay can be a great help for the students to understand the environment they are living in.

Voluntary Environmental Agreements

Voluntary environmental agreements are getting popular in most industrial countries. Through this free essay on environmental protection, one will learn more about this type of agreement. These agreements provide the companies with a platform where they are recognized if they are moving beyond the minimum regulatory standards for protecting the environment. These agreements support the development of one of the best environmental practices. For example, the India Environment Improvement Trust (EIT) has been working in this environment field since the year 1998. Through this environmental protection essay, one is getting so much to learn.

Ecosystems Approach

An ecosystem approach to environmental protection aims to consider the complex interrelationships of the ecosystem as a whole to the process of decision making rather than just focusing on specific issues and challenges. The environmental protection essay writing will give a more precise overview of this approach. The ecosystems approach aims to support the better transferring of information, develop strategies that can resolve conflicts, and improve regional conservation. This approach has played a major role in protecting the environment. This approach also says that religions also play an important role in the conservation of the environment.

International Environmental Agreements

In the present scenario, many of the Earth's natural resources have become vulnerable because of humans and their carelessness towards the environment across different countries. As a result of this, many countries and their governments have come into different agreements to reduce the human impact on the natural environment and protect it from getting deterioration. Through this environmental protection essay in English, one will get a much clearer view on this matter particularly.

The agreements made between different governments of various countries are known as International Environmental Agreements. This agreement includes factors such as climate, oceans, rivers, and air pollution. These agreements are sometimes legally bound, and in case they are not followed, it may lead to some legal implications. These agreements have a long history with some multinational agreements that were made in the year 1910 in Europe, America, and Africa. Some of the most well-known international agreements are the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Through this environmental protection essay, it is clear that governments are taking steps to solve the environmental issue, but it is not enough.

A Short Paragraph on Environmental Protection in English

Earth is a beautiful place to live in, with the most favorable environmental conditions for living beings. But we humans are making it vulnerable and are destroying our own homes with activities that are causing pollution at an increased rate. In this protecting the environment essay, 200 words will be explained properly on how to save the environment.

Environmental protection has become the need of the hour as it is getting destroyed each day. So, governments are making policies and are coming into agreements with other countries to come up with strategies that can protect the environment. Some companies also have the same aim of protecting the environment from the activities of humans.

In this short article on environmental protection, it is clear that if sudden steps are not taken then, our future generation will have to live in a polluted environment that is conserved very conserve difficult. Environmental protection is the key to a safe and secure future with a beautiful environment to live in. 

With pollution increasing each year and causing deterioration of the natural environment, it has become necessary to take steps to protect the natural environment. As we know that the reason for all these problems is humans, governments should make policies to restrict their activities that are causing harm to the environment. If they are not stopped urgently, then the world might see some catastrophic destruction in the coming years. For example, climate change has been a huge problem, and this is one of the causes of increased pollution. A secured future depends on the environment as a whole.

FAQs on Environmental Protection Essay

1. What are International Environmental Agreements?

International environmental agreements are legal contracts between countries that discuss the protection of the environment to provide better living to present and future generations. These include issues such as climate, oceans, rivers, air pollution, etc. we should always consider that if we harm our environment, then it can affect us as well, and we will become more vulnerable. If we do not take action now, it might get a lot worse. We need to be the generation that starts taking care of our planet and future generations!

2. What is the Kyoto Protocol?

The Kyoto Protocol is one of the most well-known and successful international environmental agreements that has been made in the past to protect the environment. This agreement between countries was made to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases which are causing damage to the ozone layer and climate change. With the help of Kyoto, protocol countries have reduced emission rates by 8% and are planning to reduce them more so that future generations can live in a healthy environment in which they can flourish.

3. What is the Paris Agreement?

The Paris Agreement was made in 2015 to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and to stop climate change. This agreement is very important as it includes every country in the world, and all have agreed to work together to stop climate change. This is a huge step forward as it means that everyone is now working together to try to save our planet. If we try to solve these problems together, then we will have a chance to save our planet.

4. What is the Green Climate Fund?

The Green Climate Fund comes from an agreement made in 2010 to provide money for developing countries that are going through issues such as deforestation and air pollution by making them more sustainable. This fund has a goal of collecting 100 billion dollars by 2020 for supporting developing countries. If this can happen, then many lives can be saved, and we will be able to see a lot of positive changes in the coming years and decades so that we can see an improved environment.

5. What are some activities that harm the Environment?

Some activities that harm the environment include burning fossil fuels, deforestation, air pollution, and wastewater discharge. These activities harm not only the environment but also humans, and we must take action now to reduce the impact which we are causing. For example, the burning of fossil fuels is one of the main reasons for climate change and air pollution, which both have a huge impact on humans. If we stop these activities, then it will be a lot better for everyone!

6. How can we protect the Environment?

Environmental protection is very much required in today's time. Some of the ways to protect the environment are to reduce, reuse, recycle, conserve water, save electricity, clean up the community, educate people on pollution, conserve water, preserve soil, tree plantation, use long-lasting bulbs, and plant trees. Heaven these are the ways which help us to protect the environment from getting polluted.

7.  Why is Environmental Protection Important?

The ecosystem in which we live provides the natural services that are very much important to humans and other species for health, quality of life, and survival. So to protect that, environmental protection is very important. Hence, governments of various countries should make strategies to protect our natural environment from getting polluted.

The Contribution of the Media in Raising Public Awareness on the Environment

• First Online: 01 October 2023

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Because of information, the media performs another function: raising public awareness on environmental problems. The more aware the public is about environmental issues, the stronger the debate will be, and a solution will be found as a result. Due to a stronger and defined agenda, the print press continues to play a role in community awareness, but new media, the web and social media strongly influence the younger generation. You can go back to a newspaper and read it, while information on television or social networks is short and for a limited time. However, both classical and Internet media play an essential role in raising public awareness. The more knowledge the public has about the environment, the more it demands the design and implementation of policies for the protection of the environment and nature.

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Çupi, D. (2023). The Contribution of the Media in Raising Public Awareness on the Environment. In: Environmental Debates in Albania. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39760-8_10

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Home — Essay Samples — Environment — Natural Environment — Importance of Protecting the Environment

Importance of Protecting The Environment

• Categories: Climate Change Natural Environment

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Published: Jan 31, 2024

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Table of contents

Introduction, argument 1: importance of protecting the environment, argument 2: individual and collective responsibility, counterargument: technological advancements as a solution.

• Overview of the argument that prioritizes economic development over environmental protection
• Examination of the potential economic opportunities offered by eco-friendly initiatives
• Explanation of the long-term benefits of investing in sustainable practices
• Discussion on the role of individuals in contributing to environmental degradation
• Examination of the responsibility of governments and corporations
• Explanation of the need for widespread awareness and action
• Overview of the argument that technological advancements alone can solve environmental issues
• Evaluation of the limitations and risks associated with relying solely on technology
• Emphasis on the importance of a comprehensive approach involving behavioral changes and technological innovations
• Restatement of thesis statement
• Summary of main arguments and counterarguments
• Call to action and final thoughts
• World Health Organization. Ambient air pollution : Health impacts. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ambient-(outdoor)-air-quality-and-health

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The Importance of Public Awareness in Environmental Protection: A Case Study in Paktika, Afghanistan

Public awareness and knowledge of environmental protection are crucial to avoid environmental pollutions. Lack of relevant scientific principles and lack of public awareness of environmental or other projects are hindrances to controlling environmental pollution. The objective of the study was to identify the importance of public awareness in environmental pollution management. Environmental education and public awareness are crucial to avoid environmental pollutions. The study aims to analyze public awareness of environmental protection. The study was conducted in Sharana, the center of Paktika province, and was attended by 71 students from the Paktika Higher Education Institute's Education Faculty. Questionnaires and field observations have been selected as methodologies for this research. The results of the study show that 59.2 percent of survey participants consider public awareness and 35.2 percent think that enforcement of environmental laws is important. People in Paktika do not take part in environmental activities due to a lack of public awareness and throw away pollutants everywhere. If this situation continues, it is not far off that it will turn into a disaster.

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At present environmental education is emerging across the globe although this is a quite new phenomenon in Bangladesh. The present study was attempted to know about the environmental education and awareness among the mass people of Tangail town. In order to conduct this research, a questionnaire survey was carried out and interview was undertaken among 100 respondents in Tangail District. This paper describes some findings to understand the status of environmental awareness among people of different age groups of Tangail district. Moreover, this paper enables to provide some suggestions to extend environmental education and awareness to make a decent and ethical life as well as to keep the environment sustainable.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jesnr.v5i2.14828 J. Environ. Sci. & Natural Resources, 5(2): 263-266 2012

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Most Effective Ways College Students Can Contribute to Environmental Protection

Introduction

As college students navigate through the academic landscape, it’s crucial to recognize the profound impact they can have on environmental conservation. In an era where climate change is a pressing concern, students can play a vital role in fostering sustainable practices. This article explores the most effective ways college students can contribute to environmental protection.

Delegating Essays Responsibly

Maintaining a commitment to a clean environment is important to you, but the burden of schoolwork can make it challenging to actively contribute. Juggling research papers and essays can quickly become overwhelming. However, meeting assignment deadlines is as crucial as environmental stewardship. Fortunately, if you’re a passionate environmentalist in college, consider utilizing an essay writing service to manage your academic workload. This allows professional writers to handle your assignments, granting you the free time to participate in environmental activities that contribute positively to the causes you care about the most.

Eco-Friendly Transportation

Transportation is a significant contributor to carbon emissions . College students can make a difference by embracing eco-friendly alternatives. Public transport, cycling, and even walking are sustainable options that not only reduce the carbon footprint but also promote a healthier lifestyle.

Reducing Single-Use Plastic

Single-use plastic is a menace to the environment, and college campuses are no exception. Students can actively reduce their reliance on single-use plastics by opting for reusable alternatives. From water bottles to food containers, making conscious choices can collectively lead to a significant reduction in plastic waste.

Digitalization and Paper Recycling

The digital age offers ample opportunities for students to minimize paper usage. Embracing digital resources for note-taking and assignments not only reduces the demand for paper but also enhances efficiency. Additionally, recycling and reusing paper can further contribute to a more sustainable academic environment.

Only Buy What They Need

Consumerism is a significant driver of environmental degradation. College students can make a positive impact by adopting a minimalist approach to consumption. By buying only what they truly need, students can curb excess waste and contribute to a more sustainable and responsible society.

Embracing Personal Responsibility

Environmental protection starts with individual actions. College students can cultivate a sense of personal responsibility by being mindful of their ecological footprint. Simple practices, such as turning off lights when not needed or properly disposing of waste, can collectively make a substantial difference.

Community Engagement

Beyond individual efforts, students can actively engage with their local communities on environmental initiatives. Joining or supporting local environmental groups provides a platform for collective action and creates a more significant impact on the community and the environment.

Sustainable Campus Practices

Colleges and universities are increasingly adopting sustainable practices. Students can contribute by supporting and participating in these initiatives. From waste reduction programs to energy-efficient practices, a collective effort within the campus can create a more environmentally conscious educational environment.

Raising Green Technology Awareness

Technological advancements offer innovative solutions to environmental challenges. College students can contribute by staying informed about green technologies and advocating for their adoption. From energy-efficient gadgets to sustainable practices, awareness can drive positive change.

Advocacy and Education

Spreading awareness about environmental issues is crucial. College students can become advocates for environmental education by sharing information, organizing workshops, and participating in awareness campaigns. Education is a powerful tool for inspiring collective action.

Green Initiatives in Academia

Academic institutions can set the tone for sustainable practices. Students can support and participate in green initiatives within their campuses. From eco-friendly infrastructure to curriculum enhancements, there are various avenues for students to contribute to a more sustainable academic environment.

The Power of Collective Action

While individual actions matter, the power of collective action is unparalleled. College students can join or initiate environmental clubs and groups to amplify their impact. Through shared goals and concerted efforts, students can address environmental challenges more effectively.

Challenges and Solutions

Acknowledging the challenges students may face in contributing to environmental protection is crucial. Whether it’s a lack of awareness or institutional barriers, this section provides practical solutions to overcome these challenges. Empowering students to navigate obstacles ensures a more widespread commitment to sustainability.

In conclusion, college students possess the potential to be formidable agents of change in environmental protection. By adopting sustainable practices, embracing responsibility, and actively participating in green initiatives, students can collectively contribute to a healthier planet. Every small action counts, and the combined efforts of individuals can create a significant impact on the environment. Additionally, for those who find themselves pressed for time due to academic commitments, considering a reliable college essay writing service can be a practical solution. This allows students to manage their workload efficiently, providing them with more opportunities to engage in environmental activities and make a positive difference.

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Essay on the Need of Public Awareness for Environmental Studies

After the scientific and industrial revolution in the recent past, there has been immense impact of man on his environment. Man has failed to realise that any new factor upsets the balance of the ecosystem as a whole/the environment.

Huge industrial installations every year, introduction of the faster mode of transport, sprouting up large crowded cities (urbanisation), changing the food habits, deforestation and decreasing the agricultural land, the main outcomes of the modern civilization: wide spread use of insecticides, pesticides, improper use of fertilizers and chemicals in environment are some others contributing factors which challenged the life of man, animals specially birds and other organisms.

Industries are causing much danger to man’s life (causing air pollution), Similarly water pollution, soil pollution, marine pollution, noise pollution, global warming, effects of nuclear hazards etc. are some major factors for which public awareness is necessary.

The Active co-operation of every one, at every level of social organizations, scientist- educationists, social workers, politicians, administrators and public is needed for issues concerning environment. Individuals collectively make a society or a state.

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Movements, which begin at gram root levels, effects the ideologies and policies of a country or the nation as a whole more effectively than the policies introduced from top to downwards.

When the opinion of the public will change, ii will affect the govt. policies, which transform in to actions. Therefore little efforts on the part of each individual shall add up to introduce significant improvements of the environment.

Over exploitation of natural resources is a basic concern for everybody. Food shortage we increase in frequency and severity if population growth, soil erosion and nutrient depletions we continue at the existing rate. Therefore, it is our duty and we can accept the family planning schemes this will not only reduce the population but also solve the problems of food and rehabilitation.

Burning fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural gas), we release carbon-dioxide and other heat absorbing; gases, that cause global warming and may bring about sea level rise and catastrophic climatic changes.

Acid rain is the result of it. Chlorinated compounds such as chlorofluorocarbons used in refrigerator and air conditioner also contribute to global warming as well as damaging the stratospheric ozone that protect us from cancer causing ultraviolet radiations in sunlight.

Now a day’s everybody talks about environment but how many of us are serious about it. How many of us (from all walks of life) have clear concepts of environment. There must be planning about the effects and control measures of environmental pollution. Govt. should initiate and help by awareness campaigns to save environment.

There should not be the political propaganda but should be the integral part of our educational programmes. By writing on walls the word “save water”, “save oil” is not enough for Govt. or people.

We should opt some programmes relating to it. We should discourage to use fuel vehicles, until it is not necessary. For short routes, we should use bicycle; on foot. We should accompany the four seated or so with others over use of water, for cleaning and other purposes should be decreased.

Rain water harvesting is another example for using the rain water instead flowing out. Any government at its own level cannot achieve the goals of sustainable development until the public has a participatory role in it.

It is only possible only when public aware about the ecological and environmental issues. For example ban the littering of polythene cannot be successful until the public understands the environmental implications of the same.

Public should understand about the fact that if we degrading our environment, we are harming ourselves. This is the duty of we educated people to educate the others about the adverse effect of environment.

For the first time, the attention of general public was attracted at global level when “Earth Summit” in 1992 was held in Rio de Janerio on environment and development. Later on another world summit on “Sustainable Development” at Johannesburg in 2002 was also held to discuss the environment and aware the public to save the environment.

In these directions, United Nations has organised several conferences in different parts of the world (Stockholm 1972, Vienna 1985, Montreal 1987, Brazil 1992 etc) to work out the action plan from time to time for fighting with menace of environmental pollution. We should keep the earth green and alive as it provides shelter, food and protective cover.

The soil degradation, soil erosion, deforestation, losing wetlands, land conversion etc. are the measure issues which force ourselves to think and aware the public in this regard. Because human himself is responsible for these environmental deterioration. Therefore, it is necessary to check all these destructive processes. Govt. also doing some efforts on national level but still much more has to be done.

The marine ecosystem includes the oceans, seas, sea shores, bays and summaries of the world. The physical factors like wares, tides, currents, salinities, temperature, pressures and sunlight dominate life in the ocean and determine the makeup of biological communities.

These communities have significant effect on biomass, leakage from oil tankers, oil drilling, catchment area (coastline) and rivers polluted the sea water, which effects sensitive flora and fauna, various species of invertebrate, mammals, coral reps, fishes and other organisms.

A Diesel vehicle emits particles in their exhaust which have a diameter less than 10 microns (PH-10). It is easily inhaled. Any amount of these particles in the air is dangerous for health (particularly effects lungs). In India about 20 million people are asthmatics.

Mine waste and effluents from mining and metallurgical industries give a number of physical and chemical problems to human beings. Certain other industries like paper and pulp industries, fertilizer industries, explosive industries, soap and detergent industries, chemical industries, food processing industries, textile, tannery, leather, and petroleum industries release/discharge undesirable and harmful constituents which are responsible for air and water pollution, causes great public concern.

Sewage begins to cause nuisance as it starts to become stale. It is therefore necessary to dispose it off as soon as possible. Proper methods of disposal and its treatment should be applied otherwise causes the chronic diseases. When sewage is applied continuously on a part of land, the pores or voids of the soil are clogged and free circulation of air is prevented.

As a result anaerobic conditions are developed in place of aerobic conditions and the land is not capable of taking further sewage load. At this stage, decomposition of sewage takes place and offensive gases are produced. This is called the sewage sickness of land. People should aware of it.

The noise which is increasing pollution is one of the important factors of environment due to population’s explosion, rapid industrializations and urbanisations. We should know the consequences of noise pollutions. Ear drum can be damage when exposed to very loud and sudden noise. Noise pollution affects human health, comfort and efficiency.

It causes contraction of blood vessels, high blood pressure, mental distress, high cholesterol, heart attacks, neurological problems, birth defects, abortion etc. The department of environment realised the importance of creating a sound research base for scientific studies relating to environmental problems. Environmental protection act was introduced in 1976 as the 42nd amendment act in the constitution.

Only by celebrating “World Environmental Day” we cannot get rid of this concern. Govt. along cannot do anything until unless every citizen is aware of the environmental pollution & their effects. This is the time to make aware and motivate each and every individual for environmental consciousness.

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