What it means to be sensitive to environmental issues
When we talk about climate change, the first things that come to mind are usually related to disasters such as floods, storms and fires and so on. But climate change also leads us to reflect on environmental sustainability and allows us to imagine the positive opportunities offered by the conscious use of scarce resources. Stopping at a catastrophist vision without understanding what we can do to change our future is useless. Generation Z knows this well, as it is less pessimistic and more proactive towards climate change.
As emerged from the survey “The value of environmental and economic sustainability for very young people youngsters aged between 13 and 18 demonstrate a particular propensity to think in terms of sustainability, be it environmental and/or economic. In particular, the study reveals a strong correlation between the two: adolescents who are attentive to environmental management are also attentive to money management, and vice versa.
An ethical-mental attitude linked to youngsters’ ability to think in terms of a time horizon, individual responsibility and consideration of cause-effect links. Thanks to this approach, Gen Z is able to contextualize the decisions to be made and the good habits to adopt to preserve the environment and better manage finances.
Their thoughts regarding climate change and/or the use of money, in fact, are linked to concrete actions such as:
- Attention to separate waste collection
- Being careful about wasting water
- Use of alternative mobility and therefore reduction of the impact of human activities on the planet;
- Greater care in the management of economic resources
- Being careful not to give in to the impulse to buy something futile.
From saying to doing: where sustainable behaviors come from
The sense of responsibility and sensitivity to environmental issues seem to generate in adolescents a series of sustainable behaviors, small gestures in everyday life that can make a difference.
The actions implemented, however, as the research data confirm, are influenced by factors such as geographical position, personal experiences, character, cultural values, family context, school, friends and the media.
Sustainable behaviors, for example, vary greatly depending on the area of residence. Awareness towards environmental resources is greater in the regions of the North East and South, and lower in the North West and Central Italy.
Gender, however, does not appear to be a discriminator for sustainable behavior. Attention to the environment is completely transversal and belongs to girls and boys alike. The only significant difference is a greater concern among girls about the negative effects that adults’ lack of attention to sustainability can have on the planet.
And what role do parents have in all this? Although adults are severely judged by adolescents for their approach to environmental issues, they still remain points of reference. For Gen Z, therefore, it is quite inevitable to see their parents as role models, less so when it comes to environmental sustainability than when it comes to economic management.
Why is environmental education important?
Today more than ever, sustainability education is an objective to be pursued for our future. In recent years, in fact, we have experienced the negative effects of climate change, realizing how dangerous a lack of interest in the health of the planet is. The well-being of each of us greatly depends on the condition of the environment in which we live, and this can no longer be underestimated. It is therefore important to “support” new generations who know how to make correct use of scarce resources and who are able to apply innovative solutions to the environmental problems of our era.
At the Museum of Saving we offer various activities such as S.A.V.E. Virtual Tour (Sustainability, Action, Voyage and Experience). A digital journey dedicated to sustainability and also to financial education. A path aimed at all schools of all levels where students have already been learning while having fun thanks to laboratories, videos and applications.