Role of Media in enhancing Pro-Environmental Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior

Abstract

Pakistan is facing a multitude of problems but environmental challenges are amongst the most pressing issues facing the country. In this situation, it is imperative that the youth of the country should know how to face these challenges. The aim of the present research was to explore the levels of pro-environmental knowledge, attitude, and behavior amongst the youth as well as focusing on the impact of media in this regard. The research adopted a quantitative survey method and data from 476 male and female university students residing in Islamabad was analyzed. Findings of the study revealed that although the educated youth possessed considerable knowledge about the environment, yet this knowledge was not turning into actions and the levels of pro-environmental behavior were significantly below par. With regard to the role of media it was observed that the influence of traditional media was significantly lower than social media which was found to have an influence on the attitude and behaviour of the youth. Further, findings also showed that although there was no difference between males and females in the levels of knowledge, however with regard to adopting pro-environmental attitude and behavior, females were found to be significantly ahead of the males.