Logan Krusac (Nanjing,
China ‘10) stayed in China for an academic year as a Boren Scholar after
completing the CLS Program. Below he
writes about his research and experiences.
My research for my Boren
Scholarship was on China's environmental crisis, with a focus on water
conservation. I surveyed residents of Kunming, China to determine how
environmental knowledge affects one’s in-home water conservation methods.
According to my survey, there was no relationship between level of education,
salary, or age and water conservation. However, people’s personal
experiences did have a major impact on their behavior. Reading about
desertification in school in Kunming, where desertification is not a problem,
may lead to greater knowledge – but it does not necessarily lead to a
change in behavior. However, if you are a farmer in northern China whose
once-fertile land has been ruined by desertification, and you experience
many sandstorms each year, you are more likely to change your behavior to
prevent environmental degradation.
My research shows that in China, the people with knowledge
of environmental problems – city-dwellers with higher levels of education – often
do not have the individual, first-hand environmental awareness needed to
influence behavior. It is human nature to not act upon that which we are
not familiar with. In China, where government policies prevent citizens
from being fully aware of the environmental crisis, people don't change their
behavior because they can't fathom the impact of their actions or the graveness
of the situation.
I presented my paper at the 2011 International Symposium on Water Resource and
Environmental Protection in Xi'an, China in late May.
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