Knowledge and Beliefs about Climate Change and the Role of the Amazonian Forest among University and High School Students

Abstract

Although acknowledgement of the role of forests in the reduction of greenhouse gases that produce climate change (CC) is widespread among scientists, society is far from adopting effective action to protect forests or otherwise coping with the phenomenon. To help explain this impasse, the present paper aimed to investigate the underlying psychosocial structure of the relationships between environmental knowledge, environmental beliefs, attitude toward CC, and recognition of the role of the Amazonian forest. For that purpose, 400 structured questionnaires were applied to high school and university students in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. The resulting database was analyzed through similarity structure analysis and facet theory, with the results clearly showing that knowledge about CC and recognition of the role of the forest played a central modulating role regarding environmental beliefs, with different types of knowledge and belief corresponding to different types of attitude. Key Words: Environmental beliefs - Environmental attitudes - Environmental behavior - Climate change - Environmental knowledge. © Copyright 2018, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.