Sustainability knowledge, attitude and practices of Malaysians

Abstract

Malaysia has progressed and developed at an unprecedented rate and has transformed herself from an agrarian to an industrialized nation. As a corollary to development and industrialization, the nation is facing a tremendous challenge in ensuring sustainable development as not only patterns of production but consumption and lifestyles have been transformed accordingly. A survey was conducted to gauge the level of sustainability knowledge, attitude and practices of the public officers of the nation. A total of 1246 respondents were randomly selected from nine government departments. They were 52.9% males and 47.1% females with ages ranging from 23 to 50 years old. Data indicated that the main sources of environmental knowledge were television, radio, magazines and books. The environmental knowledge of the respondents was very commendable where 70.1% of the respondents had all the answers correct. The environmental attitude of the respondents was found to be positive with a mean of 3.86 on a scale of 1 to 4. Adoption of sustainable practices among the respondents was rather laudable with a mean of 3.44 which indicates that those activities were somewhat regularly performed. However efforts to conserve particularly water and electricity were rather dismal both in the work place and the home. Relationships between variables were also investigated. Strategies and approaches to enhance sustainable commitment and participation were discussed and proposed.