Level of Environmental Ethics Awareness and Environmental Citizenship Participation among Filipino Higher Education Student Leaders

Abstract

School institutions are responsible for honing environmental ethics awareness and environmental citizenship participation among their students. Student leaders, on the other hand, are expected to uphold responsibilities to empower their co-students and address pressing environmental issues through different sets of activities aligned with sustainable development goals. Thus, this study assessed the higher education student leaders' environmental ethics awareness, environmental citizenship participation, and its correlation, and proposed a plan of activities to sustain and enhance the two aforementioned variables. By employing a descriptive-correlational design with a researcher-made questionnaire, this study found out that the higher education student leaders are highly aware of ethical actions concerning the environment. However, in terms of citizenship participation, the results revealed that these student leaders are not highly participative in various environmental activities despite having high levels of awareness. Hence, this study suggests that fostering collaborations among student leaders, organizations, and clubs will address environmental issues collectively, strengthening their environmental ethics awareness and participation, and a proposed plan of activities that may be initiated by the concerned authorities to ensure its full implementation.