Nature-connectedness and motivation for pro-envrionmental behaviour : A study among higher education students

Abstract: World-wide concerns about human impact on the environment have led to the in 2015 formalizedParis Agreement and the global Sustainable Development Goals. All generations are needed toachieve these targets. Thus, young people need to receive appropriate, sustainability-focusededucation. Even though higher education institutions respond to this demand, students still lackmotivation for sustainable actions. To increase knowledge about this issue, I investigatedmotivation for pro-environmental behaviour in combination with nature-connectedness - a factorthat has not yet been linked with it. In a sample of 208 students, I analysed the correlationsbetween the connectedness to nature scale (CNS) and the motivation toward the environmentscale (MTES). I found correlations, meaning that students who were strongly connected tonature, tend to be more motivated to engage in pro-environmental behaviour as well. However,this does not imply a causal relationship. I also found that students in programs with a main focuson environmental topics scored higher on the CNS and (most categories of) the MTES than otherstudents, and females scored higher than males. Most of the overall mean scores were alignedwith previous research. However, there is still space for improvement and more research needs tobe done. Thus, I recommend future research to use the CNS and MTES in student populations.Moreover, I advise higher education to provide each student with Education for SustainableDevelopment (ESD). It could be beneficial to focus on critical thinking and active, experientiallearning in ESD, possibly with the usage of outdoor education.