As part of the Office of Sustainability’s ongoing effort to understand UT student perspectives on various sustainability issues and improve our STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System) performance, we worked with the Institutional Reporting, Research and Information Systems (IRRIS) office in the Provost’s Office to create and implement an annual student sustainability survey starting in 2021.
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The Bleed Orange, Live Green Student Survey: Year 3
BOLG Survey Year 3 Summary
The 2023 survey received IRB Approval and was offered to 8,600 randomly selected students.
Major changes this year included the addition of questions pertaining to the Hogg Eco Anxiety Scale and questions on general sustainability attitudes. Questions on UT-sustainability opportunity awareness, general environmental knowledge, and student interest in/ extent of sustainability education or careers.
Here are a few key takeaways from our perspective:
- Over 70% of students express interest that sustainability is part of their future career paths, a continuing trend since 2021.
- Average "Sustainability Attitudes" ranged from 5.42 to 5.66 out of 6. The higher the number, the more positive attitudes are towards sustainability.
- About 2-7% of student respondents answered that they worried "Nearly every day" about the state of the environment. 48.6% of respondents reported that they were unable to stop thinking about losses to the environment when they thought about climate change, and 61.5% of respondents felt anxious or on edge while thinking about climate change and other global environmental conditions. For more information on climate anxiety, see this resource.
The Bleed Orange, Live Green Student Survey: Year 2
BOLG Survey Year 2 Summary
The 2022 survey received IRB Approval and was offered to 8,600 randomly selected students. Here are a few key takeaways from our perspective:
- Over 70% of students express interest that sustainability is part of their future career paths, a continuing trend since 2021.
- A new section in this survey asked students about their awareness of campus programs or resources focusing on sustainability. The top three most well-known programs are the UT Shuttle Bus System, the UT Farm Stand, and Austin's MetroBike. The three least-known programs listed were Green Labs, the Green Fund, and Zero Waste Hero.
- Another new section asked students about their thoughts about global warming. About 55% of students said they were "Very worried" about climate change, and 79% of students said they have personally experienced the effects of global warming.
The Bleed Orange, Live Green Survey Year 1
BOLG Survey Year 1 Summary
The 2021 survey received IRB Approval and was offered to 5,000 randomly selected students. Here are a few key takeaways from our perspective:
- Over 70% of students express interest that sustainability is part of their future career paths, even when filtering out students who have actively sought sustainability courses. This is a strong indicator of student demand that can be responded to with both academic and co-curricular opportunities. These data will inform the several Office of Sustainability student facing programs and also the partnership between Office of Sustainability and Texas Career Engagement.
- The most common engagement activities were individual in nature, with students focused on changing their own behaviors or someone close to them, or seeking information for personal interest or to support a class assignment. These activities were more common than students seeking out group activities. This indicates that students are centering change in their own behavior and knowledge, they are internalizing their interest in sustainability.
- Student’s sense of how UT emphasizes sustainability in learning is generally favorable and offers room for improvement. These responses provide a growth opportunity for sustainability in curriculum efforts being pursued by the Office of Sustainability in partnership with the Center for Teaching and Learning.