Environmental attitudes among students at the University of Madeira, Portugal

In the face of the present ecological crisis, improving environmental attitudes is crucial to encourage a cultural transformation that can rebalance the equilibrium between human activities and the planet. The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale was used to measure the environmental attitudes of students at the University of Madeira, Portugal, and to unveil the challenges that need to be addressed at the local and global level through an environmental education effort. This article presents two dimensions of the NEP scale: the high levels of the ecocentric world view and the rejection of anthropocentrism. It also points out some inconsistencies in the NEP scale. For example, the belief in human ingenuity to properly manage natural resources and keep the planet habitable should be seen as supporting our ability to move towards sustainability, and not the opposite. However, the lack of concern about human population growth requires this to be brought to the centre of the environmental education effort.