Hawke Research Institute
This pilot project
by the Centre for Work + Life at the
University of South Australia aims to understand how home, school, community and
adult work affect awareness, attitude and behaviour in relation to
consumption and waste in adolescents.
Adolescents are key to environmental behaviour change across generations. Their awareness of, attitudes toward and action in relation to environmental issues such as consumption and waste have immediate and long-term impacts at both the local and global level. Given the knowledge and the tools to participate, adolescents are in a position to change their own behaviour in relation to consumption and waste. They are also in a position to be agents of change within their families, schools and communities and indirectly (through their influence on adults) in the workplace and broader societal institutions. Adolescents are the consumers, educators, scientists and policy makers of the future. How they are enabled to engage with environmental issues today will determine to a large extent how they consume, educate, investigate and legislate tomorrow.
This project is holistic in its perspective and multidisciplinary in its approach: Its holistic perspective acknowledges that adolescents are shaped by the complex interactions of multiple domains; in particular, home, school, community and adult work; its multidisciplinary approach allows a sociological examination of external processes affecting awareness, attitude and behaviour in relation to consumption and waste, in combination with a psychological examination of internal processes leading to behaviour change.
Zero Waste SA was the funding partner for this pilot project in 2009 and the South Australian Department of Education and Children's Services was a partner in the research. An extension of the study is proposed in SA in 2010/2011.
Dr Pip Williams, Research Fellow, lead this project.
