Final Research Report

Proposal by

Maggie Kent

Hannah Bechtolt

Elena Chang

Marinne McNally

Joshua Aracena
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Introduction

This report is comprised of research conducted by Athena R.C. and examines college

students understanding of Climate Change and Sustainability. Our research attempts to

answer three main questions: How do we make college students care about being

sustainable? What factors motivate college students to make sustainable decisions /

environmentally conscious behavior? What areas do college students struggle with the most

when being sustainable?

Our secondary analysis surveyed over 80 college students - half being comprised of

students from Ithaca College. Findings showed that when it came to issues of Climate Change,

a majority of students reported they favored directive and informative ads over emotional

ones. Research indicates that this demographic collects most of their news and information

via social media, with Instagram being the most popular platform. Unsurprisingly, those who

reported being the most concerned about Climate Change also participated in sustainable

behaviors such as recycling or using reusable water bottles. Those who reportedly struggled

with sustainable behavior also reported lower levels of concern.

After conducting secondary research, several questions remain. Although our data

provides several key insights into how college students understand sustainability, it doesn’t

provide a conclusive understanding of what factors prevent them from participating in

sustainable behavior. Furthermore, findings from A/B testing conflicted with those found

through primary and secondary research. These discrepancies require further research in

order to understand their significance.

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Methods

The first stage of research involves qualitative methods of data collection and relies on

focus group and interview data. The focus group was conducted from 11:00 - 11:30 am in the

Park Lounge. Participants consisted of students selected by Dr. Huemmer. All four participants

were between the ages of 19 and 21, three of those were female and one was male. The

moderator was a 21 year old female. The session was recorded on two cell phones and notes

were taken on group members’ personal laptops. The Moderator Guide was created through

group collaboration and included a verbal guarantee of participant confidentiality.

Interviews were conducted by each group member individually. Participants were

chosen by each member based on their age/demographic (18-20 year-old college students)

and interviewer accessibility. Some consideration was given to participants’ general

environmental beliefs and behaviors when selections were made to ensure there was variation

within the viewpoints covered. A total of 6 participants were interviewed. All interview

sessions were recorded on the interviewers cellphone and transcribed into Google Docs. Each

interview lasted between 15-45 minutes. The interviewer guide was created collaboratively by

group members and all members used questions from this guide. The interview protocol

included questions from the focus group moderator guide that were skipped due to time

constraints and to get a better sense of people’s thoughts and motivations. To ensure

anonymity, all participants were provided a pseudonym.

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The second stage of our research involved quantitative methods of data collection. Our

team decided that posting a survey to social media would be the most effective means of

reaching our target audience, which was college students aged 18-22. The survey was

distributed via social media by all group members on the platforms Facebook, Snapchat,

Instagram, and GroupMe. The survey link with a short description was also posted on the

Ithaca College class Facebook pages (Class of 2021, 2022, and 2023). This was a form of non-

probability (convenience) sampling because it involves the sample being drawn from part of

the population that is close at hand. Researchers additionally invited friends to participate in

the survey. This form of sampling, referred to as convenience sampling, generated 96

individual responses from which the data was drawn. The convenience method is effective for

gathering a fair amount of responses in a short time period but overall creates a slightly biased

sampling. For instance, 49 (60.5%) of those surveyed were students at IC, this makes it difficult

to attribute our data as representative of “the average college student.”

We also conducted a supplementary level of research collection through A/B testing

with a sample derived from Dr. Huemmer’s class. Notably findings from this method conflicted

with findings from primary and secondary research findings. Most students reported favoring

informative and directive ads over emotional ones in focus group and survey responses.

However, when prompted with informative and directive messages about Climate Change

each participants’ concern about Climate Change either remained unchanged or decreased.

On the other hand, when prompted with disturbing images of climate changes effect on

wildlife, nearly every participant reported an increase in concern for the climate.
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Given findings from primary and secondary research indicates that concern for climate

change is correlated with more sustainable behavior, messages that result in raising viewers

concern for the environment are relevant to motivating sustainable activity. Therefore, despite

participants responses to the contrary, messages that evoke emotional response may be

instrumental in encouraging sustainable behavior.

Strategy Story

Social Media Strategy

Our first recommendation based off of our data collection is a social media campaign

to spread awareness and information about Climate Change/Climate Change effects.

Research findings gathered from our secondary data showed a majority of respondents did

their news and information gathering via social media, Instagram in particular. Given social

media appears to be the primary news platform for our target audience social media

platforms are the best channels with which to spread awareness and relevant information.

According to the A/B testing conducted in class, when participants were asked

to rate their concern for climate change when presented with an informational ad,

37.5% rated their concern as a ⅘. When presented with two emotional ads, 53.3% in the

first emotional ad and 40% in the second emotional ad rated their concern as a 5/5.

These findings indicate that awareness and concern might best be conveyed through

emotionally driven ads and messaging.

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For our social media campaign, we would like to implement a series of emotionally

driven ads about climate change and sustainability. Distribution of these ads, via social media

platforms on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. The majority of the ads should be

placed on Instagram, seeing as 55.8% of respondents said Instagram was the social media

platform they used the most. Another portion of ads will be distributed via Snapchat, as

research indicates its the second most used platform, with 16.9% of respondents reporting it

as their most used platform. Therefore, ads would be distributed between these two

platforms. These emotional based ads would consist of slightly graphic content, such as

photos of the impacts of climate change on animals and the surrounding environment. Posts

would feature images of environments damaged by Climate Change and pollution such as

coral reefs 10 years ago compared to now, forest fires, oil spill impacts on ocean life and areas

highly polluted with plastic. Currently, the 10 years challenge has been a popular fad on social

media, this provides ample opportunity to display the drastic changes occurring within the

environment over the last ten years.

Given that our target audience of college students is generally comprised of people

aged 18-22 making up a large portion of social media users, a social media campaign is one of

the most effective ways of reaching this audience. The ages of our respondents were split as

follows: 29.9% of respondents were 20 years old, 22.1% respondents were 18 years old, 23.4%

respondents were 19 years old, 18.2% respondents were 21 years old, 5.2% respondents were

22 years old, and 1.3% of the respondents were 30 years old. Among these people,

respondents who found their news through social media rated their concern for climate
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change higher on a scale of 1-7 than respondents who found their news through word of

mouth or print publications. Additionally, more of our respondents used social media to find

their news than any other platform.

In our qualitative data, one interviewee named Marnie said, “I hear it from the news,

and like, the media, being told how important it is to, uh, be sustainable.” According to this

interviewee’s statement, the main places they hear about sustainable issues are in the news

and the media, presumably social media. Another interviewee, Jocelyn, stated, “you needed

to see the visuals and the animals covered in the oil to be able to understand the gravity or the

scope because when you're just reading.” This statement shows that more emotionally

targeted ads can be effective in reaching our target audience, as they emphasize the severity

of the issue. Our Quantitative data showed us that social media was already our audience’s,

“primary channel for entertainment and news” and that some members of our focus group felt

that sustainability can be presented or seen as a “‘fad on social media’ that people kind of

dismiss.” p3-4”. Because of these points, we decided emotional messages would be the most

effective in our social media campaign.

Posters/ More traditional print ad methods

In addition, our team suggests other alternative methods of strategic communication

designed to encourage environmental awareness and sustainable behavior. These

recommendations include creating a more sustainable campus is through the utilization of

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traditional print media. This includes posters with simple graphics, or stickers with “Eco tips”

that can be handed out to students.

Throughout our research, we found that many students expressed wanting to be more

sustainable but not knowing how to, or why it was important. During our focus group

interview, one participant stated that they weren’t more sustainable because they “didn't

really know how... it was affecting the world”. While another explained they if they knew more

about things they could do to be more sustainable, they “would do more”. We also found, on

average, that the majority of the people surveyed in our quantitative report, didn’t find their

amount of knowledge higher than a 5 on a Likert scale of 1-7; With 1 being the least

knowledgeable and 7 being the most. Overall, these findings showed us that students want to

take action, and would if they knew more about sustainability. It also shows us that they want

to gain more knowledge if presented with the opportunity.

After establishing that we needed a campaign method that would focus on increasing

knowledge about the importance of and how to be more sustainable, we had to decide what

style of message should relay this information. The ads would no doubt require some

informational messaging style as to present the facts. According to our quantitative research,

we found that directive and informational ads were the most preferred. However, when

conducting our A/B testing, we found that more students felt affected by emotional ads. This

opposing data brought us to the realization that all three messaging styles would need to be

included within a recommendation, and informational yet direct messages would be suitable

for our traditional print recommendations. We chose this style for this print campaign because
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it was clear from our quantitative data that, “If presented with a directive ad, students’

concern about the climate increases, as well as their willingness to take actions”. Overall, this

would help us overcome the knowledge barrier and could even affect an action barrier as well.

Rather than utilizing our most effective ad type on social media, where students are

already gaining a lot of information and news, we’re combining our most effective method

with traditional ad types to increase the success of our campaign. The simple yet direct

graphics and eco-tips will be placed around the campus where students will see them daily

and be able to read them quickly as they wait for things. For example, we could put one on the

bulletin board in IC Square, right near where students are usually waiting in lines to get food.

This strategy was actually proposed by an interviewee who said they were more likely to look

at or read ads while waiting for things. One interviewee stated that if they were, “just standing

waiting for something staring at a wall”, they would be more likely to read a print ad. Another

interviewee explained that they prefer to be able to see something and keep moving which is

“why I like eco reps... I mean it is it's very well designed graphically”. These statements have

helped us decide that the ads should be simple, easy to read quickly, placed in areas where

students might have to wait around, and be aesthetically designed.

Finally, we’re also going to be handing out stickers with the graphics, and eco-tips to

students. A lot of students on campus have stickers on their water bottles or laptops. This will

create “moving” advertisements that stick with students and will promote the cause to their

direct peers. It will also serve as a reminder that they know a way to be sustainable. Even if

they don’t put the stickers on their items, they will still look at them when they get them.
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Week Long Event

Our third strategic communications recommendation for sustainability is to hold a

week-long event in the fall semester. A week-long event was chosen to address one barrier

many people reported, which was the lack of knowledge they believed they had regarding

sustainability and how to practice more sustainable behaviors, that prevented them from

taking further steps. This was seen through our Focus Group when one participant stated, “if I

knew about more stuff, I would do more, but I don't.” Additionally, we chose an informational

direction as we found in our quantitative data that people stated that they found directive

(36%) and informing (34.6%) advertisements most effective, with emotional (27.8%)

advertisements trailing closely behind. This event will combine directive and informing

message styles, but can also include an emotional aspect through various components within

the event. One interviewee commented on the power of visual aids over text based ones, “I

think it helps to see what the change is or what like what the actual problem is.” The event

serves as a good way to go further than just text and offer an interactive experience that

people can fully see the impact of their actions and what is happening around the world.

Additionally, it was observed throughout our qualitative research that many respondents felt

judgement and pressure to appear sustainable, where we found in situations that students

feel judgement they were less likely to be open to changing their habits and beliefs. This event

would be a great place to implement the ability to offer a space for students to speak openly
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about their experiences and then be educated on any misinformation they may have heard or

address some issues they felt around sustainability.

Our week long event would cover different aspects of sustainability each day, to

educate on numerous parts of sustainability. The event can be advertised primarily online to

minimize paper waste. Throughout the week at various events, stickers can be offered that are

informational or directive, like the “Eco Tips” stickers mentioned above. These can have cute

graphics with statements like “avoid single-use” and we could offer the water bottle stickers

that reward reusable water bottle use with on-campus food rewards. As previously mentioned,

students tend to love stickers and will put them on their water bottles or computers, that

serve as awareness and education beyond the event. Throughout the week, we could offer

primarily vegan and vegetarian food options in the dining hall with special signs that discuss

the different alternatives for meat and dairy products. Every day at our events, students have

the opportunity to discuss their experiences and learn about the information that they may

have heard that was incorrect and address any issues they would like.

On Monday, the focus would be on single-use plastic and reusable items. There would

be a plastic bag collection allowing students to bring their unused plastic bags to swap and

receive a reusable bag with educational pamphlets inside that included an insert with event

information. There would be a wheel of prizes that everyone would have an opportunity to

spin that offered a variety of reusable items to potentially win. These items could include a

reusable straw, silverware, water bottle, coffee mug, cup, and sealable bag storage. College

students love receiving free items, so this would be a great way to incentivize students to
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switch to reusable products over single-use plastic. This can serve as a great opportunity to

educate students about how reusable options can be cheaper with information such as price

differences between constantly buying plastic water bottles and using a reusable water bottle

and using reusable bags versus plastic bags.

On Tuesday, waste can be discussed with a focus on food waste. Part of the waste

conversation can include how it should be separated between recycle, compost, and trash. In

the dining halls, the food waste can be tracked to communicate the amount of food waste that

students produce everyday. Additionally, signs can be added around the dining hall and other

food areas that state food waste information and the directive, “take only what you need, you

can always come back for seconds.”

On Wednesday, fast fashion and online shopping can be discussed. This can include

offering a convenient space for students to donate unwanted clothing and household items

throughout the day, as well as the ability to browse through items for students to take and

leave what they want. This would be a good opportunity to discuss the impacts of fast fashion

and online shopping and offer alternatives like second hand stores and their benefits.

Thursday and Friday can be a carnival style event that highlights local groups that are

focused on sustainability. This could include groups that sell local foods, such as a farmer’s

market, and secondhand items. Various organizations with environmentally based service can

be highlighted with the ability to sign up to volunteer with the group and receive updates.

There could also be speakers from sustainable companies and a well-known celebrity that

promotes sustainable practices.

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Appendix

Social Media Strategy Examples

Poster / Traditional Ad Strategy Examples

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Week Long Event Strategy Example