Cornell University
AC-6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment

Cornell has a variety of sustainability literacy assessments that are administered to its undergraduate students, which in total comprise the entire undergraduate student body and some of the staff population.

Three assessments are outlined in this credit. The first is an incoming-student sustainability survey which is completed by all incoming / first-year students in each semester, which launched in Fall 2020 and is part of the First Year Student To Do List.

The second is a literacy evaluation run by Professor Bruce Monger with his Oceanography class (over 1000 Cornell undergraduate students) that includes questions about climate change, oceans, and sustainability.

The third is a collection of assessments run by a Natural Resources class at Cornell, and distributed broadly to Cornell undergraduates as standalone assessments.

***********************************************
1) First Year Student To Do List: Sustainability & Climate Literacy Survey
https://sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/news/sustainability-and-climate-literacy-module-added-first-year-orientation

The full list of literacy assessment questions can be found in the attached document here, or find more information and public access here: https://sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/news/sustainability-and-climate-literacy-module-added-first-year-orientation

Students are given a follow-up survey at the end of their first full year at Cornell University, and a representative sample surveyed prior to graduation to inform campus sustainability practitioners on the efficacy of literacy efforts on campus.

***********************************************

2) Oceanography Class assessment (see attached document)

Sample questions:
- Which of the following best defines Sustainable Development?
a. Development that will last a person’s lifetime.
b. Development that nurtures a positive view of the natural world within all people.
c. Development that diminishes the quality of life of the present generation by a small amount so that future generations can meet their basic needs.
d. Development that meets the needs of the present generation, without compromising the future generations’ ability to meet their own needs.

- The Paris COP-21 consensus statement, signed in 2015 by essentially every leader of every nation on earth, stated that we need to take the entire planet’s energy system to net zero carbon emissions by mid-century in order to stay below a 2C global warming and prevent destabilization of human civilization.
a. True
b. False

- Are humans now powerful enough to prevent a future ice age from happening/
Yes, No

- Average US families would pay less for energy bills with fossil-free energy.
a. True
b. False

- Methane emission reduction is critical to staying below the COP-21 target of 1.5ºC global warming threshold.
a. True
b. False

- How much has the earth warmed since the beginning of the Industrial Era?
0.25C, 1.0C, 1.5C, 2.0C

- How soon might we see the Arctic Ocean completely ice-free during summer periods? Ice free by as soon as 2020, 2035, 2075, 2100

- One of the key goals contained in the Paris COP-21 consensus statement, signed in Paris in 2015 by every single leader of every single nation on Earth, is that we should work to prevent the earth from warming beyond 2C. In that same consensus statement, what must happen to global CO2 emissions to stay below a 2C warming? The entire planet has to go to net zero emissions by: 2025, 2050, 2100, 2150

- What is holding us back from decarbonizing the global energy system?
Lack of appropriate technology, cost to transition would crash the global economy, political leadership

- The atmosphere plays central role in weather. The ocean plays a central role in climate. True of False

- How much of the known fossil carbon energy reserves in the form of oil, gas and coal must remain in the ground if we are to avoid crossing the 2C warming threshold? Less than 10%, About 25%, About 75%, Greater than 95%

- Studies have shown that Solar PV and Wind could meet our energy needs by 2040. True or False

- What is the target date Cornell has set to become carbon neutral? 2022, 2035, 2050, 2100

- How long can oil spills continue to have a detrimental impact on marine ecosystems? On the order of several months, several years, several decades

- What is the main contributor of mercury to the global ocean?
Factories that discharge water into the coastal ocean, runoff from roads, unregulated coal power generation of electricity, leaching from plastic pollution

- What is the benefit of high biodiversity?
More stable ecosystem, more productive ecosystem, great level of ecosystem services provided to humans, all of the above, none of the above

- About how many species currently live on our planet?
About 1 million, 9 million, 38 billion, 90 billion, 160 billion

- About how many species face extinction according to Intergovermental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)?
1 million, 10 million, 1 billion, 10 billion

- More than half of the world's marine species may stand on the brink of extinction by 2100 according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. True or False

****************************************
3) Natural Resources assessments

Additional surveys were conducted between 2015-2019 to assess sustainability and climate change literacy of Cornell undergrads. The assessments were developed and administered by a Cornell Professor of Environmental and Indigenous Studies along with students from his NTRES/AIS/AMST 3330 and NTRES 6330 course "Ways of Knowing: Indigenous and Place-Based Ecological Knowledge." Here are a sample of the questions included in these assessments:

Assessing climate change knowledge
- What anthropogenic activity do you think is the leading cause of climate change? Fossil fuel burning, animal agriculture & byproducts, industrialization, transportation emissions, other
- Briefly, please list some impacts of climate change that you know of (open-ended question)
- Humans are a contributing cause of climate change (strongly agree to strongly disagree)
- List ways Cornell can reduce its impact on the environment (open-ended question)
- Climate change should be mitigated by institutions like Cornell University (strongly agree to strongly disagree)
- Communities across the world are impacted equally by climate change (strongly agree to strongly disagree)
- Greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere negatively affect our planet (strongly agree to strongly disagree)
- Climate change impacts you personally (strongly agree to strongly disagree)
- Climate change is a fallacy (strongly agree to strongly disagree)
- What actions are you taking towards the mitigation of climate change? (Transportation, purchasing, chemical uses, water use, energy use, food, recycle, compost, none at all, other)

Assessing waste stream knowledge:
- How do you know what to do with disposable forks and spoons?
- What do you do with an empty coffee cup?
- What do you do with half a sandwich you don't want?
- How did you learn what to do with your waste? Parents? Schools? Society?

1) To Do List Sustainability Assessment
Mission Sustainability. That is the name of the module the class of '24 and transfer students completed as part of first-year student orientation this Fall as part of Cornell's efforts to embed sustainability into the educational and co-curricular experience of all students and ensure climate and sustainability literacy.
After identifying student climate literacy as a key metric to advance in its first year, the Sustainable Cornell Council’s Education & Engagement Committee began working to write, develop, and implement Cornell’s first climate literacy module for incoming students last Spring.

This sustainability course includes four parts: a literacy survey, a 13-minute video, a campus sustainability resources page, and a short written response. The components were designed to gauge student knowledge of sustainability and climate change before classes started, introduce students to the many ways Cornell is leading sustainable change on campus and in the world, and invite students to consider ways to take action as a Cornell student.

Members of a working group from the committee worked to identify a diverse set of voices from Cornell's faculty, staff, and student body to talk about their experiences working on sustainability and climate change issues at the University for the video module. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire module and video was directed, shot, and compiled remotely by students and staff working across the country from their homes.

************************************************
2) Oceanography Class assessment
Developed and implemented over the past several years by Oceanography professor, attached questions were from Fall 2019 and did not change in Fall 2020.

****************************************
3) Natural Resources assessments
Additional surveys were conducted between 2015-2020 to assess sustainability and climate change literacy of Cornell undergrads. The assessments were developed and administered by a Cornell Professor of Environmental and Indigenous Studies along with students from his NTRES/AIS/AMST 3330 and NTRES 6330 course "Ways of Knowing: Indigenous and Place-Based Ecological Knowledge." Surveys were sent out broadly to the Cornell community, and respondents may not be representative of the predominant student body.

1) To Do List Sustainability Assessment

Required for all incoming undergraduate students, both Fall and Spring semesters. 98% completion rate in Fall 2020. Representative samples polled at end of first year and before graduation; representative samples chosen at random and selected percentages are provided by faculty trained in survey science.

************************************************

2) Oceanography Class assessment

Assessment is administered to over 1000 undergraduate students during class each semester.

****************************************
3) Natural Resources assessments

Surveys from the NTRES/AIS/AMST 3330 and NTRES 6330 course were sent broadly to the Cornell community through listservs, social networks, etc. Over 700 responses were collected, although respondents may not be representative of the predominant student body.

1) To Do List Sustainability Assessment

Overall students are knowledgeable on sustainability and climate topics but tend to skew beliefs and knowledge towards "environmental" sustainability and ecological impacts of climate change.

************************************************

2) Oceanography Class assessment (standalone assessment)
Assessment determined that most students accurately responded to core sustainability and climate change literacy questions

************************************************
2) Sustainability and Climate Literacy assessment (longitudinal assessment)
Initial results from 2016 provided insights on incoming student knowledge and behaviors. Results from the longitudinal study will be available later this semester (spring 2020)

****************************************
3) Natural Resources assessments (standalone surveys)
- Students overwhelmingly understand that greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere negatively affect our planet
- Students demonstrate knowledge that climate change impacts include melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and extreme temperature and weather patterns.
- Students demonstrate knowledge of ways Cornell can reduce its impact on the environment (e.g. switching to renewable energy, turning off unused lights, banning sale of plastic water bottles).
- Students demonstrate cognitive dissonance between understand causes of climate change and changing behaviors to reduce their climate change impacts
- In CALS (one of Cornell's colleges), students are generally well-informed when it comes to the impacts, causes, and possible solutions of climate change. Conversely, other Cornell colleges showed more variability in demonstrated knowledge.