University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
AC-6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment

What is the most common cause of pollution of streams and rivers? A.) Dumping of garbage by cities B.) Surface water running off yards, city streets, paved lots, and farm fields C.) Litter near streams and rivers D.) Waste dumped by factories E.) Don't know Ozone forms a protective layer in the earth's upper atmosphere. What does ozone protect us from? A.) Acid rain B.) Climate change C.) Sudden changes in temperature D.) Harmful UV rays E.) Don't know Which of the followings is an example of sustainable forest management? A.) Setting aside forests to be off limits to the public B.) Never harvesting more than what the forest produces in new growth C.) Producing lumber for nearby communities to build affordable housing D.) Putting the local communities in charge of forest resources E.) Don't know Which of the followings is the most commonly used definition of sustainable development? A.) Creating a government welfare system that ensures universal access to education, healthcare, and social services B.) Setting aside resources for preservation, never to be used C.) Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs D.) Building a neighborhood that is both socio-demographically and economically diverse E.) Don't know Over the past 3 decades, what has happened to the difference between the wealth of the richest and poorest Americans? A.) The difference has increased B.) The difference has stayed about the same C.) The difference has decreased D.) Don't know Which of the following countries has now passed the U.S. as the biggest emitter of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide? A.) China B.) Sweden C.) Brazil D.) Japan E.) Don't know Many economists argue that electricity prices in the U.S. are too low because... A.) They do not reflect the costs of pollution from generating the electricity B.) Too many suppliers go out of business C.) Electric companies have a monopoly in their service area D.) Consumers spend only a small part of their income on energy E.) Don't know Which of the following is the most commonly used definition of economic sustainability? A.) Maximizing the share price of a company's stock B.) Long-term profitability C.) When costs equal revenue D.) Continually expanding market share E.) Don't know Which of the following is a leading cause of the depletion of fish stocks in the Atlantic Ocean? A.) Fishermen seeking to maximize their catch B.) Reduced fish fertility due to genetic hybridization C.) Ocean pollution D.) Global climate change E.) Don't know Which of the followings is the best example of environmental justice? A.) Urban citizens win a bill to have toxic wastes taken to rural communities B.) The government dams a river, flooding Native American tribal lands to create hydropower for large cities C.) All stakeholders from an indigenous community are involved in setting a quota for the amount of wood they can take from a protected forest next to their village D.) Multi-national corporations build factories in developing countries where environmental laws are less strict E.) Don't know Of the following, which would be considered living in the most environmentally sustainable way? A.) Recycling all recyclable packaging B.) Reducing consumption of all products C.) Buying products labeled "eco" or "green" D.) Buying the newest products available E.) Don't know Put the following list in order of the activities with the largest environmental impact to those with the smallest environmental impact: A. Keeping a cell phone charger plugged into an electrical outlet for 12 hours B. Producing one McDonald's quarter-pound hamburger C. Producing one McDonald's chicken sandwich D. Flying in a commercial airplane from Washington D.C. to China A. A, C, B, D B. D, A, C, B C. D, C, B, A D. D, B, C, A E. Don't know

UWL received approval from Ohio State and the University of Maryland to use 12 questions from their ASK survey. Eighteen questions were developed and added relating to habits, motivation and demographics

8,476 surveys were sent out to undergraduate students via Qualtrics with 657 students completing the survey equaling a 7.7% response rate.

For question one, 67% of UWL respondents answered with the correct answer, “Surface water running off yards, city streets, paved lots, and farm fields”. This question was a representation of environmental sustainability knowledge. Showing how roughly 67% of the undergraduate university population has a basic knowledge of how pollution spreads to streams and rivers. For question two, 90% of UWL respondents chose the correct answer, “Harmful UV rays.” This was an overwhelming majority, which indicates that there has been some background knowledge on this topic. This question was also a representation of environmental sustainability knowledge. Question three showed that 80% of UWL respondents knew the correct answer. This question demonstrated students have a background knowledge in social sustainability. 79% of UWL respondents were able to answer question four correctly. Of those respondents that answered incorrectly, only 7% of them chose the option “don’t know.” This question demonstrated knowledge of social sustainability topics. 94% of UWL respondents were able to answer question five correctly, choosing “the difference has increased.” This overwhelming majority shows that UW-L respondents were very knowledgeable on the topic of economical and environmental sustainability. Of the UWL respondents, 87% were able to answer question six correctly. This question demonstrated knowledge of topics related to economic sustainability. Once again less then 10% of the student population chose the option “Don’t Know”. 71% of UW-L respondents answered question seven correctly. This question demonstrated knowledge of economic sustainability topics. This is one of the first questions were we see some variance in answers selected. Question eight included the highest variance among options as the “correct answer” among UW-L respondents. 45% of respondents were able to choose the correct answer. 17% of respondents chose the option “Don’t know” which is higher than any other question asked in the survey set. This question demonstrated knowledge of economic and environmental sustainability. Question nine was answered correctly by 30% of UW-L respondents. This was the only question on the survey that was answered less than 50% correct by UW-L respondents. The answer chosen most frequently was “ocean pollution” which was chosen by 36% of UW-L respondents. 19% chose “global climate change” and 9% chose “don’t know.” This question was a representation of social and economic sustainability. We found that the number of correct responses from UW-L students was 71.15% versus the University of Maryland’s average of 82.00%. This question was a representation of topics regarding social and environmental sustainability. We found that the UW-L average was 60.31% while the University of Maryland’s average was 80.00%. This question was a representation of knowledge regarding environmental sustainability. For question 12 the correct number of scores for UW-L was 40.61% of respondents and the University of Maryland average was 35.60%. This question included ranking activities from the largest environmental impact to the smallest and was a representation of environmental and social sustainability knowledge. While our initial hypothesis were drawn to conclude that we would see low scores on the ASK questions, but we were pleasantly surprised with the results. Over all, for the averages ran above we can conclude that the majority of students at UW-L have the least amount of knowledge in Economic Sustainability.