Investigation of ecological footprint of academicians according to different variables

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to calculate and evaluate the ecological footprints of the academicians in terms of various variables. The survey method was used in the study. Data were collected from academicians (149 males, 57 female) working at a state university in the South-eastern Anatolia of Turkey during the 2017-2018 academic year. The web-based “Ecological Footprint Calculation Tool” with four sub-dimensions (food, travel, housing, other) was used as data collection tool in the research. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used to analyse the data. In paired comparisons, t-test was used for independent groups and ANOVA was used for the comparison of more than two groups. The average ecological footprint value of the participants was calculated in terms of global hectares and the carbon footprint was calculated in tons. According to the results, it was determined that most of the academicians were not knowledgeable about the ecological footprint, they were not members of any non-governmental organizations related to the environment, and did not participate in social and sports activities related to the environment. The average ecological footprint value of academicians was determined above Turkey’s and global average. It was revealed that there was no significant difference among the groups in terms of gender, knowledge of the ecological footprint, being a member of any non-governmental organization related to environment, academic title, participating in social and sports activities related to environment, age and faculty variables.