Rural-Urban Differences in Environmental Knowledge and Actions

Abstract

Greater awareness of between-group variation in environmental attitudes and knowledge will improve the quality of environmental education programs. The authors examined environmental characteristic differences between rural and urban residents, using telephone survey data from a sample of Kentucky River Basin residents. Although they expected that the more urban and metropolitan an individual, the greater would be the individual's environmental world view, concern, knowledge, and actions, they found no consistent differences by residence in these characteristics. They did find differences by education and income. They concluded that the success of environmental education depends on its participation in promoting equity in the general population.