The Effects of Eco-Friendly Consumer Education on Ecological Footprint

환경 친화적 소비자 교육이 생태 발자국에 미치는 영향

The purpose of this study is to investigate the change in ecological footprint made by the eco-friendly consumer education program, and ultimately, to help the high school students, future consumers, have eco-friendly attitude. This study will be contributed to helping them to understand the importance of the eco-friendly consumption and the seriousness of the environmental problems arising from their bad consumption habit, to get interested in the environmental problems in daily lives, and to reduce the ecological footprint through the eco-friendly habit acquired when young. This study is designed to have 60 high school students experience the eco-friendly consumer education program for 10 months and compare the levels of each ecological footprint though two different Questionnaires in five sections: housing, food, transportation, purchase, and waste. The program used in this research consists of three parts: eco-friendly attitude education for consumers, eco-friendly citizen education for consumers, and eco-friendly resource management education for consumers. The data are analyzed by SPSS Window 10.0 program. The findings are as follows: First. The eco-friendly consumer education is more likely to help the students develop critical thought and eco-friendly attitude, unlike the economy-related consumer education. Second. The level of ecological footprint is significantly decreased in the group with the eco-friendly consumer education program. compared to the group without it. Third. Experiencing the eco-friendly consumer education program helps the students have the positive attitude on ecology and lead an environmentally sustainable consumer life. The results show that eco-friendly consumer education can make a contribution to raising the good citizens who have eco-friendly attitude and behavior, lead sustainable consumer life, and try to reduce the level of ecological footprint.