1 Plant Archives Vol. 20, Supplement 2, 2020 pp. 2167-2171 e-ISSN:2581-6063 (online), ISSN:0972-5210 A STUDY OF AWARENESS AND ATTITUDE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION Gina K. Thomas, Glory George, Ashikha P. Hassan and Asha Gangadharan * Department of Biochemistry, Mar Athanasius College, Kothamangalam, Kerala, India *Author for correspondence : asharaj81@gmail.com Abstract The proper awareness and right attitude towards the protection of natural resources is of great concern in the modern world. The major concern among environmental pollution is plastic pollution. Plastic serves plethora of uses in our society due to its durability, but the toxicity caused by plastics in the environment is inevitable as it is non-biodegradable. The purpose of environmental education is to acquaint and sensitize college students to the environmental problems and concern, in order to instil upon them, the apt social attitude and healthy approach towards environmental protection. Therefore, it is required to measure their level of awareness and attitude towards environmental concerns. This study was aimed to investigate the environmental awareness among graduate students and to evaluate the attitude and behaviours related to environmental concerns. The survey had 22 questions that tested their knowledge, awareness, behaviour and attitude of college students on environmental pollution. The data was statistically analysed by IBM SPSS 20. The study enabled the students to analyse, evaluate and draw inference about issues related to environment. However, the students had high levels of concern, awareness and knowledge about the environmental pollution and understood how harmful human activities are to the environment. But their attitude and behaviour for the betterment of environment is not much promising. This study provides a framework on which more in-depth examination of factors influencing positive behaviours and attitude can build. Keywords: Environment Awareness, Pollution, Student attitude. Introduction Environment is the combination of living and non- living substances. Raising environmental awareness is an absolute necessity to protect the nature for all living beings in our ecosystems. Local and international environmental issues need to be kept in mind so that everyone feels the need to fulfil their obligations. The main reason for raising environmental awareness is to change the perspective of how humans conceive the idea of nature to create a sense of responsibility towards the cause (Onder, 2006). As human beings; we are responsible for the environmental pollution caused as a result of violating the laws of nature. Increased knowledge about the environment is assumed to a precondition for the attitude towards environment which can influence environmental policy (Ouz and Kavas, 2010). The importance of environmental education must be encouraged in higher education curricula (Arcury, 1990). Although people seem to be aware of the consequences that are existent in nature at a given time, yet people are hesitant to change their lifestyle even when the consequences are right around the corner. However, little research has done so far on the relationship between environmental awareness and environmental attitude of college students. The aim of this study is to examine the level of environmental awareness and attitude towards environment pollution among college students, to study the relation between them and to find out whether socio-demographic factors like gender and living spaces (rural and urban areas) could influence it. Objectives To analyse the level of environmental awareness and attitude among college students with respect to their gender and their living spaces (rural and urban areas). To study the relationship between environmental awareness and attitude towards environment and plastic pollution Materials and Methods Sample The study sample consisted of 200 participants who were graduate and postgraduate students of various colleges around Kothamangalam, a town in Ernakulam District, Kerala, India. Research Hypothesis Hypothesis 1: There will be no significant difference in awareness about environment pollution among college students with respect to gender and locality (urban and rural). Hypothesis 2: There will be no significant difference in attitude towards environment among college students with respect to socio-demographic factors (gender and locality). Hypothesis 3: There will be no significant linear relationship between awareness about pollution and attitudes towards environment among college students. Measuring Tools The survey was conducted among college students studying in various departments belonging to different colleges. The questionnaire was delivered as Google forms as per the tools developed by Environmental Awareness Ability Measures (EAAM) by Praveen Jha For complete collection