Reaching Residents of Green Communities: Evaluation of a Unique Environmental Education Program

Abstract

Often in green communities, homeowner understanding is left out of the project. We evaluated the impact of a new environmental education program installed in a green community, Town of Harmony, Florida. Consisting of educational kiosks, website, and brochure, we evaluated whether Harmony residents' environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors improved when compared to residents of a conventional community. After two years of exposure to the program, Harmony homeowners did show some improvement in environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors and the control community did not. Such on-site educational programs can help homeowners understand ways to manage their homes, yards, and neighborhoods in a more sustainable manner.

Notes

^aFor the yes/no questions, a lower mean indicates more correct responses (i.e., a correct response received a 1, incorrect or unsure response received a 2). For Likert scale questions, questions were scored from 1, strongly disagreed, to 5, strongly agreed. For the Sufficient Information Scale, a higher mean indicates that respondents felt that they had sufficient information on environmental issues (the highest score possible is 35).

^aFor these questions: 1 is never; 2 is once a month; 3 is 1–4 times per month; 4 is > 5 times per month;

^bHave you ever read questions: 1 is yes and 2 is no or unsure

^cFor source of environmental information: 1 = never; 2 = once; 3 = infrequently; 4 = sometimes; 5 = regularly; 6 = frequently.