Ecological lifestyle of Vietnamese students

RESEARCH REPORT

ECOLOGICAL LIFESTYLE OF VIETNAMESE STUDENTS Project: Partnership to support and promote informal and non-formal education for Advocating an eco-lifestyle and climate change adaptation and mitigation in Vietnamese and Laotian Universities

Vietnam, 2015

This research is in the framework of the project “Partnership to support and promote informal and non-formal education for Advocating an eco-lifestyle and climate change adaptation and mitigation in Vietnamese and Laotian Universities” in 2015 organized by Center for Development of Community Initiative and Environment (C&E) and funded by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Asia.

Content and Photo Center for Development of Community Initiative and Environment Copywright No use of this publication may be made for resale or any other commercial purpose Coordinator Bùi Thị Thanh Thủy Research Group Bùi Thị Thanh Thủy, Vũ Văn Tuấn, Hoàng Thanh Tâm, Ngô Thị Phương Thảo, Nguyễn Thế Hưng, Nguyễn Khánh Linh Editor Vũ Văn Tuấn, Nguyễn Thùy Dương, Hoàng Hồng Hạnh, Trương Minh Đến, Trần Thị Kim Hoàn

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Design Nguyễn Khánh Linh

CENTER FOR DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY INITIATIVE AND ENVIRONMENT (C&E) Center for Development of Community Initiative and Environment (C&E) is a Vietnamese not-for-profit and non-governmental organisation. We work to promote participation and improve capacity of local community groups and organisations for better solutions to environmental issues that are related to their life, contributing to the development of civil society and sustainable environment in Vietnam. C&E has a network of community groups all around Vietnam including young volunteers and civil society groups who work on sustainable development field.

At the moment, C&E is working on many projects related to Sustainable Development such as: “Education for Sustainable Development”, “Youth Action on Sustainable Lifestyles” and “Capacity Building for Community towards sustainable livelihoods and environmental protection”.

C&E was granted establishment decision from the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) number 1202/ QD-LHH dated 27 August 2008 and operation license No. A-754 from Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) dated September 12, 2008.

Vision C&E envisages the future of Vietnam in which local communities, groups, and organisations actively participate in solutions to environmental problems, conservation of natural resources, and maintenance of sustainable life.

Mission C&E supports local communities, communitybased organisations, and civil society organisations in formulation and implementation of initiatives to protect the environment, conserve natural resources, and promote sustainable development.

Goals To assist community-based organisations in improvement of their knowledge and capacity, and use of their right to increase accessibility to and use of social resources to build sustainable livelihoods and conserve local natural resources.

To cooperate with and support professionalbased groups such as social professional associations and local NGOs in enhancement of their capacity to support community organisations, advocate environmental and development policies, and monitor government’s policies and projects.

To establish networks and forums to exchange ideas and share information among C&E beneficiaries and interested parties.

Areas of Focus - Natural resource management and conservation - Environmental protection and climate change - Civil society development and participation - Gender equity Programme and activities - Research and implementation of programs on environmental issues - Capacity building - Policy advocacy - Education and communication - Networking and partnership Center for Development of Community Initiative and Environment Address: / No 12 – Lane 89 Xa Dan Street, Phuong Lien, Dong Da, Hanoi Tel: 04.3573 8536 Fax: 04.3573 8537 Website: www.ce-center.org.vn Email: ce.center.office@gmail.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ce.center.vn

Acknowledgement

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The research team would like to express deep gratitude to the professionals and partners who have actively supported us both in terms of materials and human resources during the process of implementing this study.

We also want to thank all staffs from Center for Development of Community Initiative and Environment who have participated, supported and facilitated the team to fulfill its tasks.

The team expressed sincere thanks to the collaborators, all the students who enthusiastically participated in the survey and group interviews, as well as other activities that supported this research.

Especially, we want to send our tribute to Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Asia for having provided technical and financial support so that we can carry out the research successfully.

ABSTRACT

This study focused on analysing the survey results and interviews about ecological lifestyle among students in biggest cities of Vietnam – where the majority of the country’s universities are based. The key objective of the study is to learn about daily life activities, daily lifestyle and desire to have the capacity and access to information about the ecological lifestyle of Vietnamese students aged between 18 - 25. From that, appropriate suggestions are presented to raise the awareness and promote ecological lifestyles among students.

The analytical results from surveys and interviews were combined with other methods to complete this study. The study results showed that the majority of students in Vietnamese biggest cities do not understand deeply about the connection between their lifestyle and environmental issues and climate change. Only a small percentage of students are aware of applying green activities in their daily lives.

This is not affected by students’ major of study or their location. But genders and different spending habits can be two factors which determine the willingness to adopt a green lifestyle among Vietnamese youth. Most of the popular green actions are simple, easy to apply while the more difficult and complicated actions, which is very rare at the moment, usually requires much more time and effort.

The students also shared the reasons why this topic has not gained much of their attention and how practical actions can be promoted. From that, the team has compiled suggestions on how to develop contents and formats for ecological lifestyles education programmes to suit best the targeted audience.

The results and recommendations from this study will be a reliable and sharable source of information for individuals and organizations wishing to promote activities related to sustainable lifestyle, climate change or environment protection for students.

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CONTENT Acknowledgement 1 Abstract 2 Content 3 Abbreviations 5 List of Graphs 5 List of Tables 6 Rationale 7 Context 7 The necessity of this research 8 Research purposes and objectives 8 Research respondents 9 Research scope 9 Conceptual framework 10 Research Overview 11 What is ecological lifestyle?

11 Programs and documents related to ecological lifestyle in Vietnam and in the world 12 Research Methodology 16 Research scope 16 Research methods 16 Actual results 16 Information source and synthesizing method 16 3

Data analysis 16 Research team 16 Research Results 17 Basic information about research subject 17 Knowledge and lifestyle of Vietnamese students in big cities 20 Expectation of students about ecological training 31 Key research findings 37 Awareness and knowledge of youth about ecological lifestyle and climate change 37 Actions of youth lifestyles: trends and influencial factors 37 Expectation of youth, means of ecological education and communication 39 Conclusion and Recommendation 40 Appendix 42 References 42 Survey content 43 Group interview questions 51

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ABBREVIATIONS ACCD – Action Center for City Development C&E – Center for Development of Community Initiative and Environment CC – Climate Change CSDS – Center for Sustainable Development Studies Vietnam GG – Green Growth GSSL – Global Survey on Sustainable Lifestyle EL – Ecological lifestyle HCMC – Hochiminh City Live&Learn – Centre of Live and Learn for Environment and Community NGO – Non-governmental Organization UNDP – United Nations Development Program UNEP – United Nations Environment Program UNESCO – United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization

LIST OF GRAPHS Graph 1 - Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity of Vietnam in 2011 Graph 2 - CO2 Emissions in Vietnam and The Philippines from 2005 to 2011 Graph 3 - Respondents’ housing Graph 4 - Monthly average cost for accomdation of researched respondents Graph 5 - Level of life satisfaction in research respondents Graph 6 - Self-assessment of knowledge level about climate change Graph 7 - Average time using computers, laptops, cell-phones Graph 8 - Popular means of transportation Graph 9 - Type of major house wastes Graph 10 - Reasons why research respondents have not chosen ecological products Graph 11 - Impacts of commercial and international economic Graph 12 - Channels of climate change information Graph 13 - Priority issues to solve globally Graph 14 - Topics in ecological lifestyle that research respondents are interested in Graph 15 - Activities that research respondents want to learn Graph 16 - Percentage of respondents participating in ecological training courses before Graph 17 - Level of willingness to join an ecological training Graph 18 - Training methods Graph 19 - Types of material that students like

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12 13 18 18 19 20 22 24 25 28 30 32 33 33 33 34 35 36 36

LIST OF TABLES Table 1 - Living areas of research respondents 17 Table 2 - Order of expenses in a family 18 Table 3 - Awareness of reseach respondents about impacts of lifestyle 20 Table 4 - Assesment options about given statements 21 Table 5 - Assessment in knowledge of impacts of climate change 21 Table 6 - Implementing saving electrictity activities frequency 22 Table 7 - Comparison between average electricity bills and unplugging devices when not in use 23 Table 8 - Average electricity expense and median per city 23 Table 9 - Average water expense and median per city 24 Table 10 - Average number of plastic bags using a day 25 Table 11 - Frequence of implementing activities related to waste topic following genders 26 Table 12 - The frequency of doing actions in shopping – consumption 27 Table 13 - Places to eat of research respondents 29 Table 14 - Assess frequency of eating different kinds of food 29 Table 15 - Assess the importance level of elements when choosing food 30 Table 16 - Access level of personal interests sacrifice for the environment 34 Table 17 - Average personal interests sacrifice for the environment and training course participation willingness level 35

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RATIONALE

Context In the context of complex and rapid growth, some people might think their everyday actions affect no one but themselves. On a global scale, the daily lives of each person is just a drop in the ocean of life, especially when facing with big challenges like climate change which has impacted greatly to economics, society and environment. However, scientists have many researches showing that small actions can have impact on a big system, as we usually call it “the butterfly effect”. The way we live affect not only us ourselves, but also natural environment and society on Earth. “This means we also have many opportunities, through our individual and collective choices, to operate the change and build solutions for sustainable lifestyles.”

At the moment, environmental degradation and its relation to daily lives are no longer considered new topics to Vietnamese youth, especially to those who live and study in big cities like Hanoi, Danang, Hue, Hochiminh City. News and programs about environment pollution and climate change is becoming more and more popular to every people, in addition to the implementation of “National Target Program to Respond to Climate Change”. The urging question has been raised about whether the easy access to climate change information and the awareness about environment issues would lead to concrete actions to mitigate climate change impacts and improve environment quality. The ways individuals, communities and societies exchange and consume goods and services based on current needs and wants, on their values and aspirations, have become cru-

cial in determining whether today’s and tomorrow’s generations can succeed in living within the boundaries of our planet. As global challenges are becoming increasingly complex and inter-­‐ connected, solutions for sustainable lifestyles need to be developed based on integrated, participatory and multi-­‐stakeholder approaches. (UNEP, 2015).

In 2010, Center for Development of Community Initiative and Environment (C&E) participated in a global survey on youth’s sustainable lifestyles carried out by UNEP in cooperation with Task Force on Sustainable Lifestyles (in the Framework of Marrakech Process on Sustainable Consumption and Production). From this survey on, C&E has been joining in YouthXchange Initiative started by UNEP and UNESCO to promote sustainable lifestyle for young people via education, dialogue, raising awareness and building capacity with the credo of turning theory into actions towards sustainable lifestyle among youth. After 5 years with various activities in different formats, along with other similar campaigns in Vietnam, C&E Center realizes the needs of assessing the situation, opinion and expectation of youth in topics related to sustainable lifestyle, especially with the ecological aspect of Vietnamese youth’s lifestyle. From 2015 onwards, after conducting a research on sustainable lifestyle, C&E Center will be able to design programs and activities that is suitable and feasible for youth.

1- Sylvie Lemmet – Director Division of Technology, Industry and Economics United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Vision To Change,2011

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The necessity of this research Since 2010, based on the result of Global Survey on Sustainable Lifestyles of youth including Vietnamese youth, Center for Development of Community Initiative and Environment (C&E) has organized different programs, events, and trainings about sustainable lifestyle in Vietnamese youth.

However, there has not been any specific and accurate study about the current state as well as the training needs of young people in Vietnam with sustainable lifestyle topics in the context of an ever changing society. Therefore, organizers and trainers had difficulties in assessing the longterm impact of a program, which leads to people questioning the real quality of these environmental events and possibly refusing to believe and follow green actions in their daily life. Hence assessing the current state of practising sustainable lifestyle in students before designing content of specific activities proves to be essential.

In order to find out about lifestyle of young people, especially of students living in big cities in Vietnam, and to propose suitable educational curriculum and methodologies for youth about green and ecological lifestyle, C&E Center conducted the research “Ecological lifestyle of Vietnamese students”.

The results are drawn from this research will help the organizers understand lifestyle of Vietnamese youth in cities and their wishes to be trained on the topic “ecological lifestyle”. As a result, Center for Development of Community Initiative and Environment can offer solutions through training programs, educational tools that are effective, practical and consistent with the nature and needs of this group.

In addition, the results of this research will be used to deliver a comparative research with a different group of Lao students (2015) and the global survey on sustainable lifestyle in youth conducted by UNEP in cooperation with Task Force on Sustainable Lifestyles (in the Framework of Marrakech Process on Sustainable Consumption and Production) organized in 2010. From that, organizers can make decisions and orientation for joint activities of the two countries Vietnam and Laos. The results of this research can be used for further researches on topics related to youth’s lifestyle in Vietnam, as well as being used for other communication and education purposes.

Research Purposes and Objectives Research Purposes

This research is conducted with 3 main purposes: 1. Understand daily life actions and the expectation to build capacity and approach information about ecological lifestyle of Vietnames students 18 – 25 years old, focusing on students in big cities (Hanoi, Hue, Danang, Hochiminh City)

2. Assess and compare activities/programs for students about ecological lifestyle in the last 5 years.

3. Assess current status of ecological lifestyle in Vietnamese students. Analyze and propose relevent methods to introduce and publicize this lifestyle among the target groups.

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Project Objectives 1. Collect at least 1000 survey answers about ecological lifestyle of Vietnamese youth (age 18 – 25), in which at least 500 are done on paper and 500 are done online.

2. Conduct at least 30 group interviews, each group has 6-8 students who are qualified to the target group of this research

Research Respondents

Research respondents

3. A complete report on ecological lifestyle in Vietnamese students is compiled from the results of the survey, interviews and other literature review and desk research.

Beneficiaries

Lifestyles of Vietnamese youth in general and es- Some groups that will be able to benefit from the pecially of students in big cities. results of this research are: 1. Organizations working in the field of youth and Requirements for participants of survey and group environment development and want to research interviews: Vietnamese students aged from 18 to more about sustainable/ecological lifestyle and 25 years old currently living and studying in Viet- apply it into their project activities. nam.

2. Universities that aim to integrate sustainable/ ecological lifestyle into their activities about enviParticularly, in group interviews and paper sur- ronmental protection and climate change adaptaveys, participants are students currently living and tion. studying in 4 big cities: Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang 3. Young people who are interested in and want and HCMC. These student groups were selected to apply actions, run projects about ecological from different universities with different majors. lifestyle.

This was to provide diversity for information and 4. Companies and enterprises that want to have opinions. The research team also considered gen- information about their young clients to develop der balance and background with experience in more environmentally friendly products. social and environmental activities of participants. 5. Governmental offices with range of work related to environment and/or youth development to develop suitable and attractive activities for youth.

Research Scope In the survey, research scope is nationwide, focusing on Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang and HCMC. Group interviews were only conducted in Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang and HCMC. Target group: young people aged from 18 – 25 years old, most of them are students in universities.

In literature review, this research used materials related to: youth, environmental protection, climate change and sustainable lifestyle that were carried out by other credible individuals and non profit organizations.

Time of research: April 2015 - September 2015.

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Conceptual Framework Literature Review

Survey

Synthesize and Analyze Information

Group Interview

Propose suitable curriculum and educational tools

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RESEARCH OVERVIEW What is ecological lifestyle?

At the moment, there has not been any official definition about ecological lifestyle. This concept is commonly understood to be equivalent to “sustainable lifestyle” and “green living”. In the international literature, ecological lifestyle, sustainable lifestyle and green living are generally considered to have similar meaning and can replace each other in most cases.

At the same time, when mentioning lifestyle of each individual person, the critical expression of lifestyle is the way people consume products and services in daily life such as the use of electricity, water, shopping, educational and entertaining services…

Within the scope of this study, “ecological lifestyle” means the way of life, the collection of daily life activities of people in a balanced/healthy and close to nature way, while taking into account the reduction of negative impacts on the environment. It is an environmentally friendly lifestyle yet still ensure the needs of human life.

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According to the report of Marrakech task force on sustainable lifestyle: “Sustainable lifestyles means rethinking our ways of living, how we buy and how we organize our everyday life. It is also about altering how we socialize, exchange, share, educate and build identities. It means transforming our societies and living in harmony with our natural environment. As citizens, at home and at work, many of our choices – on energy use, transport, food, waste, communication and solidarity – contribute towards building sustainable lifestyles.

Every sector of society has something to contribute.”[8] United Nation Environment Program – UNEP gives the definition: “a ‘sustainable lifestyle’ is a way of living that is enabled both by efficient infrastructures, services and products, and by individual choices and actions to minimize the use of natural resources, emissions, wastes and pollution while supporting equitable socio-economic development and progress for all and conserving the Earth’s life support systems within the planet’s ecological carrying capacity.” [1] In a report published by Stockholm Environment Institute in 2009, sustainable lifestyles were defined as “patterns of action and consumption, used by people to affiliate and differentiate themselves from others, which: meet basic needs, provide a better quality of life, minimise the use of natural resources and emissions of waste and pollutants over the lifecycle, and do not jeopardise the needs of future generations.”

(Mont, 20072) Mont, O. (2007) Concept paper for the International Task Force on Sustainable Lifestyles. Third International Expert Meeting on Sustainable Consumption and Production, Stockholm 2

Hecta toàn cầu trên đầu người

Programs and documents related to ecological lifestyle in Vietnam and in the world

Dấu chân sinh thái Sức tải sinh học

Graph 1 - Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity of Vietnam in 2011 The importance of lifestyle in reducing environmental degradation has been highlighted in numerous international documents. One of most typical program under this theme is “The Sustainable Lifestyles and Education programme” in “The 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production” of the United Nation Environment Program (UNEP). This program indicated that the global ecological footprint is now 1.5 times higher than the Earth capability to provide the renewable and non-renewable resources for human. In the next 35 years, while the global population is constantly increasing and could reach to 9.6 billion people by 2050, followed by the current rate of consumer demand and production, we will need almost three planets to sustain our ways of living (UNEP, 2015).

According to the data of Global Footprint Network, until 2011, the ecological footprint of people in Vietnam is constantly increasing, especially after 2000 with 0.8 hectares/person in 2001 and reached to 1.4 hectares/person in 2011. This shows that we are consuming more and more resources of the Earth to cater the needs of own life.

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Along with the consumption of nature resources, there is the emission of waste products from consumption back to the environment. According to World Bank, CO2 emission of Vietnam from 2005 to 2011 increased rapidly from 100.000 kiloton to 175.000 kiloton (1 kilo-ton = 1000 ton). Compared to The Philippines - a country with similar population and area, it is observed that CO2 emission in Vietnam is more than twice higher CO2 emission in The Philippines at the same time in 2011.

Kiloton

Graph 2 - CO2 Emissions in Vietnam and The Philippines from 2005 to 2011 The research on young consumers in Vietnam (Young consumers , 2014) performed by a group of RMIT University lecturers with students in the two major cities (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City) also brought out the point that “The widespread adoption of Western consumerism is a serious concern throughout Asia, including Vietnam, primarily because of the potential impact on the environment”. This research also showed that to young people, expressing themselves is more important than environment (when making shopping choices).

The survey report “Green Getsture” of the project Get Green Vietnam shows that in the target groups of the project including “office staffs”, “housewives” and “students”, the group “students” has the lowest starting point, which means they performed fewest activities of green living.

In 2010, the researcher group of Center for Development of Community Initiative and Environment have conducted a survey on sustainable lifestyles of young people in Vietnam. This survey located in the Global Survey on Sustainable lifestyles (GSSL) implemented by UNEP in 2010-2011. The survey results pointed out that only a small percentage of these young people interested in implementing sustainable living actions. Although the majority of youth wanted to have a good and sustainable life, this desire has not really been converted into action. They were still trapped in the conflict between context and action, between expectation and ambition.

The report of Global Survey on Sustainable lifestyles from UNEP (2010 – 2011) pointed out that “The shift towards sustainable lifestyles and consumption patterns is a pre-requisite to the achievement of sustainable development. The results of the GSSL highlight the importance of promoting research and education for sustainable lifestyles at all levels. For this shift to happen, generating, synthesizing and sharing knowledge for a better understanding of lifestyles and consumption patterns with regards to sustainability issues is key. Education, at all levels and in all its forms (informal, formal), professional training and awareness-raising will help build capacities for sustainable lifestyles at all levels of society (policy-makers, business sector, civil society, communities, households and individuals). Several initiatives and networks have put research and education for sustainable lifestyles at the core of their activities, ... They can be fur13

ther up-scaled and replicated to advance sustainable lifestyles through projects, such as the Global Survey on Sustainable Lifestyles, essential to create and turn new visions for sustainable lifestyles into reality.

In Vietnam, The National Strategy on Green Growth period 2011 – 2020, vision to 2050, has put “green living” and “living in harmony with environment” into two of its seventeen main solutions. In details, solution 12 – Building new countryside model with a lifestyle that harmonizes with envrionment and solution 13 – Promote sustainable consumption and build green lifestyle. This shows that the promotion and development of ecological lifestyle is no longer a topic mentioned only for communities and individuals, it has become a topic at national policy level.

In recent years in Vietnam, there are several organizations and projects started to develop activities towards green living and develop green living project for youth with various model and new approaches.

A typical example is GetGreen Vietnam Project, executed by Delft Technology University in The Netherlands in cooperation with Asia Institute of Technology in Vietnam and Vietnam Cleaner Production Centre, with a series of trainings for green living groups throughout Vietnam. This project was based on a set of well-done topics about green actions. Guidebooks and videos on green living tips were made and publicized to participants and to the community via project website.

Another example is the program “Hoi An sustainability field school” organized by Action Center for City Development (ACCD). This program directs students to knowledge and skills about “organic agriculture” and “sustainable playgrounds”. This model was favourited and supported by many young people in the Central of Vietnam.

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In addition, Center for Development of Community Initiative and Environment (C&E Center) organized a number of project activities focusing on “sustainable lifestyle” with YouthXchange Vietnam Network. Since 2010, C&E Center has often conducted trainings, competitions and events about related topics like “sustainable consumption”, “wise consumers”, “sustainable tourism” in Vietnam from the North to the South, focusing on universities in Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang and HCMC. Added to that, two YouthXChange guidebooks on “responsible consumption” and “lifestyle and climate change” were translated into Vietnamese and updated with Vietnam case studies and examples. These two guidebooks are used in trainings and publicized to youth.

These activities and materials started to attract the interest and participation of many students and received good feedbacks from them for the practical content and new, interesting methods including practical experience for students, learning from

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community to serve community, lessons on planning and making policies related to sustainable development.

As can be seen, in the context of increasing pressure of production and consumption on environment, young people – accounting for 27.7% of the national population has not really care and have many actions contributing to solve these problems from their daily life. Activities towards building sustainable lifestyle, ecological lifestyle among youth started to become more popular as an effective and sustainable way to tackle global environmental issues. A study assessing lifestyle, knowledge and needs of the youth at present is necessary in order to contribute to orient and create the foundation for activities of young people in Vietnam participated in the global movement “sustainable lifestyle and education” initiated by UNEP.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Scope

The research scope is big cities in Vietnam: Hanoi, Hai Phong, Hue, Da Nang, HCMC, Can Tho. This is where big universities and colleges in the country locate with a big number of students and high rate of youth in the community.

Research methods

- Data collection - Interview

+ Survey: online survey and paper survey

+ Group discussion - Expert consultance - Statistics - Historical Inheritance

Actual results Survey collected: 1180. In which 566 were done directly on papers in Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang and HCMC; 614 were done online (participants were youth aged from 18 – 25 and mainly come from Hanoi, Hai Phong, Hue, Da Nang, HCMC, Can Tho) 34 group interviews were conducted in Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang and HCMC.

Information source and synthesizing method

Primary data were collected from the results of the survey and group interviews with individuals and student groups from universities throughout Vietnam, focusing on Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang and HCMC. Secondary data were collected from related researches of organizations in Vietnam such as universities, non-governmental organizations, governmental organizations and international report.

Data analysis

This research uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect information from different stakeholders. The research focuses on synthesizing and analyzing primary and secondary datas.

Data collected from the survey and group interviews were then analyzed using SPSS and other statistical analysis tools. Survey results were analyzed based on different indicators: gender, year of study, major and basic information about familyhood and habitat. From then, the research will analyze impacts of these indicators on youth actions and lifestyles.

Research team

Experts and officers of C&E Center together with the support from other governmental and non-governmental organization, universities and collaborators nationwide.

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RESEARCH RESULTS Basic information about research subject

Among 1180 examined respondents, 36.3% are male, 62.8% are female and the rest accounts for 0.9%. Respondents come from diffent places in Vietnam, in which Hanoi has the biggest rate at 44.4%. Details distribution of where respondents come from is shown on Table 1 below: No

Area

Quantity (n)

Percentage (%)

1

Hanoi

520

44.4

2

Hai Phong

17

1.5

3

Hue

88

7.5

4

Da Nang

217

18.5

5

Can Tho

13

1.1

6

HCMC

209

17.8

7

Other (The North)

41

3.5

8

Other (The Central)

53

4.5

9

Other (The South)

13

1.2

1171

100.0

Total

Table 1 - Living areas of research respondents About major distribution, students who took part in this survey were mainly studying in Vietnam universities. In which there were 28.8% studying economics compared to only 6.3% studying environment, the rest studied other majors. The rate of respondents participating in clubs and groups are high, at 70.7%. But there is only 3.6% participating in environment clubs.

The research group conducted interview with 34 students groups in Vietnam. There were 11 groups in Hanoi, 10 groups in Da Nang, 3 groups in Hue and 10 groups in HCMC. The average number of group members is from 6 to 8 persons, who are students from various universities inside the city.

51% (602 people) of research respondents lives with their parents, living with friends is 30.5% (360 people), living alone is 16.95% (200 people) and 1.55% of them residing with grandparents, uncle or their lover/partner. Among them, 40.6% lives in their home, 39,5% lives in rent room, 12.6% lives in dormitory, 5.8% lives in apartment building, 1.5% lives in other condition.

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Graph 3 – Respondents’ housing About monthly spenditure, the proportion that spend more than 3.000.000VND for transportation and food is 9%, spending from 1.500.000 - 3.000.000 takes 44.9% and 46.1% of research respondents only spend less than 1.500.000 VND for transportation and food.

Graph 4 - Monthly average cost for accomdation of researched respondents In family expenses, spending for food and drink takes the biggest part with 72.9% research respondents choose this as the highest and second spending in their house. Next is “home, electrictity and water” at 55.9%. Transportation and Entertainment take the smallest portion

No

Home, electricity, water

Food and drink

Education, healthcare services

Transportation

Entertainment

1

32.7

34.6

17.4

3.9

7.0

2

23.2

38.3

21.3

10.3

11.1

3

23

16.5

30.8

21.9

18.5

4

10.6

5.4

17.4

33.6

30.6

5

10.5

5.2

13.1

30.3

32.8

Table 2 - Order of expenses in a family (Unit: %) 18

Top three actions students usually do when they have free time is: using TV/laptop – 72.6%; hanging out with friends – 65.8% and sleeping – 42.5%.

Average point assesses sastisfation level of their living is 6.92, Standard Deviation is 1.893 (on the scale of 10). There is 77% of students chose more a high point of life satisfaction (more than 6) and only 9.5% chose the points below average. In the Global survey on sustainable lifestyle 2010, the average life satisfaction of participants was 7/10.

Graph 5 – Level of life satisfaction in research respondents (Unit: Person)

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Knowledge and lifestyle of Vietnamese students in big cities Knowledge about Climate Change and Ecological Lifestyle

When being asked about personal opinion on what topics lifestyle has impact on, majority of respondents think that their lifestyle impacts health (84%), environment (78.3%) and household economic situation (75.3%). Only 47.4% persons who asked responded that lifestyle can impact climate change.

No

Problem

Quantity (n)

Percentage (%)

1

Environment

924

78.3

2

Culture

625

53.0

3

World peace

128

10.8

4

Wealth gap

226

19.2

5

Health

991

84.0

6

House economic situation

889

75.3

7

Biodiversity

261

22.1

8

Social Crime

169

14.3

9

Nation economics

251

21.3

10

Climate change

559

47.4

11

Others

16

1.4

Table 3 - Awareness of reseach respondents about impacts of lifestyle When assessing their own level of knowledge about climate change, only 6.7% of the respondents think they understand it very well while 92.2% either understand a little or heard about it but don’t really understand. Only 8 students stated that they don’t care and 5 of students never heard of it, which accounts to 1% of research respondents

Graph 6 - Self-assessment of knowledge level about climate change In addition, students who study environment have the highest rate of choosing “I understand it very well”, however it only accounts for 13.9% in total of environmental students. Beside, students choosing “I have never heard about it” are mainly those who study social science major.

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Regarding specific statements on Climate Change, the survey receives results as follows: Option

Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree Strongly disagree

I notice that the climate is changing where I live

51.7

40.5

6.8

0.7

0.3

I regularly consider the environmental impacts of my daily activities

17.8

36.0

40.3

5.5

0.4

I am well informed about climate change and its effects on my living

9.5

24.8

42.1

21.0

2.6

I believe that my individual actions can make a difference to the planet

48.5

37.6

9.9

3.4

0.6

I make good decisions considering the environment

21.8

44.6

28.8

3.7

1.1 Unit: %

Table 4 - Assesment options about given statements

In this question, there are 92.2% students agree that the climate around them is changing. However, only 53.8% said that they consider the environmental impacts of their daily lives. There is 86.1% participants believe that their individual actions can make a difference. Only 34.4% research respondents think that they received enough information about CC from other channels. Finally, there is 66.4% think that they make good decisions considering the environment.

Regarding issues resulted from impacts of climate change, among 1180 research respondents, there are 349 persons have not had answers or answered wrong (29.6%), 226 persons answered correctly all 8 sub-points about impacts of CC (19.15%) and 605 had incompleted answer.

Quantity (n)

Percentage (%)

Correct and fully understanding

226

19.1

Lack of understanding

605

51.3

Wrong understanding and do not know

349

29.6

1180

100

Total

Table 5 - Assessment in knowledge of impacts of climate change Those who study environment or participated in environment club showed to be more knowledgable about CC than those studying other majors.

During focus group discussions, 26/34 participated groups said that ecological lifestyle means doing environmental protection actions. Nearly 50% of these groups related ecological lifestyle with transportation activities. However, there is only a small percentage of groups related EL with topics like entertainment (3 out of 34 groups), lifestyle in offices, schools or households (4 out of 34 groups), tourism (6 out of 34 groups), food – shopping consumption (7 out of 34 groups) and climate change (7 out of 34 groups).

Interviewed groups listed out 16 different actions demonstrating ecological lifestyle, in which the most

21

popular ones are recycling, separating waste, cycling, planting tree, saving energy and not using plastic bags. Remarkably, these are also the actions they talked about the most when we asked them “what are the green activities that you want to do but have not been able to do yet?�.

Energy and Transportation

21% of respondents use computers, laptops, cell-phones for less than 3 hours/day. 62.3% of them use these digital devices 3-10 hours/day and the rest 16.7% use them more than 10 hours/day.

Unit: person

Graph 7 - Average time using computers, laptops, cell-phones

The percentage of respondents who usually and always turn off their light and devices when do not in use is high at 89.4%. Many actions has a high percentage of people doing them at around 50%, for example: setting air-cons from 25oC or above in summer - 52.8 %; buying applicances that has energy saving label - 0.5%, unplugging when not in use - 51.5%, replacing incandescent light bulbs by energy saving bulbs -58.4%. On the other hand, the action of cleaning up and maintaining big electric device like air-conditioners and fridges‌ are done with a low rate at 26.3%.

Activities

Yes Quantity (n) Percentage (%)

No Quantity (n)

Percentage (%)

Turn off the lights/applicances when 1049 they are not in use

89.4

124

10.6

Replace incandescent light bulbs with 685 energy saving bulbs

58.4

488

41.6

Unplug appliances when they are not 603 in use

51.5

568

48.5

Clean, maintain your big appliances, 308 such as refrigerators, air conditioners

26.3

863

73.7

Turn on the air-conditioner over 25 610 degree celcious in the summer

52.8

545

47.2

Buy appliances with enery saving cer- 583 tificate

50.1

580

49.9

Table 6 - Implementing saving electrictity activities frequency

Unit: % 22

The average amount of electric bill per person per month is 153,000VND. The median is 100,000VND. The highest is 3,000,000 VND while the lowest is 10,000VND. Energy and transportation are topics that interviewees think of the most when they heard of “ecological lifestyle�.

The difference between electricity median according to the frequency of unplugging while not in use does have statistical meaning (Kruskal-Wallis test, n=1008, p=0.001 < 0.05). The average amount of electric bill in the house of students who usually unplug devices while not in use is less than those who do not unplug.

Usually unplug device when not in use

Number (n)

The average amount of electric bill

The median

No

490

158 500

100 000

Yes

581

149 000

80 000

Table 7 - Comparison between average electricity bills and unplugging devices when not in use The difference between electricity medians in different cities have statistical meaning (Kruskal-Wallis test, n =1007, p <0.001). As can be seen, among these big cities, Hanoi is the one consumes the most electricity in average. Meanwhile, Can Tho is the city that has the biggest median.

No

City

Number (n)

The average amount of electric bill

The median

1

Hanoi

433

199 400

100 000

2

Hai Phong

16

114 800

92 500

3

Hue

85

115 000

50 000

4

Da Nang

200

105 600

80 000

5

Can Tho

10

170 000

135 000

6

HCMC

174

117 600

100 000

7

Others (The North)

30

180 000

100 000

8

Others (The Central)

48

144 600

95 000

9

Others (The South)

11

96 400

50 000

Table 8 - Average electricity expense and median per city

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Unit: VND

The average amount of water use per person per month is 48.700VND, the median is 30.000VND. The lowest number is 2000VND. The highest is 900.000VND. The difference between water medians in different cities have statistical meaning (Kruskal-Wallis test, n =954, p <0.001). We can see HCMC is the city has the biggest average water use and water median, following by Hanoi at second place.

No

City

Number (n)

Average water bill (VND)

Median

1

Hanoi

388

55 100

30 000

2

Hai Phong

15

37 500

30 000

3

Hue

81

36 200

30 000

4

Da Nang

188

35 200

20 000

5

Can Tho

10

34 400

25 000

6

HCMC

160

56 600

47 500

7

Others (The North)

26

63 700

40 000

8

Others (The Central)

43

43 800

30 000

9

Others (The South)

10

38 900

35 000

Table 9 - Average water expense and median per city

Graph 8 - Popular means of transportation

Unit: person

The most popular means of transportation among students is motorbike with 79.4% of participants usually use. In case of long distance travel, 63.1% of respondents choose the mean of transportation that is cheap, 59.7% choose the fast one and only 13.3% choose ones that emits less CO2. Beside, they also choose transportation base on its safety, service quality and their health status

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Waste

Most of research respondents use 1-3 plastic bags per day (64.6%), using more than 12 plastic bags per day only accounts for 0.7%.

Quantity (n)

Percentage (%)

Never

180

15.4

1-3

755

64.6

4-7

200

17.1

8 - 12

25

2.1

>=12

8

0.7

Table 10 - Average number of plastic bags using a day

Types of major waste are primarily food (78.4%), paper (54.7%), plastics (27.9%). Besides, there are electronic (2.6%), clothes (5.3%)â&#x20AC;Ś (Graph 7)

Other

Unit: person

Graph 9 - Type of major house wastes Activities Male Sell your unused electronics Female Male Sell your unused electronics Female

25

Never, rarely, sometimes

Usually/always

Total

n

390

33

423

%

92.2%

7.8%

100.0%

n

676

60

736

%

91.8%

8.2%

100.0%

n

347

76

423

%

82.0%

18.0%

100.0%

n

614

121

735

%

83.5%

16.5%

100.0%

Male Purchase used electronics Female

Say no to plastic bag and/or bring an eco-bag when shopping

Dump leftover food after each meal

Male Female Male Female Male

Classify your waste Female

Recycle unused stuffs into useful things

Male Female Male

Use your refillable water bottle

Turn off water faucet when you brush your teeth

Female

Male Female

n

367

56

423

%

86.8%

13.2%

100.0%

n

671

65

736

%

91.2%

8.8%

100.0%

n

322

101

423

%

76.1%

23.9%

100.0%

n

558

177

735

%

75.9%

24.1%

100.0%

n

254

169

423

%

60.0%

40.0%

100.0%

n

443

292

735

%

60.3%

39.7%

100.0%

n

342

81

423

%

80.9%

19.1%

100.0%

n

580

155

735

%

78.9%

21.1%

100.0%

n

321

102

423

%

75.9%

24.1%

100.0%

n

574

162

736

%

78.0%

22.0%

100.0%

n

176

247

423

%

41.6%

58.4%

100.0%

n

285

451

736

%

38.7%

61.3%

100.0%

n

69

353

422

%

16.4%

83.6%

100.0%

n

88

647

735

12.0%

88.0%

100.0%

Table 11 - Frequence of implementing activities related to waste topic following genders Table 11 shows that, in general, females tend to apply actions to minimize waste and waste water more than males. “Turn off water faucet when you brush your teeth” is the action being done the most, following by “Not dump leftover food after each meal” and “Use your refillable water bottle”. The majority of other actions are being done very rarely with the percentage of people who not doing them is very high – 70%, some actions even reach to 90% people do not apply.

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Shopping – Consumption Shopping and consumption are closely related to the use of natural resources. Below is the table summing the actions related to consumption and shopping in students participated in the survey Never, rarely, sometimes

No

Activities

1

Make a to-buy-list before going shopping

489

2

Read product’s labels (ingredients, origin, expiry date)

3

Quantity (n) Percentage (%)

Usually/always Quantity (n)

Percentage (%)

41,8

682

58,2

318

27,2

853

72,8

Choose products that are safe for health

236

20,2

935

79,8

4

Choose environmentally-friendly products

501

42,8

670

57,2

5

Learn about toxicants in products to avoid when shooping

621

53

550

47

6

Update information about products quality in the market

704

60,1

467

39,9

7

Buy stuff and end up not using them (food, clothes, tool…)

1053

90

117

10

8

Buy new high –tech goods (mobile, laptop…) when the old ones are useable

1080

92,3

90

7,7

Table 12 – The frequency of doing actions in shopping – consumption

Unit: %

Table 12 shows that students do not usually have un-sustainable habit like “buy stuff and end up not using them” (only 10% participants usually do this) and “buy new high-tech goods when the old ones are usable” (7.7% usually do). They also tends to choose products that is good for their health (79.8%) and read products’ labels (72.8%). However, the percentage of research respondents choosing environmentally-friendly products is not high (57.2%), only 58.2% participants make to-buy-list before shopping. Especially, more than 60.1% of students do not have the habit of updating information about products on the market.

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The main reason which make research respondents do not choose ecological product is “ecological products are not diverse”, which accounts for 44.5%, “do not know which one is ecological products” ( 50.3%), “it is more expensive than others” (39.5%), “it is not sold in their livelihood area” (45.1%) and“always buy products they are used to” (44.4%). Besides that, some ecological products do not look as nice as others and consumers also do not have knowledge about ecological products.

Other

(Unit: person) Graph 10 - Reasons why research respondents have not chosen ecological products

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Food Food security is one of the top concerned issue, at the same time, food waste accounts for a large proportion in household waste. Therefore, this issue need to be put under serious consideration and need to be well understood.

Many Vietnamese students have a good habit of cooking for themselves. 87.5% of research respondents cook by themselves at least once a week. However, there is 60.6% having meals in some shops or street venders at least once a week; rarely or never order food to home, 91% eat in a restaurant less than once a week.

Less than once a week

More than once a week

Quantity (n)

Percentage (%)

Quantity (n)

Percentage (%)

1060

91

105

8.9

Some shops or street venders

459

39,4

706

60,6

Order food to home

996

85,6

167

14,4

Cook at home

146

12,4

1018

87,5

Restaurant

Table 13- Places to eat of research respondents Meat consumption is at high level. There is 90.8% of research respondents eating beef, pork or chicken at least one per week; 81.2% eat fish and seafood at least once per week. 97.4% eat vegetables at least once a week.

Less than once a week

More than once a week

Quantity (n)

Percentage (%)

Quantity (n)

Percentage (%)

Chicken, pock, beef...

108

9,2

1060

90,8

Fish and sea food

220

18.8

948

81,2

Vegetable and fruits

30

2,6

1134

97,4

Dairy (milk cheese)

311

26,7

853

73,3

Bread

270

23,3

891

76,7

Frozen food

703

60,4

461

39,6

Imported foods

910

78,2

254

21,8

Locally grown foods

289

24,8

876

75,2

Food they grow

314

57,9

228

42,1

Bottled water

402

34,5

763

65,5

Table 14 - Assess frequency of eating different kinds of food Interestingly, statistics show that people who have higher spending tends to use more meat, imported goods and bottled water and less domestic food.

72.2% of research respondents recognize the important role of food safety, 0.9% think it is not important and they do not care, 68.2% recognize the importance of food origin.

29

Important

Not too important

Do not know/ do not care

n

%

n

%

n

%

How safe is the food to eat?

844

72.2

314

26.9

11

0.9

Nutrition

512

43.8

647

55.4

9

0.8

How well does the food keep?

394

33.8

755

64.7

18

1.5

How easy is the food to prepare?

222

19.1

876

753

66

5.7

Taste

507

43.4

630

54

30

2.6

Cost

493

42.3

647

55.5

25

2.1

Seasonal

259

22.2

820

70.4

86

7.4

Origin ( where it comes from: domestic, imported)

361

31

730

62.6

75

6.4

Table 15 - Assess the importance level of elements when choosing food Many students care about food safety. However, very few of them pay attention to seasonal food, food origin or food processing.

Integration

Only 9.3% of research respondents understand clearly about international integration in Vietnam; 58.6% understand a little bit about this. More than 30% still do not understand, listen or care about this.

There is 88.4% of research respondents think that commercial and international economic integration has impact on their job opportunity; 80.9% think it affects culture exchange opportunity; 78.9% think it impacts consumption; 54.5% think that integration affects opportunity to study abroad, only 3.1% think it has no impact at all.

Graph 11- Impacts of commercial and international economic

30

Expectation of students about ecological training Current status of student when applying ecological lifestyle

The below table collects opinions of students participating in focus group discussions about reasons, barriers that prevent them from applying ecological lifestyle. These opinions were repeated many times in different group interviews.

Subjective Reason

Objective Reason

Habit

Provided information is not enough and exact.

“I keep reminding again and again but everyone is so used to it that they do not listen” (Male (M), Đa Nang) “I want to join environmental activities but there is no information. I don’t know what event is going to take place” (Female (F), Da Nang) Lack of information and knowledge

Bad habit of people around. Being affected by others

“I have no idea which vegetable is safe, which product is green and which one is not” (F, Hanoi) “Everyone has not been awared of the changes in environment, even if they are, modern life will make them forget about these hot issues. For example: they know the weather is getting hotter, they will use more air conditioner but don’t care about activities to reduce global warming” – (F, Da Nang) Psychological barriers, afraid of being judged by others

No financial capacity to afford

“I met psychological barrier, I’m afraid to be different, afraid to be noticed. Or when I want to turn of the lights, I think others might be using it later therefore I don’t do it. I am also afraid of being teased”– (M, Hanoi) Lack of purpose to act

Green products/green actions is not convenient and hard to approach

“The placement of garbage bins is not good. Sometimes I don’t have bin to put thrash on, so I have to throw it anywhere possible” (L., F, HCMC) “It’s not that youngsters don’t care about environment. They actually do concern but they think environment issue is for the society to deal with therefore they don’t need to do anything, someone else will” (M, Da Nang) Personal needs/favour is more important. There are other bigger priorities

Communication about this topic is not effective

“If there’s communication, it’s just touching a bit of the issue. There is no motivation after that for us to apply and create a habit. Means of communication are boring because there is too much plain information, lack of practical actions on communication channels or media.” (F, Da Nang) Do not have determination

Do not see feasible effects

“We do not see the consequences of our action therefore our responsibility is not high. For example: I can see the cost of throwing a plastic bag” (F, Hue)

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A girl from HCMC frankly shared: “I don’t walk to university because it’s too far, I don’t eat vegan because it’s too expensive. There are other reasons like the crowd effect, lack of garbage bin, lack of public toilet, solar battery is too expensive. I want to plant tree but there’s no space. I don’t use electric bike because electricity is also expensive”. This shows how much students need to have more information, tools and motivations to overcome these excuses.

However, when being asked about their motivation to live ecologically, all groups can only give 5 main points in total as follows: 1. Desire to change and do something meaningful 2. The actions are simple and easy to apply “I do this because I’m so pissed off that such a small action and I couldn’t do” (M, Da Nang) 3. The love for nature and being aware that this is good for the environment 4. Good for health “I want to protect the health of my family, my neighbours and my communities. Although money is important but health is always the priority” (F, Hanoi) 5. Money saving

Expectations and suggestions of students about ecological training

Regarding communication channels, the result shows that 90% of research respondents get information about climate change via Internet, social media and environmental clubs, 78.3% from TV and radio; 59.7% from Newspapers and magazines, 45.9% get information from schools/universities/ companies.

Graph 12 – Channels of climate change information When being asked about top 3 global issues that should be prioritized to solve, 84.6% of research respondents choose “Fight environmental degradation and pollution (e.g. climate change)”. “Improve and develop social services (education, health)” ranked second place at 63.2%.

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Graph 13 – Priority issues to solve globally (Unit: person) In all ecological lifestyle topics that listed out, the numbers of research respondents that are interested in learning about them are quite even at around 50%. Top 3 topics that youth concerns about the most are: energy, climate change and tourism.

Graph 14 – Topics in ecological lifestyle that research respondents are interested in In all ecological lifestyle activities, research respondents are particularly interested in “organic gardening”, “walking, cycling”, “use natural energy and natural materials”.

Graph 15 – Activities that research respondents want to learn 33

The average willingness level of personal sacrifice for environment is 3.78 per 5, including 24.1% at level 5 and 0.3% at level 0. However, 62.1% people rated 4 and 5, which means they are very likely to sacrifice their own interest for the environment.

Willingness level

Quantity (n)

Percentage (%)

0

3

0.3

1

13

1.1

2

55

4.8

3

364

31.7

4

436

38.0

5

277

24.1

Table 16- Access level of personal interests sacrifice for the environment

Graph 16 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Percentage of respondents participating in ecological training courses before Of all research respondents, only 27.6% took part in an ecological training course before, more than 50% have never taken part in a training course. The level of Willingness to take part in a training course for people who took part in a training before and who has never taken part in a training is 4.43 and 3.91 respectively, and of people who are not surely if they took part in a training course before is 4.09. The difference has statistical meaning because P<0,001. It means almost all groups are willing to take part in ecological training, although the rate is a bit smaller among those who have never joined any training before. There are 92.5% of research respondents choosing the willingness to take part in ecological trainings at and above 3. Noticebly, among students who joined environmental trainings before, only 2-3 of them shared that they are still applying actions they learned. Nearly 90% said that they only acted in the first period after the training, later on they gradually stopped doing it and more than 10% said that they did not apply what they learnt at all.

34

Graph 17 – Level of willingness to join an ecological training

Rate

Number

Mean

0

9

1.78

1.563

1

16

2.56

2

61

3

Std. Deviation Std. Error

95% Confidence Interval for Mean

Minimium

Maximum

2.98

0

4

2.01

3.11

1

5

0.133

2.82

3.35

1

5

0.767

0.050

3.26

3.46

1

5

3.61

0.769

0.046

3.52

3.70

1

5

541

4.20

0.780

0.034

4.13

4.27

1

5

1143

3.78

0.919

0.027

3.73

3.84

0

5

Lower Bound

Upper Bound

0.521

.58

1.031

0.258

3.08

1.038

231

3.36

4

285

5 Total

Table 17 - Average personal interests sacrifice for the environment and training course participation willingness level Those who have high willingness level to take part in an ecological training course also have high willingness to sacrifice their personal interests equivalently. As p <0.001, the difference has statistical meaning.

About training methods, methodology like: experiment, practicing and fieldtrip were most chosen, following by talking to experts, visual aids, games and group discussion. Professors’ presentation is least favored. Many interviewed groups suggested that we should have more creative way to introduce and communitcate about these problems. “We can spread knowledge about ecological lifestyles by applying hot trend campaigns such as: Ice Bucket Challenge, Harlem Shake, Stop special treatment…” (M, HCMC). They also think that there should be solutions for maintaining and encouraging the implementation of actions after the program is over.

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Talk with experts

Group discussion

Field-trips

Professor presentation

Visual aids

Practice Experiment

Games

Others

Documents Handout

Graph 18 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Training methods Research found out what types of materials that students like the most in trainings. In 3 types of materials given, video clip is the most chosen one at 71.8%, following by pictures and photobooks at 60.9%, books and hard-documents only accounts for 37.5%.

Books, hard documents

Graph 19 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Types of material that students like

Pictures, photobooks

Unit: person

36

KEY RESEARCH FINDINGS Awareness and knowledge of youth about ecological lifestyle and climate change It is reasonable to draw from the research that Climate Change is a familiar concept with the majority of respondents stating that they have seen, heard or read information about CC. However, there is only 6.7% of them considering that they understand the problem well. Even though Climate Change is mentioned widely on media and in education programs, more effective approaches are needed so that young people, especially students, can better understand the causes, implications and possible solutions to adapt and minimize CC. The terms “ecological lifestyle” or “sustainable lifestyle” are; on the other hand, quite new to young people as almost all inteviewed groups have never heard of or do not understand these terms. Respondents can easily connect ecological lifestyle with environmental protection actions that they know of but they have not clearly seen the meaning and relationship of this term with their daily lives.

Therefore, in communication and education about ecological lifestyle, it is necessary to focus on providing information, concrete actions and connecting them to daily life. Hence, young people will understand their impact and know how to change existing problems by their own lifestyles.

Actions of youth lifestyles: trends and influencial factors a. The research reveals that those who are studying environment major or taking part in environmental clubs have a better knowledge about environment and climate change. However, the implementation of ecological actions in this group is not necessary better than in other groups.

This shows that having more knowledge and awareness about climate change does not necessary lead to living more environmentally friendly. There is clearly a gap between awareness and actions. Awareness about the problems alone can not be enough to lead to behavior changed actions. Therefore, activities about environment and climate change should focus more on behaviour change, empowerment and creating more tools and motivation for green actions instead of providing only knowledge and information. b. Within the category of “energy and consumption” green actions, in general, female respondents are more willing to take sustainable actions than male. This suggests that female can be acted as change agents in their community to spread out green actions. c. Regarding spending habit and green actions, respondents who have higher expenditure; in contrast, often take less green actions than those who have lower expenditure. This demonstrates that financial capacity can have influence on the implementation of environmentally friendly actions, which can be considered when choosing target groups in trainings, workshops as well as can be included as topics in sharing and discussion.

37

d. The research shows that the mode and location of living do not affect the implementation of green actions, which suggests that whether a person adopt an ecological lifestyle is largely their individual choice. The individuality is the most important factor in lifestyle education. With that being said, it does not indicate we should ignore other factors like living environment or social pressure, however educational and communication programs about eco-lifestle should impact more on the individual side than they are now in order to have higher effectiveness. e. Another remarkable finding of this research demonstrate that respondents who take more green actions tend to have higher life satisfaction level compared to those who take less green actions. Therefore having an ecological lifestyle is not only good for the environment but also proves to be positive for our personal lives. This point should be emphasized in communication as a motivation to persuade people to adopt ecological lifestyle. f. Top 5 green actions that are practiced the most and the least according to the research are presented as below.

Top 5 popular green actions 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Turn off lights and devices when they are not in use: 89.4% Turn off water faucets when brushing teeth: 85.8% Choose food that are safe to their heath: 79.8% Read productsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; label: 72.8% Use personal bottle: 59.85%

Top 5 least practiced green actions 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Buy old clothes or used electronics: 9.5% Classify waste: 20.6% Recycle unused stuff into useful things: 23.05% Say no to plastic bags or bring eco-bag while going shopping: 24% Clean, maintain your big appliances, such as refrigerators, air conditioners: 26.3%

As can be seen, the most popular actions are very simple and easy to follow. Actions that are more difficult, time consuming, effort requesting will be practiced less. For example, while many people understand that they should reduce the use of plastic bags, however it is not easy to remember bringing eco-bag and say no to plastic bag.

In order to promote more difficult actions, there should be external impact to urge individuals to act.

This can come in the form of rewarding/punishing mechanism, rules, regulations or possible law enforcement in different levels from organization, community to policy. A lesson learnt can be drawn from other countries or communities. For example, in Wales in 2011, the government started the policy of charging 5p per plastic bag in major supermarkets and saw a 71% drop in the number used by customers. This policy is now being implemented in the whole United Kingdom. g. Researching about the factors affecting the choice of young consumers is very important in communication and education activities. In many cases, the influencial factors that affect the behavior of research objects are totally different from what the organizers assume, which leads to the decrease of activityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s efficiency. Take the example of reasons for choosing mean of transportation in this research. When choosing mean of transportation for a long distance, 63.1% of research objects choose based on cheap price, 59.7% choose the fast and convenient transportation and only 13.3% choose transportation that emits less CO2. Hence, in order to encourage the use of environmentally friendly transportation among youth, we should not emphasize on CO2 emission information but focus more on what young people care about like price, convenience and safety. â&#x20AC;&#x192;

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Expectation of youth, means of ecological education and communication Three topics related to ecological lifestyle that youth are most interested are energy, tourism and climate change. Besides, consumption and food topic are also prefered. We suggest that, in further communication and education about ecological lifestyle, these topics should be integrated and emphasized.

Besides, students taking part in this research tend to prefer activities that are practical and close to nature such as using natural energy, organic farming, using environmentally friendly materialâ&#x20AC;Ś Hence, in programs for student, we should integrate practical activities for them to experience. This is confirmed in survey question about training methods that research objects prefer. Experiment, practice and fieldtrips are the methods being chosen the most, demonstrating that students nowadays have a high desire for practical activities where they can learn by doing. In addition, education activities need to include diversified methods whichs are suitable with content and various tools from video to photos, materials to get the highest efficiency and not make them boring.

Research results also indicate that communication via social networks, internet and environmental clubs is promising to bring good feedback from students because 90% research objects approach information mainly through this link. Especially, when communicating about a new yet familiar topic like ecological lifestyle or sustainable lifestyle to young people, we should focus on the issues and characters that they care about rather than only describing situations and theories.

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CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Conclusion

Through conducting surveys, group discussion and literature review, here are some conclusions drawn from the research: The research has shown an overall perceptions, knowledge and practicing lifestyle of students in big cities across the country. While most of the respondents are aware of climate change, they do not understand and do not know how to link this issue with their daily lives. Noticably, having knowledge about climate change does not necessary lead to more ecological actions.

Regarding practicing an ecological lifestyle, various actions have been done by students such as “turn off the lights and appliances when not in use” or “turn off water faucets while brushing your teeth”. However, the number of regular ecological actions performed is still very limited and needs to be strengthened. Most actions frequently performed are simple, requiring not much investment of time, money and effort. The research points out that there are differences in practicing green actions between male and female, and among respondents with different expenditure.

One positive finding is a high percentage of students believe that individual actions can make a change and they are willing to join the eco-lifestyle activities when having the opportunities. They also share their expectation of trainings about ecological lifestyles. Through the sharing of ideas and experiences of the students involved, the research team summarized the positive direction for upcoming activities, namely: • Education and communication activities on ecological lifestyles should be concentrated to deal with the barriers and constraints that students face when applying ecological lifestyle daily. At the same time, they should motivate and open new and compelling reasons for students to perform more actions, in a more natural way.

• Focus on developing practical approaches that

brings about much experience. Simultaneously combine and impart knowledge via theory and experts.

• Educational and communication activities should be sustainable, focus more on behavior change and have the mechanism that promote the long-term implementation of actions.

Recommendation

Based on the findings above, the research team proposes a number of recommendations as follows: 1. It is necessary to develop new toolkits and more practical training programs to encourage youth to adopt more ecologicaly and sustainably initiatives, and gradually turn this into their lifestyle.

These programs should be focused on the content and practicality, so that students will not find them to be too theoretical, and on the contrary, students will be inspired and will have the desire to act.

An effective model for this recommendation that C&E Center wants to propose is integrating theory lesson with fieldtrips, combining talking to experts and first-hand experience at site-visit. For example, when studying about organic agriculture, instead of inviting a speaker to classroom, we can let students go to an organic farm, meet the farmers and learn gardening. Researching about the needs and preference of young people before planning education and communication content is very important in order to attract their attention and encourage the willingness to act.

Furthermore, there is a necessity to develop guiding tools for youth to act from individual level to group level, community level. These tools include practical skills, marketing skill, writing and design, leadership, public speaking, policy feedback from different levels, integration skill at regional and international level…

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2. It is necessary to expand the conditions for students to gain access to information and knowledge about ecological lifestyles through many different forms. For example: training in schools, fieldtrips, extra-curricular activities, integrating content in an interesting way in programs, student activities, associations activities, develop effective means of communication such as photo books, videos, websites ... Students themselves should be encouraged to actively look for and propose approaching methods, methodology or information sources that they like and find it effective.

5. Support universities to consider and integrate eco-initiatives and sustainable development issues into their training programs such as providing materials and reference curriculum, organizing TOT training as well as connecting universities with development experts.

C&E has successfully organized many conferences about sustainable planning for students in universities across Vietnam. C&E will have responsibility to reconsider, integrate project process and provide detailed case studies from our work to community and Vietnamese youth. They will be liaison to connect with other NGOs nationally and inter3. Develop objective conditions to apply sustain- nationally working in this field. C&E will engage able lifestyles. These conditions can come from students not only in classroom but also in extra-curmany sides such as the government, businesses ricular activities such as fieldtrips to raise awareand universities. These objective barriers such as ness about environment and sustainable culture. the lack of information, lack of sustainable prod- Laotian and Vietnam Universities majoring in ecoucts or lack of society encouragement should be nomic development, urban and environment deminimized to promote the youth to get closer to velopment will play an important role in reviewing sustainable lifestyle which serve themselves as and integrating green initiatives and sustainable well as the community. Furthermore, mechanism development issues into their programs. This will and regulation to reinforce the implementation of include the acceptance and implementation of sustainable actions in universities, organization, curriculum and materials as well as methodology communities and society are necessary. For this transfer via training for trainers and pilot integratto happen, stakeholders need to work together, ed program for their students. especially the support from planners and policymakers is very important.

6. Networks between innovative groups about ecological lifestyles with members from different 4. Strengthen connections with groups of students, places, fields and countries must be built, encourorganizations working for community and environ- aged and developed. More cooperation and acment; organizations/companies with green prod- tions is needed to demonstrate the benefits of susucts and services to promote the sharing of knowl- tainable lifestyles, explore new perspectives and edge, experience as well as a sustainable career development paths, and motivate stakeholders orientation for students after graduation. At the such as policymakers, civil society organizations, moment, there are many organizations working scientists, the business sector and individuals to in the fields related to green living or some certain take part. topics under sustainable development such as ag- â&#x20AC;&#x192; riculture, architectureâ&#x20AC;Ś These organizations, such as C&E Center, ACCD, CSDS, Getgreen Vietnam projectâ&#x20AC;Ś can cooperate with each other to organize activities and share information, resources.

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APPENDIX References 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

United Nation Environment Program (UNEP), 2011, Vision for Change – Recommendations for Effective Policies on Sustainable Lifestyles UNESCO-UNEP, 2002, YouthXChange – Training toolkit on responsible consumption UNESCO-UNEP, 2011, YouthXChange – Guidebook on lifestyle and climate change Phạm Hồng Tung, 2007, Research about lifestyle – some problems with definitions and ap proaches, Science Magazine – Hanoi National University, Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities 23 (2007) 271-278 Dang Thi Anh Nguyet, Do Thi Huyen, Hoang Thanh Tam, Bui Thi Thanh Thuy, Nguyen Thanh Thuy, 2011, Visions For Change – Country Papers, p106 – p112, Vietnamese Youth in the Paradox of Transition: How Concerns and Expectations Might Inspire Sustainable Practices Parker Lukas, Aleti Watne, Torgeir Brennan, Linda Trong Duong, Hue Nguyen Dang, 2014, “Self expression versus the environment: attitudes in conflict”, Young Consumers, Vol.15 Iss 2 pp. 138 - 152 Vietnam National Report on Youth, Ministry of Interior and the United Nations Population Fund in Vietnam, June 2015 UNEP, Ministry of Environment Sweden, 2010, Taskforce on Sustainable Lifestyle Report Quick survey on volunteer groups status – LIGHT Institute of community health development, December 2014

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Survey content SURVEY ECOLOGICAL LIFESTYLE OF VIETNAMESE YOUTH

Basic information 1.

What is your name? _______________________________________________________________

2.

What is your gender?

Male

Female

Other

3.

Your mobile number? (optional) _____________________________________

4.

Your email address? ____________________________________________________________

5.

Which city are you currently living? _______________________________________________

6.

Which university are you studying in? (please specify: your university name, your major/field of study and your years of study) _______________________________________________________________________________________ 7.

Name of the club/group/organization that you are participating in (If you are not participating in any organization, please write “none”) _______________________________________________________________________________________ 8.

How much money do you spent each month?

Under 1.500.000 VND 1.500.000 – 3.000.000 VND 9.

Over 3.000.000 VND

List 3 leisure activities you like to do the most when you have free time?

Free time may include a couple of hours at home or a vacation.

Go travelling Meet friends Do exercises Use TV, computer (laptop) Go shopping Cook Read books, study Display art Sleep Others (specify):__________

10. In which areas do you think your family spends the most money? Rank the following from 1 (in which sector your family spends the most) to 5 (in which sector your family spends the least). In case you are living far from faminy, only consider of your own spending.

House rent, energy and water

Food and drinks

Health, education Transport

Communication and leisure (getting out, holidays, communications – Internet, video games,

mobiles -, etc.)

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11. Whom do you live with? (several possible answers) Alone

Parents or family members Friends

Others (specify):___________ 12. In what kind of housing do you live?

University dormitory

Room rental

Private house Apartment

Others (specify): __________ 13. Overall, how dissatisfied or satisfied are you with your life?

Answer between 0 (Not satisfied at all) to 10 (Completely satisfied): __________

Knowledge about climate change 14. In your opinion, your lifestyle will have an impact on…: (several possible answers)

Environment Health Social crime Culture Family economics National economics

World Peace Bio-diversity Climate change

Rich-poor gap Others (specify): __________ 15.

Rate how much you understand about “Climate Change” (choose the most applicable answer) I understand this very well I understand a little about this I have heard about it, but I do not really know what it is I have never heard of it I do not care

16.

State your opinion to the following statements (tick in the box that apply): Opinion

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

I realize that climate in my area is changing I regularly consider the environmental impacts of my daily activities I am well informed about climate change and its effects on my area

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I believe that my individual actions can make a difference to the planet I consider the environment when making decisions

17. As far as you know, which consequence is due to Climate Change? (several possible answers)

Rising avarage temerature Endangered wildlife animals

Increasing chance of droughts, floods, fires Increasing disease threats

Changing scenario Rising sea level

Increasing frequency and consequence of storm Economic loss

Population explosion Increasing social crime Energy & Transportation 18. On average, how much time do you spend every day using your laptop/computer, TV and cellphone?

Less than 1 hour/day 1 – 3 hours 3 – 5 hours 5 – 7 hours

7 – 10 hours 10-12 hours 12-14 hours more than 14 hours 19. How often do you do the following?

Note: 1= never

2 = rarely 4 = regularly 5 = always

3 = sometimes

Activities

Grade (1 2 3 4 5)

Turn off the lights/appliances when they are not in use Replace incandescent light bulbs with energy star bulbs Unplug chargers when they are not in use Clean, maintain your big appliances, such as refrigerators Set air condition temperature equal or higher 25 degree Celcius in summer Purchase applicances wih enery efficiency label 20. On average, how much electricity and water does each member of your family consumes monthly? (you can take numbers from the latest bills and divide by the number of family members) The amount of electricity consumed/person/month: __________ The amount of water consumed/person/month: __________

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21.

Choose the 3 kinds of transportation you use the most frequently Bicycle Motorbike Private car Bus Train Airplane Ship Walk

22. When having to travel a far distance, you will choose transportation based on? (several possible answers)

Cheap price Less CO2 emission Short time

Convenient terminals/stations Others (specify): __________ Waste 23. On average how many plastic bags do you use a day?

1-3 4-7 8-12 24.

What are your main types of solid waste? (several options are possible) Food Electronic Plastic Paper Others (specify): __________

25. How often do you do the following?

Note: 1= never

2 = rarely 4 = regularly 5 = always

more than 12 Cloths

3 = sometimes

Activities

Grade (1 2 3 4 5 )

Buy used clothing Sell unused electronics Purchase used electronic Deny to take plastic bag or Bring an eco-bag when shopping Dump leftover food after each meal Classify your waste Recycle unused stuffs into useful things Use your own refillable water bottle Turn off water faucets when brushing your teeth Consumption - Shopping 26. How often do you do the following?

Note: 1= never

2 = rarely 4 = regularly 5 = always

3 = sometimes

Activities

Grade (1 2 3 4 5)

Make a to-buy-list before going shopping Read productsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; labels (ingredients, origin, expire date)

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Choose products that are safe to health Choose environmentally friendly products Learn about toxicants in products to avoid when shopping Update information about products quality in the market Buy stuff and end up not using them (food, clothes, tools…)

Buy new high-tech goods (mobile, laptop…) even when the old ones are usable.

27.

Why don’t you buy ecological products? (tick all that apply) Ecological products are not diverse Don’t know which one is ecological product It is more expensive I only buy products I am familiar with They usually don’t look good Not available in my area Not understand benefits of ecoloical products Others (specify):

Food 28. How often do you go to these places to eat?

Never or very rarely

Less than once a month

Once or twice per month

Once per week

Several times per week

Almost daily

Restaurant Small shop, street venders Order food to home Cook home

at

Cook home

at

29.

How often do you eat these food?

Never or very rarely

Meat (chicken, pork, beef…)

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Less than once a month

Once or twice Once per per week month

Several times per week

Almost daily

Fish & Seafood Vegestable & Fruit Dairy (Milk cheese) Bread Frozen food Imported foods Locally grown foods (e.g. from your province/state or region) Food you grow yourself Bottled water 30.

When you buy food, how important are the following factors ?

Very important Somewhat im- Not too impor- Not at all im- Don’t know/ portant tant portant don’t care

How safe is the food to eat?

Nutrition How well does the food keep?

How easy is the food to prepare?

Taste Cost Seasonal food Origin (where it comes from)

There’s more 31. Where does your knowledge about climate change and ecological lifestyle come from? (several possible answers)

Television/Radio Newspaper/ Magazine

Internet/Social Network/ Environmental groups School/University/Company

Government Agencies/Academic journals Friends/ family

Other (Specify): __________ 32.

Choose 3 issues you think are the most important priorities globally?

Reduce or eradicate poverty, the gap between rich and poor 48

Combat crime, prevent conflicts Fight environmental degradation and pollution (e.g. climate change) Improve economic conditions (e.g. employment) Improve and develop social services (education, health) Spread democracy and freedom Fight against inequalities between men and women Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know/no response

33. How well do you know about Vietnamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s international integration? (choose the most applicable answer)

I understand this very well

I understand a little about this

I have heard about it, but I do not really know what it is

I have never heard of it

I do not care 34. to you

According to you, what are the impacts of the integration of international trade and economy and your community? (several possible answers ) Consumtion - shopping Job oppotunity Study â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Abroad opportunity Cultural exchange opportunities No Impact at all Other (specify): __________

35.

Which respondents Energy Food Entertaiment

36.

Which activities of ecological lifestyle are you interested in? (several possible answers) / Organic composting Organic gardening Walking, Cycling Traditional games Herbs medicine Repairing, recycling old stuff Using natural materials Using natural energy (wind, sunshine) Using ecological packaging Using rainwater Using renewable energy Others (Specify):_____

of ecological lifestyle are you interested in? (several possible answers) Transportation Consumption Waste Climate change Tourism Volunteer Others (specify): __________

37. Do you think you can sacrifice your favors to save the environment?

Answer between 0 (Not at all) to 5 (Definitely yes):_____ 38. Have you ever participated in any training related to ecological lifestyle?

Yes No

Not sure 39. Do you want to participate in training sessions and ecological activities as mentioned above?

Answer between 0 (Not at all) to 5 (Definitely yes):_____

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40. How do you want to organize a training course? (several possible answers)

Talk with experts

Group discussion Fieldtrip

Professorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Presentation

Practice - Experiment

Visualization Tool (clips, songs, photos) Games

Documents/Hand-outs

Other (specify): 41. Which of the following types of material are the most appropriate to you? (several possible answers)

Books, hard documents

Video clip

Pictures, Photobook

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Group interview questions 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

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Which activities do you think are representing ecological lifestyles? Please give some specific examples.

Which topics/activities related to ecological lifestyles do you want to apply but havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t yet?

What are hindrances for doing those activities? What are reasons (motives) that make you want to apply? Please propose some workarounds or supports to accomplish those easily.

In your opinon, what are the reasons why young people nowadays do not care about green living?

In your opinion, how can we effectively promote ecological lifestyles to young people? (if you have ideas for others target groups, feel free to express.)

Share about the trainings related to environment, green lifestyles or ecological lifestyles you participated in before? (Time, Location, Organizers, main activities). In what points do you like or unlike about those trainings?

What do you do to bring the lessons learned into action? Which support do you need from those trainings to act easier?

The training methods you find most effective? Why? What do you propose for our training on ecological lifestyles? (Time, place, method, materials, etc.)

Do you support if universities organize one program / course on this subject? Why and how specifically do you want it to be? (Time, place, method, materials, etc.)

Do you know the expression of ecological lifestyle in Vietnam traditional lifestyles? Any of those still exists? Which one do you like and can apply in your life?

Which job do you want to do in the future? How do you think your job can be a green job?

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