Promoting Sustainable Living among College Students: Key Programming Components

Research has made clear that sustainable living behaviors are an integral aspect of natural-resource management and conservation. Because of their numbers, influence, and tendency toward nonsustainable practices and behaviors, college students represent a key target population for messages of sustainable living. Accordingly, we collaborated with college-aged populations at a local evangelical church to develop and conduct an intervention aimed at promoting sustainable living within this population. This intervention was part of a larger project aimed at: (1) fostering participation in sustainable living educational programming among nonenvironmentally motivated individuals; and (2) obtaining behavior change commitments from those participants. Our findings suggest three key components for enhancing the effectiveness of such programming: (1) present curriculum in small group formats; (2) use a discussion-based format; and (3) appeal to existing values, priorities, and motivations of participants.