Assessing Environmental Literacy and its Relationship with Environmental Ethics

Attention to environmental literacy and ethics in agriculture has a decisive role in nature conservation and production resources. If farmers do not have environmental literacy, irreparable damage to the environment is expected. The purpose of this study was to evaluate environmental literacy and its relationship with environmental ethics among farmers in Torbat-e-Heydariyeh.

This research is a descriptive correlational study. The statistical population consisted of all 3000 farmers in the central part of Torbat-e-Heydariyeh city, 250 of whom were selected using Cochran formula by multistage random sampling. Questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and correlation) and inferential statistics (regression), using SPSS-19 software.

The results showed that the knowledge, behavior, attitude and environmental ethics of the respondents were in a desirable condition. There is also a positive and significant relationship between environmental literacy and each of its components, namely knowledge, attitude and behavior and environmental ethics. Also, environmental knowledge about 12%, environmental attitude 21% and environmental behavior 33% have the ability to predict environmental ethics.

There is a positive and significant relationship between farmers' environmental literacy and each of its components ie their knowledge, attitude and behavior and environmental ethics, consequently, it is necessary to improve and enhance farmers' environmental ethics by increasing their knowledge level, improving their attitude and enhancing their environmental behavior through education and considering appropriate incentives and incentives.