Communication profile and environmental behavior of members of selected UPLB environmental organizations

This study was conducted to determine the communication profile and environmental knowledge, attitude and practice of the respondents. Specifically, it sought to: 1)describe the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents; 2)determine their communication profile, specifically in terms of information seeking behavior and level of interpersonal communication skills; 3)assess their environmental knowledge, attitude and practice; 4) identify their information and communication training needs; and 5)determine and analyze relationships between communication profile variables and environmental behavior. This study used the survey research design and survey questionnaire and diagnostic test as instruments. A total of 71 respondents were included in the study. They were based on the complete enumeration of members who satisfied the criteria set by the researcher. Data were analyzed using frequencies, means and percentages. The relationships between variables were determined using the Kendall's Tau-b test. The level of significance was set at 0.05 and 0.1. Results show that majority of the respondents were female, seniors and from the College of Forestry and Natural Resources. Respondents' ages ranged from 17 to 22 years. The internet served as the most frequently mentioned and at the same time, the most preferred source of environmental information. The respondents considered the newspaper as the most credible media source of environmental information. For non-media sources, seminars/symposia/conferences were considered as the most credible. Global warming/climate change and wildlife conservation/ biodiversity were the most frequently sought environmental topics/messages by the respondents, as well as the most frequently mentioned information needs. The respondents were found to have low level of exposure to both media and non-media sources. However, they were found to have moderate and high level of exposure to both media and non-media sources. However, they were found to have moderate and high level of interpersonal communication skills. Moreover, half of the respondents had high environmental knowledge and most of them displayed a favorable attitude toward environmental protection and conservation. Most of them had either moderate or high level of practice. Respondent performed environmental activities that were household or domestic-related. Public speaking, teaching/giving lectures or presentations and facilitation were the most frequently mentioned communication training needs of the respondents. The frequency of exposure to the internet and numbers of hours spent with newspapers were found to be significantly correlated with environmental practice. For environmental attitude, the following were found to be significantly correlated: frequency of exposure to radio and number of hours spent with radio, TV, Cable TV, internet, conservation/environmental group and government agencies.