South African National Dialogue Findings and Results

Environment   Oct 2, 2016 by Keanu Canto

Here at Willowridge High School in South Africa we conducted our national dialogue survey on a sample of learners and teachers, as well as our families. We found a number of interesting patterns and trends in the data we collected.

Firstly, based on questions regarding knowledge about climate change and the environment, I think more should be done to educate all people about the environment and the issue of climate change. Most of the people surveyed on climate change being the most important issue of their generation agreed (4-5 on the scale) with this statement...

...yet regarding learning about climate change at school and knowing where our water comes from, much fewer people were actually well informed about these things:

Surely if climate change is one of the most important issues of our generation, more should be done to educate all people on this issue, so that we can make better, more informed choices in our daily lives to better combat climate change.

Most people agree that their individual actions have an effect on the global climate:

However, fewer thought that climate change affected them personally:

An interesting thing I noticed was that, despite the current drought that South Africa is experiencing being partly caused by climate change, and the fact that it is affecting most of us due to water restrictions and food prices increasing, fewer people than I would have expected said that climate change was impacting them personally.

Another thing is that a lot of people seem to feel powerless regarding combating climate change through influencing the government's response to climate change:

I believe that to successfully combat climate change more people should have a say in the large decisions that are made by governments, through taking part in progammes, similar to Cop 22's #BlueYouth, that give them a "louder voice".

We also included a number of questions regarding South Africa's situation (the current drought and our main form of electricity generation):

It was good to see that quite a few people had made an effort to use water more sparingly during the drought, however, in order to free up water where it is needed most, even more of an effort will be required.

Regarding my country's position being reflected in the survey results, it was interesting to see the results to the question, "I get most of my energy from fossil fuel sources"...

...as South Africa does indeed get most of its energy from fossil fuel sources, with about 90% of our electricity being generated in coal-fired power stations. To help reduce climate change and its effects we should start producing much more electricity using renewable resources that aren't fossil fuels, however, this will be a long, difficult process, as it is much easier and cheaper to produce electricity using coal, especially here in South Africa, with our large coal reserves.

Keanu Canto

Willowridge High School

South Africa

Post comment