2011 Volume 34 Issue 2 Pages 21-30
In order to build a continuously developing society, environmental education for children who will bear responsibility in the 21st century is very important. China, whose economy is growing at a remarkable speed, is regarded as an education-conscious society. In considering the relationship between daily life and the environment, the following can be asked: how important is environmental education in schools and what are the features of children's environmental awareness and the nature of their consumer behavior? Focusing on elementary school children in China and Japan, this research project is an international comparative study on the awareness and solution of environmental problems and related consumer behavior. We found that Chinese children help their parents at home a lot more than Japanese children do. Elementary school children in both countries recognized that their everyday activities affected their natural environment. Moreover, both were highly concerned about environmental problems, and they participated in activities related to environmental protection positively. Although Chinese children showed a higher environmental consciousness, their recognition of environmental problems was lower than that of Japanese children. It was clearly evident that there were few means of acquiring knowledge about environmental problems.
