{"id":525,"date":"2025-08-08T04:13:39","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T04:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/?page_id=525"},"modified":"2025-08-08T04:28:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T04:28:12","slug":"youth-and-nature-conservation-final-presentation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/youth-and-nature-conservation-final-presentation\/","title":{"rendered":"Youth and Nature Conservation Final Presentation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A couple months ago I was tasked with coming up with a campaign to get young adults attending SIUE to become more aware of water equity issues and the need for land conservation, as well as more involved with our partner HeartLands Conservancy. \u201cThe mission of HeartLands Conservancy is to empower and collaborate with the people of Southern Illinois to advance and protect the health of our distinctive communities and nationally significant natural and cultural resources.\u201d (HeartLands Conservancy) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is something that is very important so increasing support for them is a goal that I am dedicating myself to along with my peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to solve this question, I have to break it down into parts. The first part that I wanted to address was seeing how the population of young adults feel about nature. To get more support from them as well as make them more aware of nature conservation, we need to first understand their level of interest and how they view it. The form of research that I used to answer my research question was a mixed method of qualitative and quantitative data. I first conducted interviews with 3 participants in order to get a deeper understanding of my initial questions and assumptions. Then I conducted a survey that received 32 responses so I could test my new beliefs and questions on a larger audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After doing these three interviews, I would say I got the answers I assumed I would get, but I was also thoroughly surprised in how all three participants would take different routes to the questions and sometimes end up at the same answer. Throughout the entire interview, the participants had different answers, but they all still had the consensus that nature plays a major role in all of our lives and that we all need each other to survive. Another thing that stood out was that the majority of participants believed that young adults are not interested in nature and one believed that they are, however, all three of them still believed that how you were raised and grew up determined your level of interest in nature as well as how you view things. I believe that who you spend your time with also influences how you perceive things. The two participants who said they don\u2019t believe young adults are interested in nature could have spent time with people who have a really negative or indifferent outlook on it. I believe this to be true because the other participant mentioned their friend being interested in nature conservation which led her to believe that young adults are interested in nature as a whole. \"File:One-Health-Triad-en.png\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it’s definitely more common for people to be caught up in themselves rather than what’s actually surrounding them.\u201d Response to interview question<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the interviews, I was left with questions and new beliefs that I wanted to explore by reaching out to a wider range of people. The way I went about answering them was by continuing on to do surveys.  I opened the survey the evening of July 25th, 2025 and it was closed around 9am on August 6th, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After reviewing the results of my survey, I can confidently say that the environment that someone grows up in or spends the majority of their life in determines how they view nature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I initially thought that it wasn\u2019t something that can be considered as fact based on the answers I received to question 5, \u201cHave you developed any biases because of where you live?\u201d When given that question, 12 people agreed that they experienced biases in themselves because of where they grew up, but the other 14 people were either neutral or disagreed with that question. This made me see that there was a divide when it came to that belief and I had to scrap my initial assumption. However, when I got to question 8, that is when I realized that my belief might have held true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I looked at the overall responses to the question \u201cDo you think any of the following factors make people more or less interested in nature?\u201d I realized a trend. Out of the 22 responses to that question, 18 of those responses included that your environment determines how interested you are in nature. Not only that, but the majority of people who disagreed or were neutral for question 5 said that your environment plays a factor in your interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something else that piqued my interest is that about half of the responses I got from this survey had something to do with them not believing that young adults were interested in or cared about nature. A handful of participants saw their counterparts as people who were only consumed with their phones and didn\u2019t care to look up and see what is going on in our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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*Responses from survey*<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the majority of participants who took the survey showed an interest for nature, as well as a profound concern with taking care of the environment, it was completely contradictory from their thoughts.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Response from survey*<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After reviewing the results from my survey, I was left with one overarching theme: young adults are passionate about nature and recognize the urgent need for conservation efforts, but they often feel alone in their concerns due to societal stereotypes that overlook their engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though we might lack knowledge about the specific details of what\u2019s happening or needs to happen, we don\u2019t lack the knowledge that something needs to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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*Responses from survey*<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYounger Americans \u2013 Millennials and adults in Generation Z \u2013 stand out in a new Pew Research Center survey particularly for their high levels of engagement with the issue of climate change. Compared with older adults, Gen Zers and Millennials are talking<\/em> more about the need for action on climate change; among social media users, they are seeing <\/em>more climate change content online; and they are doing<\/em> more to get involved with the issue through activities such as volunteering and attending rallies and protests.\u201d (Tyson, et. al)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Something else that I realized was that us young adults have grown up in the United States, so we constantly hear that teens and people our age are just caught up in social media and technology. We are constantly depicted as being unaware or just straight up insensitive and uncaring about the politics and problems around us. You see this in TV shows and movies, books and articles, and just in our everyday experiences. \u201cIn particular, older adults were concerned that younger generations are overly reliant on electronic media, unaware of how the natural world works, and unacquainted with the simple enjoyment of being outdoors.\u201d (The Nature of Americans)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both of these narratives can be true because it varies from person to person. However, the narrative that demonizes young adults as out of touch, careless, and ignorant people when it comes to worldly problems, reigns supreme. It has floated around from generation to generation, instilling itself in mass media as well as the group of people that it talks about. We find ourselves condemning people our age in the same ways older generations have done, but we are blind to the fact that if young adults everywhere are condemning each other, then this narrative is not completely true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After doing the interviews, the survey, outside research, as well as just experiencing life, I have come to the conclusion that we need to clear up the stigma regarding our interest in nature. I understand that it differs from person to person, but from what I\u2019ve seen, I can tell that there are a lot of young adults who care about the environment and want to help save it. However, there are so many factors that keep them from doing anything about it. It can be very disheartening if it seems like everyone around you doesn\u2019t care or want to take actions to change. If we can remove that stigma and show that there is more support for the environment than it seems, I strongly believe that it will allow for more young adults to become more aware of water equity issues and the need for land conservation, as well as get more involved with our partner HeartLands Conservancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HeartLands Conservancy, heartlandsconservancy.org\/<\/a>. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thddbfk, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0<\/a>>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tyson, Alec, et. al. \u201cGen Z, Millennials Stand out for Climate Change Activism, Social Media Engagement with Issue.\u201d Pew Research Center, 26 May 2021, www.pewresearch.org\/science\/2021\/05\/26\/gen-z-millennials-stand-out-for-climate-change-activism-social-media-engagement-with-issue\/<\/a>. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c#ClimateStrike Rally\u201d by MN Senate DFL, Public Domain Mark, https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/senatedfl\/48766357111\/<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nature of Americans. \u201cInterest\u2013Action Gap.\u201d Interest\u2013Action Gap | Nature of Americans, natureofamericans.org\/findings\/interest-action-gap<\/a>. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomeone likes her new phone\u201d by Kim Siever, Public Domain Mark, https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/57873306@N00\/8021923276<\/a>. Lee, Stan and Ditko, Steve. “Double Identity.” Spider-Man, season 1, episode 36, Grantray-Lawrence Animation, 13 Jan. 1968. https:\/\/www.dailymotion.com\/video\/x3zzij9<\/a>. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n