Green chemistry awareness and environmental responsibility: Exploring the cultural and ethical foundations of responsible environmental behavior among university students
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Abstract
Escalating environmental degradation resulting from conventional chemical practices has intensified calls for sustainability-oriented education that shapes not only technical competence but also responsible human conduct toward the environment. While Green Chemistry has been widely studied as a scientific framework, limited scholarly attention has examined how students' awareness of its principles relates to their everyday environmental behavior, leaving a notable gap between chemical education and the social-behavioral dimensions of sustainability. This study aims to examine the relationship between awareness of Green Chemistry principles and responsible environmental behavior among university students. A quantitative correlational design was employed, involving a main sample of 687 undergraduate students from two faculties at Al-Azhar University, who completed two researcher-developed electronic scales measuring awareness of Green Chemistry principles and responsible environmental behavior. Results revealed statistically significant positive correlations between all study variables, and regression analysis confirmed that awareness dimensions—particularly waste prevention—significantly predicted responsible behavior, explaining a meaningful share of its variance. These findings underscore the value of integrating scientific awareness into broader educational and cultural strategies for cultivating environmentally responsible citizenship, offering implications for curriculum design, sustainability pedagogy, and the humanistic dimensions of science education.
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