Sustainability Culture, Environmental Activism and Political Ideology Among Young Adults: A Survey on Students at the University of Ferrara

The 2018/2019 climate mobilisation have vigorously questioned the consensus about the sustainability paradigm that has been hegemonic since the 1980, politicising the environmental issue in the public debate, and representing a ‘political epiphany’ for an entire generation. How has this movement influenced young people’s interest for environmental issues, what is the extent and type of their environmental concern, what are their cognitive interpretations of the ecological crisis and solutions to it, and how they relate to environmental mobilisations? This article aims to address these questions by means of a survey distributed to students at the University of Ferrara (1005 responses), relating these factors to political ideology. It finds that young adults are extremely concerned about the ecological crisis. A majoritarian belief can be discerned that structural solutions are deemed as required, such as prioritising environmental protection even at the cost of economic growth, transforming the mode of production and consumption, and reducing social inequalities. Furthermore, while climate sceptical positions are by far marginal, there is a widespread critical position towards the capability of science and technological innovation to tackle the climate crisis, and a sweeping belief of the necessity of individual lifestyle changes. With the notable exception of the latter two, all these beliefs are correlated with political ideology, showing the importance of political positioning vis-à-vis the environmental question. Finally, a broad feeling of hopelessness and ‘agencylessness’ towards the future can be discerned, with a low confidence about the transformative role of social movements vis-à-vis the ecological transition, which is however balanced by two fifth of students mobilising in environmental protest.