The survey “Sustainability Literacy and Perspectives” was carried out online from April to June 2020. The interviewees were young Greek university students and graduates of different backgrounds, aged 18 to 29. UN SDSN Youth Greece and Get Involved cooperated to get answers on whether an increase in sustainability awareness influences people’s points of view and beliefs.
The aim of this research is to examine the extent to which the variables of age, gender, and academic background have an impact on the sample’s perspectives and beliefs. The research was carried out to promote the awareness of sustainability and find ways to promote its issues more efficiently.
The analysis of the answers led to some interesting conclusions. Among the demographic variables mentioned above, only age seems to have a broad impact on the sample’s points of view and beliefs: more specifically, there is a noteworthy divergence across ages on communication and interrelation of the Sustainable Development Goals. This fact indicates how poorly universities perform in spreading the SDGs. Considerable ignorance prevails across all ages, genders and academic backgrounds on modern world issues. Moreover, more alarmingly, the respondents’ awareness on current social and economic dynamics is inadequate.
As for our sample’s perspectives, most responses are concentrated on certain answers. However, this is not the case when the respondents are asked about their beliefs on the progress of the SDGs and the possibility of achieving them by 2030. Most of the survey participants are pessimistic when it comes to the attainment of these goals within the timeframe of the blueprint. To conclude, the analysis of our data shows that contrary to our beliefs, awareness of matters of sustainability does not have an important impact on our perspectives.