ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS IN THE ERA OF SOCIAL MEDIA: A DISCUSS

Abstract

The environment consists of land, air and sea; which supports life and everything therein. As a result of man’s unchecked exploitation of his natural resources for food, shelter, clothing etc., the environment has been negatively affected. In a bid to curb or reduce the pressure continuously exerted on the environment, several research, treaties, policies, laws, etc. have been made. However, as a result of poverty, ignorance, etc., environmental awareness is very low. Unlike other problems of man, environmental problems have no respect for boundaries; hence, solutions to these problems must enjoy global coverage. Social media is currently the trendy global platform for interaction, communication and content sharing. Every sector of life is embracing social media in the propagation of their goals. The aim of this paper is to review the benefits of using social media as a tool for the creation of environmental awareness. Despite the fact that social media has its problems, such as ‘clicktivism’, its advantages cannot be overemphasized. This paper is relevant to all government environmental parastatals, NGOs, researchers and individuals. We found that the use of social media as environmental awareness creation tool will bring environmental issues to the limelight. As exemplified in the social cognitive theory, accumulated environmental awareness created overtime, positively affects the behaviour and consumption pattern of people in favour of the environment. We therefore, recommended that Laws establishing environmental institutions should mandate those institutions to exploit social media in their environmental education, because, a problem known is a problem half solved.