Oh yeah, my research project

Since I haven't mentioned it so far, the reason for all my travels this summer is a research project. And, despite all appearances to the contrary, I've actually been working on it.

I'm studying how universities take the environment into account as they develop. More specifically, I've picked four universities, one in each country I'm going to, and I'm comparing them based on four environmental criteria: curricula and research, student involvement, physical environmentalism (recycling, green architecture, power and water conservation, public transport, etc.), and plans for the future. Basically this involves me doing a whole bunch of interviews.

At the University of Auckland, I first spoke with the environmental coordinator, who was phenomenally helpful and gave me more resources than I can handle in the two weeks I'm looking at this university. I also interviewed one of the co-chairs of the environmental affairs office in the student government when I was lucky enough to stumble into an Eco-festival he was organizing. Other than that, I've spent most of my time doing student interviews, with some pretty interesting results. I have a set of seven questions that I ask students to see what their opinion is on environmental issues, and once I have a sample size of fifty I'll compile all the data and see how it all comes out. I like to warn people before I interview them that the first two are kind of intense, then after that they get simple. Then I hit them with it:

1. Off the top of your head, what do you think are some of the biggest problems facing the world as a whole today?
2. What are some of the biggest problems facing New Zealand? They can be the same or different as the ones you have already mentioned.
3. Are you concerned about the environment or climate change? Choose one: yes, a little, or no.
4. Do you think that students at this university are concerned about the environment or climate change? Choose one: yes, a little, or no.
5. How often do you think that environmental issues come up in conversation among students? Choose one: often, sometimes, rarely.
6. Is there anything you do in your daily life out of concern for the environment? (Some examples of common answers include conserving power, taking public transport, and recycling.)
7. Do you know of any efforts or changes the university is making out of concern for the environment?

I won't go into the details of how I break the answers down and how this information ties into my project, but I've gotten some pretty interesting answers to the first question. Things that often com up are poverty, third world civil conflict, and the rising cost of food and fuel. Some less common but more fun answers: America, President Bush (although this could be in the common answers category as well), lack of religion, too much religion, selfishness, McDonald's, and my personal favorite: stupid people.

So I felt like I needed to at least say something about my project while I was here so I didn't feel like I was spending all of my time avoiding any real work. But now that I've said it, I'm off to go cook lunch and go to a museum and maybe some sightseeing.