Printing:

Customizing the Content:

AIMS

1.To examine strategies and evaluate bias around plastic pollution awareness

using social media as tools to educate people on the importance of marine

conservation

2.Track the spread and impact of marine plastic pollution conservation

messages.

STUDY 1: Meme & Questionnaire Analysis

Platforms were set-up on Facebook TM, Twitter TM and Instagram TM.

Memes of marine mammals, reptiles, birds and marine environments affected

by plastic pollution were created (Fig 1.3) under different themes (animal

environment, mortality, internal and external exposure to plastic debris).

Memes were uploaded weekly for one month, simultaneously on the 3

platforms, ‘likes’, ‘shares’ and ‘comments’ were recorded.

A questionnaire was conducted with 60 Grade 10 learners, in 3 schools in the

Durban CBD and analysed using factor analysis

Conservation Education & Human Response

USING SOCIAL MEDIA AS A TOOL TO TRACK THE SOCIAL IMPACT

OF PLASTIC POLLUTION IN THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

Kaveera Singh; Surina Singh; Gan Moodley; Deborah Robertson-Andersson

University of KwaZulu-Natal; School of Life Science (Westville Campus), School of Life Sciences

Durban, South Africa

The common misconception of mammals portraying “Cuddly

Conservation’ has now shifted. In Meme 1 the marine environment

was found to be the highest concern in Meme 1 (52 %), Meme 2

(45 %) and Meme 4 (70 %) however, marine birds (48 %) were

seen to obtain the highest bias.

Plastic has been identified as one of the major marine pollution contributors6 but one fails to realize that

human behavior is the cause of current environmental problems 3, 4.

Marine conservation (MC) education programs addressing waste disposal/pollution are largely ineffective1

which implies that providing individuals with information is inadequate to cause a behavioural change.

Effective conservation strategies require people to feel connected to nature. The use of environmental

psychology will help create new strategies of increasing awareness and moving towards a more

sustainable lifestyle.

“CUDDLY CONSERVATION”,Is the inherent human bias towards animals who are perceived to be adapted to

companionship, typically mammals 5.

“MEMES”, (pictures put together with a call to action) are seen as an innovative way to obtain quick responses in a

short period of time.

“CONNECTEDNESS TO NATURE SCALE”, common questionnaire-based tool used to measure an individuals

“closeness” to nature.

STUDY 2: Video analysis

Twenty YouTubeLLC videos were critically

analysed for 10 message impact factors.

The Two Step Cluster analysis determined

the highest-ranked factors.

Two videos, one with the highest-ranked

factors (Video 1) and the other with the

lowest-ranked factors (Video 2) were

compared by UKZN Honours Life

Science students and Bhejane Nature

Training students.

Meme 3 had the highest reach (18 838 individuals) but received only

0,4 % interaction.

Meme 5 (Fig 1.2) obtained the lowest reach (7654 individuals) but

obtained the greatest response (4,6 %) due to an innovative meme

style (background).

Video 1 was enjoyed more (50.8 %), considered to be

more effective in conveying the message (63.1 %) and

would be remembered more in the long term (67.7 %)

as compared to Video 2.

The absence of scientific jargon was the most important factor

(100 % importance), followed by a low level of understanding

(80 % importance),

FINDINGS: STUDY 1:

• Facebook TM is the more effective social media platform

(Fig. 1.1).

• 37,5 % of students accurately answered the knowledge-

based questions on plastic pollution.

• “I often feel a kinship with animals” explained 70,7 %

of why Grade 10 learners felt connected to nature. This

supports the contention that humanistic values are

embodied in emotional attachments that humans form

towards nature 2.

STUDY 2:• The presence of a single speaker, footage and motion

images support the highest-ranked factor variables

(Fig. 2.1).

• A video length of 3 minutes was highly popular.

• Video 1 had a higher preference as compared to Video 2

(Fig.2.2).

• Although Video 1 was perceived as more educational

(43.1 %) by the students, there was not much of a

difference in the number of people that chose Video 2

as more educational (40 %).

CONCLUSIONS• This innovative method of communication (Study 1 & 2)

helps breach the communication barrier between

scientists and the broader public.

• Studies such as this will help identify strategies to help

promote the sustainable utilization of our natural

resources.

Literature Cited:

1. Flowers, A.B., 2010. Blazing an evaluation pathway: Lessons learned from applying utilization-focused evaluation to a conservation education program. Eval. Program Plann. 33, 165–171. doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2009.07.006

2. Frantz, C., Mayer, S., Norton, C., Rock, M.; 2005. There is no “I” in nature: The influence of self-awareness on connectedness to nature. Journal of Environmental Psychology 25, 427-436.

3. Shultz, W. P., Nolan, J. M., Cialdini, R. B., Goldstein, N. J., Giskevieius, V.; 2007. The Constructive, Deconstructive, and Reconstructive Power of Social Norms. Association for Psychological Science 18(5), 429-434.

4. Schultz, W. P. 2011 Conservation Means Behavior. Conservation Biology 25 (6), 1080-1083.

5. Singh, K. 2015. Unpublished. The use of social media to evaluate the effects of plastic pollution in the marine environment

6. Wurl, O., Obbard, J. P. (2004) A review of pollutants in the sea-surface microlayer (SML): A unique habitat for marine organisms. Marine Pollution 48, 1016–1030.

Figure 1.2: Reach of Facebook TM meme posts (no. of individuals) and

Response to Action received (%)

Figure 2.2: Answers (%) to video preference related questions

for the students

Figure 1.1: Response of Call to Action (%) on three social media platforms Figure 1.3: Bias (%) toward marine animals affected by plastic pollution

observed from Facebook TM memes

Figure 2.1: Cluster rankings of the highest main ranked factors

(with corresponding variables) for the 20 YouTubeLLC videos

Facebook TM was seen to be the highest interactive platform in terms

of all 3 calls to action, followed by Instagram TM (p= 0,008) and then

Twitter TM (p=0,01).

0,0

0,5

1,0

1,5

2,0

2,5

3,0

3,5

4,0

4,5

5,0

0

2 000

4 000

6 000

8 000

10 000

12 000

14 000

16 000

18 000

20 000

1 2 3 4 5

Resp

on

se t

o A

ction

(%

)

Rea

ch (

No.

of

Ind.)

Memes

Reach Response to Action

MEME 5

The authors would like to thank

the NRF for research funding