The article titled “The relationship between environmental literacy, ecological footprint awareness, and environmental behavior in adults” by Yıldırım et al. (2025), published in BMC Public Health, presents a comprehensive empirical investigation into how environmental literacy and ecological footprint awareness affect environmental behaviors among adults in Turkey. The study offers a novel contribution to the environmental education literature by identifying ecological footprint awareness as a partial mediator between environmental literacy and behavior.
The authors conducted a descriptive and cross-sectional study with 398 adults living in Sakarya, Turkey, between April 2022 and January 2023. The instruments employed included the Environmental Literacy Scale for Adults (ELSA), the Ecological Footprint Awareness Scale, and the Environmental Behavior Scale. Participants’ demographic and behavioral profiles were also collected. Statistical analysis using SPSS, G*Power, and R (including bootstrap mediation via Model 4) confirmed the validity and reliability of the findings.
One of the major strengths of the study lies in its identification of a statistically significant mediation pathway—increased environmental literacy leads to greater ecological footprint awareness, which in turn enhances environmentally responsible behaviors. Specifically, ecological footprint awareness had a partial mediating effect (LLCI = 0.1226, ULCI = 0.2559), indicating its crucial role in the relationship.
The study also leverages machine learning models such as Random Forests (RF) and SHAP (Shapley Additive Explanations) to evaluate variable importance. Ecological footprint awareness emerged as the most influential predictor, followed by environmental literacy, in forecasting environmental behavior. This integration of traditional statistical techniques with machine learning tools enhances the robustness and interpretability of the findings.
Despite its contributions, the study is geographically limited and based on online data collection, which may restrict the generalizability of the findings. The authors recommend longitudinal and experimental research across varied populations to further explore causality and broader applicability.
In conclusion, this study underscores the importance of environmental education as a transformative force and provides empirical evidence supporting the integration of ecological footprint awareness into educational curricula. The findings offer practical insights for policymakers and educators seeking to foster sustainable behaviors through targeted interventions and public awareness campaigns.
Reference: Yıldırım, M. S., Elkoca, A., Gökçay, G., Yılmaz, D. A., & Yıldız, M. (2025). The relationship between environmental literacy, ecological footprint awareness, and environmental behavior in adults. BMC Public Health, 25(551). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-21340-3
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