The purpose of this project was to examine reasons behind students at Lerums Gymnasium’s decision to travel to school by car (program SH). Their awareness of climate change, and how their driving affects it, were also looked into. In addition, the municipality of Lerum’s strategy concerning climate, especially among young people and car driving, were investigated.
To investigate this, five interviews were made with students who drive a car to school often. Moreover, an interview with one politician from the municipality too. To complement this, several observations spread over five days in a row were completed. The observations included the number of cars that were placed at the parking lots of Lerums Gymnasium each day.
The result showed that all five persons who were interviewed had at least two cars at home, belonging to their family. Two out of five students transport to school by car every day, and the other three students transport by car almost every day. All five consider themself environmentally conscious. However, all five are convinced that climate change is not their responsibility. Instead of transporting in a climate friendly way, all five students declare that they do separation at source. Three out of five respondents stated that they would travel by public transport if it was available continuously and nearby their house. Neither of the respondents believed that the municipality of Lerum shows that they want to give young people the best circumstances to live climate friendly, as they claim. The politician who were interviewed are convinced that a change would come true if students started reaching out to politicians in the municipality.
The conclusion states that students are transporting by car because of its big accessibility, which supports the confirmed rising numbers of cars in the municipality. The students do not believe that they have the ability to affect the climate in a positive way, which correlates with studies made before. In addition, the municipality of Lerum does not help them to believe so, in contrast to their stated vision.