Relationship between air pollution and daily mortality in a subtropical city: Taipei, Taiwan

Air pollution has been associated with daily mortality in numerous studies over the past decade. However most of these studies were conducted in the United States and Europe with relatively few done in Asia. In the current study, the association between ambient air pollution and daily mortality in Taipei, Taiwan's largest city which has a subtropical climate was undertaken, for the period 1994-1998 using a case-crossover analysis. This design is an alternative to Poisson time series regression for studying the short-term adverse health effects of air pollution. The air pollutants examined included particulate matter (PM(10)), sulfur dioxide (SO(2)), ozone (O(3)), nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)), and carbon monoxide (CO). The largest observed effect, which was without statistical significance, was seen for NO(2) and CO levels on deaths due to respiratory diseases (ORs=1.013 and 1.014, respectively). The well established link between air pollution levels and daily mortality may not be as strong in cities in subtropical areas, although other factors such as differences in pollutant mix or the underlying health of the population may explain the lack of a strong association in this study. Further studies of this type in cities with varying climates and cultures are needed.     

“2+26”城市治霾方案效果评估:以山东省为案例的研究

以京津冀大气污染传输通道“2+26”城市为对象的区域性雾霾专项治理已经开展两年有余。要判断“2+26”城市治霾方案的实施是否取得了显著成效需要通过科学的实证分析加以验证。采集山东省13个内陆城市2016—2018年每日空气质量指数(AQI)、六种单项污染物(PM 2.5、PM 10、SO 2、NO 2、CO、O 3)浓度以及气象条件等数据,以其中属于“2+26”城市的7城市作为实验组,其余6城市作为对照组,基于双重差分法,对“2+26”城市治霾方案在山东省相关城市的实施效果进行评估,试图分离方案实施所带来的环境效应。结果表明:①“2+26”城市治霾方案的实施总体上有效,对污染传输通道7城市空气质量指数(AQI)指标的降低发挥了显著作用。②“2+26”城市治霾方案对污染传输通道城市的PM 2.5、PM 10、CO浓度的降低有显著贡献,但对SO 2、NO 2和O 3指标的改善贡献并不明显。③对方案进行分时段动态效应分析发现,《京津冀及周边地区2017年大气污染防治工作方案》的发布并未对污染传输通道城市空气质量改善产生立竿见影的效果,而《京津冀及周边地区2017—2018年秋冬季大气污染综合治理攻坚行动方案》《京津冀及周边地区2018—2019年秋冬季大气污染综合治理攻坚行动方案》的落实和执行才是“2+26”城市治霾方案显著见效的保障。该研究在严格遵守双重差分法前提条件的同时,还通过了一系列稳健性检验确保评估结果的可靠性。     

武汉城市圈城市化发展与环境空气质量关系探讨

城市化与环境空气的相互作用关系研究,是引导城市可持续发展和环境政策制定的重要依据。利用主成分分析法和集成的环境空气质量指数分别评价了城市化和环境空气质量水平,进而拟合了两者的最优高次多项式曲线。结果发现:12001年来,武汉城市圈的城市化综合水平表现出以武汉为核心,黄石和鄂州为次核心,咸宁、孝感等为边缘的层级结构;2城市圈空气污染的重心主要在武汉市和鄂东南的黄冈、鄂州、黄石等地区,PM10是首要污染物;3不同城市由于其自然地理背景、城市发展类型、经济产业结构的不同,环境空气效应(关系)存在差异,在武汉城市圈内主要表现为三类:武汉市的复合型空气污染,黄石、鄂州等煤烟型为主的空气污染,以及咸宁、天门等煤烟和机动车尾气混合型的转变空气污染。未来,城市圈在生态环保一体化的进程中,需加强空气污染的联合防治,也需结合城市的自身特点采取有针对性的污染治理措施。     

The association between rural–urban migration flows and urban air quality in China

In light of the rapid urbanization of the world’s population over the past decades, there is a growing concern about the environmental impacts of urban population growth. Rural–urban migration is a particularly important component of the urbanization process in developing countries and is often considered to be detrimental to urban environmental conditions. However, few studies have explicitly examined the presumed negative impacts of in-migration on the natural environment of cities. The continuously increasing volume of rural–urban labor migration in China since the early 1980s has formed the largest population flow in world history. This study links the existing literature on population–environment and urbanization–environment interactions by empirically assessing the relationship between rural–urban migration and urban air conditions in China. A two-period (2004 and 2010) longitudinal dataset for the 113 key environmental protection cities of China was constructed based on multiple data sources. We applied the STIRPAT equation using conventional and spatial panel regression models to examine whether rural–urban migration flows were associated with air pollution in cities. Results show a strong negative association of in-migration with urban air quality even after controlling for the effects of other population, affluence, and technology factors. Findings from this research can contribute to a better understanding of the environmental consequences of rural–urban migration in China, with broader implications for sustainable development research and policies.     

中国环境信息公开的时空演化特征及其影响因素

环境信息公开是大数据信息时代环境治理的新型工具,我国在立法和实践上取得了重要进展,准确把握其发展脉络、现实状况和驱动因素,是有效推动环境信息公开和发挥其治理效果的先决条件。基于2008—2017年120个城市的PITI指数,采用空间数据探索分析和动态空间面板模型方法,分析了我国环境信息公开的时空演化特征和影响因素。研究发现:①我国环境信息公开正处于向中等水平过渡阶段,表现出明显的区域不平衡现象,呈现“沿海-内陆”梯度递减特征。②我国环境信息公开表现出较强的空间集聚特征,呈现显著的空间“俱乐部”分布格局,区域内部空间溢出效应显著,区域间辐射带动作用较弱。③较高的经济发展水平和环保投入强度表现出显著的促进作用,而良好的企业绩效和教育水平、较高的社会舆论和环保监督压力并没有发挥应有的促增效应;较差的空气质量和较高的工业污染表现出显著的抑制效应,而提高外资引入和环保执法力度则表现出较弱的负向作用。沿海城市和智慧城市的促进作用相对较高,资源型城市则较低。④环境信息公开在时间、空间和时空维度上分别表现出叠加效应、同群效应和示范效应。因此,应逐步完善环境信息公开的体制机制,加快环保基础设施建设,推进企业环保信用评价,提高公众互动参与和监督,强化环保指导帮扶和监管执法,构建环境信息公开的长效机制。     

Exploring uncertainty of the change from ICD-9 to ICD-10 on acute mortality effects of air pollution

The change in ICD coding from ICD-9 to ICD-10 may produce inconsistencies and discontinuities in cause-specific mortality, thus impacting on effects estimates of air pollution on mortality. The current study was conducted in Wuhan, China. We examined the concordant rates and Kappa statistics using the mortality data from the year 2002 coded with both ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes and compared the estimated effects of air pollution using the Generalized Additive Model in R. We found high concordant rates (>99.3%) and Kappa statistics close to 1.0 (>0.98). Little difference was identified in the estimated effects of air pollution on daily cardiovascular, stroke, cardiac, cardiopulmonary, and respiratory mortality. This study provides evidence that, based on the wide definitions of cause-specific morality typically used in the studies of time-series air pollution mortality, the change in the ICD coding does not significantly affect the estimated effects of air pollution.     

空气污染、空间外溢与公共健康——以中国珠江三角洲9个城市为例

空气污染对居民公共健康的影响,引起了人们高度的关注。但大多数学者研究从样本的独立性出发且不考虑内生性问题,忽视区域之间空间相关性,所得结论和政策建议需谨慎对待。为了弥补上述不足,本文基于Grossman中国宏观健康生产函数,选取2001—2014年中国广东省珠江三角洲9个城市作为样本,选择以PM_(10)和PM_(2.5)作为空气污染的代理指标,在充分考虑空间效应和严格假设检验的基础上选择合适的空间计量经济学模型,对此进行实证研究。主要研究结果显示:空气污染对居民的公共健康带来了负面影响,即PM_(10)和PM_(2.5)每增加1%,导致哮喘疾病和内科门诊等疾病人数不断上升,且影响都比较大,尤其是对哮喘疾病的影响分别为0.2236%和0.2272%。经济增长对公共健康均有显著的促进作用,影响最大;其它财政医疗支出、卫生技术人员和人口密度等要素对居民公共健康的影响较小。由于空气污染的负外部性,研究还发现,区域之间空气污染的"溢出效应"对领域居民公共健康存在显著的影响,说明忽视空间自相关性的存在,会使得空气污染对公众健康的估计产生偏差。从长期看,空气污染对本地居民公共健康的直接效应都显著为正,PM_(2.5)间接效应显著为负,但PM_(10)间接效应并不显著。因此,各级政府除了在源头上治理污染物的排放,提高公共健康水平外,还应该打破各自为阵的行政垄断,应该作为一个整体,实现跨区域环保合作,共同治理和制定公共卫生政策等。这对区域之间协同减排和保护居民公共健康具有重要的理论和现实意义。     

中美大气污染的空间交互影响--来自国家和城市层面PM2.5的经验证据

准确识别中美大气污染的空间交互影响可以为两国在大气污染治理领域开展双边合作提供科学依据。以PM 2.5浓度表征大气污染程度,采用收敛交叉映射(Convergent Cross Mapping,CCM)方法,在采集伯克利地球发布的小时数据的基础上通过算数平均得到2018年1月1日至2018年12月31日的PM 2.5浓度日均数据,从国家和城市两个层面识别了中美大气污染的空间交互影响。研究发现,中美两国的大气污染是空间交互影响的。其中,国家层面,在CCM因果检验基础上的广义同步检验表明,在1%显著性水平上,大气污染仅存在由美国指向中国的单向因果关系。城市层面,中美两国10个样本城市之间理论上共存在50个可能的因果关系(5×5×2)。研究发现,在1%显著性水平上,美国城市指向中国城市的因果关系有12个,而中国城市指向美国城市的因果关系仅有5个。在影响强度上,美国城市的大气污染对中国城市的影响强度高于中国城市的大气污染对美国城市的影响强度,如重庆的大气污染对华盛顿的影响强度为0.21,而华盛顿的大气污染对重庆的影响强度为0.35。面对大气污染的空间交互影响,中美两国可通过积极开展联合科研攻关,厘清大气污染的传输路径及其驱动因素,进行污染物的联合监测与数据管理;通过共享大气污染治理技术和建立大气污染防治基金等方式,加强在大气污染治理领域的合作。一旦中美两国成功建立起大气污染双边合作治理体系,依靠两国的国际地位和国际影响力,必将吸引越来越多的国家参与进来共同行动,大气污染全球治理体系的构建将非常值得期待。     

城市创新能够驱散雾霾吗?--基于空间溢出视角的检验

中国多城市群大范围持续遭遇雾霾等空气环境问题,不仅严重影响着人民生活健康,同时成为制约中国社会经济发展的主要瓶颈。创新驱动作为引领发展的重要源泉,是治理城市雾霾的重要手段。因此,本文利用2004—2016年中国地级市PM_2.5浓度、创新等数据,基于STIRPAT模型,通过空间计量方法在同时考虑空间横向维度及时间纵向维度下就中国城市创新对雾霾的影响进行了实证分析,并进一步从城市创新对雾霾的动态效应、作用距离阈值等多个角度进行了稳健性检验。实证结果表明:①中国城市雾霾污染呈现明显的空间溢出效应和高排放俱乐部集聚特征。②中国城市创新具有积极的减霾作用。从横向空间维度来看表现为积极的空间溢出效应,但存在一定的有效距离阈值。从纵向时间维度来看,减霾效应整体存在边际递减态势。③交通便利化及能源效率的提高有效抑制了城市雾霾污染的加剧,以煤为主的能源结构仍是城市雾霾污染加剧的一大诱因。基于上述事实,本文提出以下政策建议:中国在城市雾霾治理过程中应实施科学规划,布局联防联控。防止城市"单边"治霾努力成果被周边城市的"泄漏效应"所削减;聚集创新要素,打造创新型城市引擎。在城市群内部形成创新竞争、合作机制,创新重塑城市群发展模式以缓解城市雾霾污染;考虑到城市创新对于雾霾治理红利存在边际递减态势,除上述减霾渠道外,治霾政策仍需坚持从源头着手,优化产业、能源结构,促进能效、路效提高,最终成就美丽城市。     

Estimate on spillover effect of environmental pollution between peripheral areas

ABSTRACT

Interaction of environmental pollution between peripheral areas has become a central topic in the field of resources and environment but little is known about the actual impact on peripheral areas in the current literature. This paper sets out a simultaneous equation model to investigate the spillover effect of environmental pollution between China’s peripheral areas utilizing the panel data of 218 cities in China. Making use of indicators for measuring the impact on environmental pollution, it identifies that environmental pollution between cities of China has a significant two-way spillover effect. After standardization of variables, it is found that the spillover effect of peripheral areas on urban environmental pollution cannot be neglected. Nearly, a third of the environmental pollution level in a city is induced by the environmental pollution in peripheral areas. If the indicator of environmental pollution in peripheral areas is missing, wrong conclusions will be drawn. Therefore, government should shift the emphasis of environmental regulation from local to global, and improve the overall environmental quality through coordinated management of regional environment.     

A new conceptual model for quantifying transboundary contribution of atmospheric pollutants in the East Asian Pacific rim region

Transboundary transport of air pollution is a serious environmental concern as pollutant affects both human health and the environment. Many numerical approaches have been utilized to quantify the amounts of pollutants transported to receptor regions, based on emission inventories from possible source regions. However, sparse temporal–spatial observational data and uncertainty in emission inventories might make the transboundary transport contribution difficult to estimate. This study presents a conceptual quantitative approach that uses transport pathway classification in combination with curve fitting models to simulate an air pollutant concentration baseline for pollution background concentrations. This approach is used to investigate the transboundary transport contribution of atmospheric pollutants to a metropolitan area in the East Asian Pacific rim region. Trajectory analysis categorized pollution sources for the study area into three regions: East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan cities. The occurrence frequency and transboundary contribution results suggest the predominant source region is the East Asian continent. This study also presents an application to evaluate heavy pollution cases for health concerns. This new baseline construction model provides a useful tool for the study of the contribution of transboundary pollution delivered to receptors, especially for areas deficient in emission inventories and regulatory monitoring data for harmful air pollutants.     

Using Nonprofit Narratives and News Media Framing to Depict Air Pollution in Delhi,India

How is the air pollution issue in Delhi framed by the news media and narrated by nonprofit organizations? To study news media framing, we employed an inductive approach based on automated text coding of news coverage of the issue. To study nonprofit organization narrations, a deductive approach guided by the Narrative Policy Framework was used to focus on the stories told via online documents as found on nonprofit websites. The findings confirm existing theory and empirical research regarding the leading causes and effects of air pollution; however, perceptions are mixed regarding the government’s ability to implement policy. The combined deductive and inductive approaches provide a systematic and multi-method research study for understanding perceptions of air pollution in one of the largest cities in the world. The result is a depiction of the priorities that influence public opinions, political decisions, and eventually public policies.     

对修改《大气污染防治法》着力点的思考

从2013年到2016年我国大气污染防治所取得的巨大成就不能用来说明2015年修订通过的《大气污染防治法》为防治大气污染发挥了巨大的作用。那些成就主要是由以《重点区域大气污染防治"十二五"规划》《大气污染防治行动计划》为标志的政府防治大气污染的行动取得的。《大气污染防治法》(2015)的加"严"修订主要表现在:罚则条款数量增加;违法行为种类增加;责任类型增多;多处设定"惩罚束";设定阶梯式处罚;创设身份罚新形式,多处设定机能罚等方面。那些加"严"修订都服务于实现"行为人不违反"这个规制目标。以往的研究成果表明,使"行为人不违反"的法律不能保证使环境达到一定的质量目标。近年我国政府环境保护举措取得成功的秘诀主要有三点,即:(1)减少绝对排放量;(2)政府负责,而不是行政相对人负责;(3)用权力推行,而不是用设惩罚"威胁"行政相使之守法的方式寻求大气污染防治目标的实现。要让大气污染防治法成为我国防治大气污染的基本依据和有效防治大气污染的保障,必须对新修订的《大气污染防治法》再行修订。新的修订应当以政府的大气污染防治行为为着力点。这样的修订主要应当考虑:建立大气质量目标制度;健全总行为控制制度;按照大气污染防治的需要明确对各级政府、地方权力机关的授权;规定政府或其职能部门的职责和相关行政权运行的约束程序。在对《大气污染防治法》实施了以"政府的大气污染防治行为"为着重点的修改之后,国家将取得法治国家建设和大气污染防治法制建设的双重收获。     

资源型城市环境规制的经济增长效应及其传导机制——基于创新补偿与产业结构升级的双重视角

对于中国多数资源型城市来说,改善生态环境与促进经济增长是当前面临的重要任务。一些研究认为治理环境污染可能加重"遵循成本",进而不利于经济增长;也有研究认为环境规制会通过"创新补偿"效应,增进当地产品竞争力,弥补企业成本负担并促进经济增长;此外,还有研究认为环境标准提高有助于区域产业结构升级,进而带动经济增长。为验证中国资源型城市环境规制对经济增长的影响及其传导机制,本文基于2004—2014年资源型城市数据,以样本城市GDP为被解释变量,以工业污染治理设备运行费用为解释变量,进行了面板数据实证分析,并观察了科技行业人员比重和第三产业比重的中介效应。结果显示:(1)资源型城市工业污染物治理对GDP总量和人均GDP的影响均显著为正;(2)在环境规制与GDP(或人均GDP)的正向关系中,科技行业人员比重的提升起到了部分中介作用,即存在显著的创新补偿效应;(3)除了传统观点看到的创新补偿效应,污染治理对产业结构的积极影响也在二者正向关系中有重要的中介作用,而且比创新补偿效应的作用更显著。本文的结论是,资源型城市环境规制未对经济增长造成不利影响,主要是由于经济资源从效益不佳的工业企业流向了第三产业,同时工业部门自身的创新潜力也已逐步凸显。因此,面对经济社会持续发展的压力,资源型城市要取得经济增长与生态环境的双赢,应当强化污染治理成本对企业技术进步的倒逼机制,进一步实现创新驱动发展,同时要构建多元产业体系,促进资源型行业与现代服务业的有效对接和深度融合。     

The rise of low-cost sensing for managing air pollution in cities

Ever growing populations in cities are associated with a major increase in road vehicles and air pollution. The overall high levels of urban air pollution have been shown to be of a significant risk to city dwellers. However, the impacts of very high but temporally and spatially restricted pollution, and thus exposure, are still poorly understood. Conventional approaches to air quality monitoring are based on networks of static and sparse measurement stations. However, these are prohibitively expensive to capture tempo-spatial heterogeneity and identify pollution hotspots, which is required for the development of robust real-time strategies for exposure control. Current progress in developing low-cost micro-scale sensing technology is radically changing the conventional approach to allow real-time information in a capillary form. But the question remains whether there is value in the less accurate data they generate. This article illustrates the drivers behind current rises in the use of low-cost sensors for air pollution management in cities, while addressing the major challenges for their effective implementation.     

技术异质下中国大气污染排放效率的区域差异与影响因素

近年来中国雾霾天气的频繁发生给人们的生产、生活以及身体健康构成巨大威胁。提高大气污染排放效率,深入挖掘大气污染减排潜力是改善中国大气环境质量,减少和消除雾霾天气发生的重要途径。本文根据生态效率理论,充分考虑到不同区域发展的不平衡因素与技术异质性特征,在共同前沿方法框架下科学测算2006—2014年间中国30个省份的大气污染排放效率,在此基础上分析效率的区域差异,利用"技术差距比(TGR)"这一指标衡量东部、中部与西部三大区域之间大气污染排放技术的差距,并从"技术"与"管理"两个维度进一步将各省份大气污染排放无效率分解为"技术差距无效率(TGI)"与"管理无效率(GMI)",以此定位各省份大气污染防治的薄弱环节,进而构建策略矩阵,将全国各省份归入四个不同排放效率特征的方阵,并给出相应的优化路径与措施;深入揭示大气污染排放效率与排放强度之间的内在联系,提出"大气污染排放强度效率"这一全新概念并考察其演化趋势;利用面板Tobit回归模型检验影响我国省际大气污染排放效率与排放技术的外部环境因素。实证结果表明:1中国大气污染排放效率整体水平偏低,年均仅为0.493,污染减排潜力巨大;2中国大气污染排放效率与排放技术的地区差异显著,无论是大气污染排放效率还是排放技术水平,东部地区都是明显高于中部与西部地区;3中国大气污染的实际排放强度明显高于潜在排放强度,这表明大气污染排放强度还存在很大的改进空间;4经济发展、产业结构升级与科技创新对大气污染排放效率与排放技术的提升均有显著促进作用,煤炭消费比重上升与人口密度过大则对其有显著抑制作用;5本文的研究结论支持"波特假说"与"污染避难所"假说。     

人力资本、技术创新对环境污染的影响机制——基于全国285个城市的实证分析

基于2003~2016年中国285个城市数据,讨论了人力资本和技术创新对环境污染的影响机制。主要研究结论为：（1）人力资本和技术创新可以显著降低环境污染;（2）人力资本和技术创新对环境污染的影响存在协同作用,在人力资本的影响下,技术创新显现出明确的减污效应,同时在技术创新的影响下,人力资本也显现出明确的减污效应;（3）人力资本和技术创新跨越各自的门槛值后,二者的协同效应会增强,减污效果更明显;（4）人力资本和技术创新对环境污染的影响是通过“产业清洁效应”、“外资清洁效应”和“金融清洁效应”3类中介途径实现的。研究结论为我国环境污染的治理提供了有益的借鉴。     

中国雾霾空间分布特征及影响因素分析

近年来我国雾霾天气频发,以PM_(10)和PM_(2.5)为核心的大气污染物对人体健康和大气环境质量造成了严重威胁,已经成为当前不容忽视且亟需解决的重大民生问题和环境问题,深入分析雾霾污染的形成原因和影响因素对于科学制定切实有效的治霾政策具有重要的现实意义。本文基于我国288个地级以上城市2015年1月—2017年2月的月均空气质量AQI数据,首先采用空间统计方法对雾霾污染空间分布的季节特征进行可视化描述,其次通过空间自相关指数对雾霾污染的空间集聚特征进行了实证检验,最后在此基础上建立空间计量模型对影响雾霾污染的社会经济因素进行了经验识别。结果表明:(1)我国雾霾污染的季节性特征明显,夏季空气质量状况最好,春季和秋季次之,冬季污染最严重且波及范围广,其中河北南部、河南北部、山西南部和陕西关中地区是污染重灾区,季均空气质量均为中度污染以上。(2)雾霾污染存在显著的空间正相关特征,我国东部沿海地区表现为显著的低低集聚,华北平原及周边地区呈现显著的高高集聚特征。(3)空间回归结果显示,我国雾霾污染与经济增长的关系在一定程度上与EKC曲线假说相符,其中二产畸高的产业结构、民用汽车保有量的增多和省会城市均对雾霾污染有显著的正向促进作用,但人口密度和绿化水平对雾霾污染的影响并不显著。因此,治霾政策应坚持城市内部以促进产业结构转型升级、鼓励使用新能源汽车和共享单车、疏散省会城市的职能为主,城市外部应以区域联防联控为主,从而达到缓解和改善大气环境的目的。     

High resolution exposure modelling of heat and air pollution and the impact on mortality

BackgroundElevated temperature and air pollution have been associated with increased mortality. Exposure to heat and air pollution, as well as the density of vulnerable groups varies within cities. The objective was to investigate the extent of neighbourhood differences in mortality risk due to heat and air pollution in a city with a temperate maritime climate.MethodsA case-crossover design was used to study associations between heat, air pollution and mortality. Different thermal indicators and air pollutants (PM₁₀, NO₂, O₃) were reconstructed at high spatial resolution to improve exposure classification. Daily exposures were linked to individual mortality cases over a 15 year period.ResultsSignificant interaction between maximum air temperature (Ta_max) and PM₁₀ was observed. During “summer smog” days (Ta_max > 25 °C and PM₁₀ > 50 μg/m³), the mortality risk at lag 2 was 7% higher compared to the reference (Ta_max 15 °C and PM₁₀ 15 μg/m³). Persons above age 85 living alone were at highest risk.ConclusionWe found significant synergistic effects of high temperatures and air pollution on mortality. Single living elderly were the most vulnerable group. Due to spatial differences in temperature and air pollution, mortality risks varied substantially between neighbourhoods, with a difference up to 7%.     

Major factors contributing to environmental awareness among people in a third world country/Jordan

The objective of this research was to evaluate the major factors contributing to environmental awareness among people in a third world country such as Jordan. Two thousand individuals from different locations in the southern part of Jordan participated in the survey and completed the questionnaire in the fall of 2004. The questionnaire consisted of 30 questions grouped into the following categories of major environmental issues: general environmental problems, air pollution, water resources, solid waste, noise pollution, and desertification. The target population encompassed people with different backgrounds including gender, age, education levels, location of residency, and social status. The questionnaire was distributed according to the population density throughout five major cities and 59 villages. Analysis of Variance was conducted on the means of the sample populations determined by gender, age, education, and geographic distribution to verify that the apparent differences of the means were statistically significant. The environmental awareness of females in this study as quantified by an overall index exceeded that of males in each of the individual cities and villages surveyed and therefore throughout the region. For the entire study, the overall index was 65.3–62.8, respectively. The statistical results of the survey revealed that the city of Aqaba in the southern region of Jordan had greater environmental awareness than the other cities surveyed. Environmental awareness among university students increased linearly as they proceeded from the first year to the fifth year. The education level of the survey respondents played a significant role in the degree of environmental awareness in all cities and villages surveyed. Environmental awareness was also affected by the difference in age range, with the older groups having more consistent responses and higher overall index of environmental awareness.