ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS IN UKRAINE Researcher Mariya Potabenko

Environmental awareness parameters:  attitude of the people to the state of the environment;  attitude to environmental movements;  attitude to the nature;  opinion on possible actions of a respondent if he/she witnesses a case of environmental pollution;  estimation of a respondent’s personal ability to change environmental state

Ukraine

What is your opinion about the state of the environment in Ukraine? Attitude of the people to the state of the environment

What is your attitude to environmental non-governmental organisations in Ukraine? Attitude to environmental movements

Estimation of the personal abilities to change environmental state Can you practically contribute to the solution of certain environmental problems?

Attitude to the nature What is your attitude to the nature?

What will you do if you become a witness of environmental pollution by a business? Actions of a respondent if he/she witnesses a case of environmental pollution by a business

Conclusions  The environmental awareness depends on educational level, age of respondents and region of living. It confirms the hypothesis about different attitudes to the environment in the society and differences in environmental awareness depending on affiliation to certain social groups.

DYNAMICS OF UKRAINIANS’ ATTITUDE TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

Which of the following problems concern you the most?  Standards of living,  Security of Ukraine,  Environmental problems,  Revival of Ukrainian nation,  Relations with Russia,  Criminality,  Problem of Crimea,  Situation with Russian language,  Others

Range of the problems Problem Standard of living І 72% I 79% I 88% CriminalityІІ 54% II 42% II 37% Relations with Russia ІІІ 28% IV 21% V 9% Security of Ukraine ІV 23% V 16% IV 10% Environmental problems V 19% III 30% III 20% Revival of Ukrainian nation VI 10% VI 9% VI 4% Situation with Russian language VII 5% VII 5% VII 2% Problem of Crimea VIII 4% VIII 3% VIII 1%

Conclusions The level of the environmental concern highly depends on the region, linguistic-national affiliation of the residents, other social- demographic indexes. The social, economical and political situation in the country highly influences the level of the environmental concern. Young people and middle-aged people more concern about the environment than old people. The educated people and women are more environmentally concerned. Residents of the polluted Eastern regions are more concerned than residents of the Western regions.