Adolescents of the 1990s and Today: Perceptions of Environmental Issues

Abstract

The article is devoted to the dynamics of the attitude of adolescents to environmental problems. Relevance of the article is determined by the prospect of active influence of the younger generation on the environment in the near future. The attitude of teenagers in 1996 and 2017 to the possibility of economic growth and improvement of the well-being of Russians due to environmental degradation, as well as their concern about environmental problems (air and water pollution, deforestation, etc.) is analyzed. A comparison of the data from two surveys on “Adolescent health and the environment” in 1996 and 2017 showed that despite the deepening environmental crisis, the proportion of adolescents had almost doubled over the past two decades (13.1% in 1996, compared to 24.1% in 2017) of those who fully or partially agreed with the prospect of Russia’s economic growth due to environmental pollution, by 9.4% of those who agreed that the welfare of the people should be improved to the detriment of it; in addition, the share of adolescents who expressed serious concern about environmental problems has decreased, and the participation of respondents in environmental movements remains at a low level. There is also a positive trend: over two decades, the proportion of those who never litter the streets or nature has almost tripled. The article also considers data of all-Russian adult population surveys, which show that in comparison with the 1990s, the anxiety of Russians about environmental problems in their places of residence has decreased. In some questions, young people are more complacent than the older generation, although there is no basis for this. In the West, schoolchildren are active in the fight against global warming. The mass of the movement suggests the impact of this activity from school environmental education and education for sustainable development, which is given insufficient attention in Russia.