Attitudes of the citizens of Vojvodina towards ecological problems

Abstract

The paper presents the results of the research on the attitudes of the citizens of Vojvodina towards ecological problems. It tested the knowledge of the respondents about ecological issues, explanations of their main causes and value orientations towards nature. The main goal was descriptive and exploratory in nature: to reveal general attitudes towards these problems and to examine their correlation with socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents, as well as the globalization of the awareness about the surroundings. The respondents firstly recognized ecological problems which are directly visible (pollution), then the problems mediated through global awareness about endangered environment (global warming) and then humans as the main ecological problem (lack of ecological awareness). Furthermore, the perception of the citizens was tested regarding the recognition of the state/civil society as the main cause of these problems, especially state institutions ecological legislative). Significant level of non-anthropocentric value orientation towards nature was determined. The hypothesis about the connection between socio-demographic characteristics and the attitude towards the problems of the surroundings was not confirmed.
The attitudes of the citizens of Vojvodina towards ecological problems differ. On the one hand, they reflect ecological consciousness formed on the basis of direct experience within the local context, while, on the other hand, consciousness formed within the globalized discourse of “network society” surroundings, together with the influence of dominant socio-cultural forms and the activities of institutions in a specific society.