[Environmental awareness of the residents of Szczecin]

The aim of the study was to examine environmental awareness of the residents of Szczecin.

The study was carried out in 2004-2005 among 132 residents of Szczecin between the age of 18 and 55 years. The main research tool was a questionnaire which included fifteen questions about the sensitivity to environmental issues, attitudes, ecological knowledge, and pro-ecological behavior of the respondents.

Most of the respondents declared that they are able to foster improvements in the natural environment and are aware of the problems connected with environment pollution in their vicinity. The pro-ecological behavior is manifested by reducing water (68%) and electric energy consumption (75%), by pro-ecological consumer attitudes (66%) and waste sorting (55%). Very few of Szczecin's residents are members of ecological organizations (5%). The main sources of knowledge about environmental protection are the radio and television (38%), press (31%) and the internet (16%). Among the respondents there was a group of people (15%) showing interest in and sensitivity to environmental issues and was therefore called a pro-ecological group. Nevertheless, environmental awareness of the residents of Szczecin is rather low and still needs to be improved through professional educational activities.