Perception of ecological problems among students of the University of Zagreb

Ekološki problemi poput onečišćenja zraka, nedostatka vode za piće, zagađenosti vodenih površina (mora, rijeka i jezera) aktualni su i danas unatoč javljanju novih ekoloških izazova poput klimatskih promjena i globalnog zatopljenja. Ekološki problemi grupirani su u tri kategorije: problemi s vodom, svakodnevni problemi te visokorizični problemi. Glavni cilj ovoga rada bio je istražiti ekološku zabrinutost među studentima s obzirom na njihova sociodemografska obilježja i njihove socijalnoekološke orijentacije. U istraživanju korištena su tri instrumenta kojima se istražio odnos čovjeka i prirode preko socijalnoekoloških orijentacija (antropocentrizam, tehnocentrizam, ekocentrizam), ekološka zabrinutost te sociodemografske karakteristike. Podaci su prikupljeni online anketnim upitnikom na prigodnom uzorku od 421 ispitanika s šest različitih fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu (Filozofski fakultet, Medicinski fakultet, Prirodoslovno-matematički fakultet, Agronomski fakultet, Fakultet elektronike i računarstva te Akademija likovnih umjetnosti). Pronađene su interesantne razlike između ekološke zabrinutosti studenata s obzirom na fakultet koji pohađaju te se na taj način potvrdila glavna hipoteza rada. Bitno je istaknuti kako su u ovome radu također pronađene razlike u ekološkoj zabrinutosti prema spolu tako da su žene pokazale značajno višu razinu zabrinutosti od muškaraca. Razlike u ekološkoj zabrinutosti prema religioznosti i političkim orijentacijama nije bilo što je vrlo zanimljiv rezultat uzevši u obzir prijašnja istraživanja na ovu temu. Konačno, ispitanici su bili skloniji slagati se s ekocentričnim tvrdnjama, a protivljenje su iskazali spram antropocentričnih tvrdnji.Ecological problems like air pollution, lack of drinking water, and sea, river and lake pollution are current despite the emergence of new ecological challenges such as climate change and global warming. Ecological problems were grouped in three categories: water issues, everyday issues and high-risk issues. The main goal of this 44 paper was to explore ecological concern among students related to their socio-demographic characteristics and their socio-ecological orientations. This paper used three instruments which in turn explored the human-nature relationship through socio-ecological orientations (anthropocentrism, tehnocentrism, ecocentrism), ecological concern and socio-demographic characteristics. Data was gathered using an online survey on a sample of 421 respondents from six different faculties of the University of Zagreb (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing and the Academy of Fine Arts). Interesting differences were found between ecological concern of students and the faculty they attend which support the basic hypothesis of this paper. It is important to point out that differences were also found between ecological concern and the sex of the students. Female students showed significantly higher levels of concern in comparison to male students. There were no significant differences between ecological concern and political orientation and religiousness which is very interesting given the results of previous research in this field. Overall, respondents agreed more with ecocentric questions, and showed disagreement with antropocentric questions