The environmental involvement of the single-industry city residents: the theoretical and empirical analysis

The paper presents the materials of the applied social research describing the involvement of the population in the regulation of environmental issues in a city. The study was conducted in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny of the Republic of Tatarstan by means of the age and sex sample and the questionnaire method. The research assesses the population’s awareness of the environmental situation. It presents the opinion of respondents on the impact of the federal and local authorities on the solution of environmental issues and assesses the possible effect of people on the development of the ecological situation in the city. The study notes the main forms of residents’ initiatives for addressing environmental challenges: the environmental education of citizens, the creation of green teams, their engagement in such teams through the creation of ecological communities and movements. The paper deals with the public awareness of the environmental organization activities and the channels of information (environmental health, mass media, personal experience, scientific literature, non-fiction). The author demonstrates the role of public organizations in regulating environmental issues and reveals the availability of information on the environment status among the urban community. Besides, the research identifies the level of residents’ readiness to take responsibility for the environmental situation and mechanisms for its revitalization.