Environmental situation in Russia: analysis of public opinion in regions

The relevance of environmental issues for modern Russian society and the importance of the regional factor determined the purpose of the study, which is to study the attitude of the regional community to the environmental situation in the country and in the territory of residence, as well as to identify the real participation of the population in activities to improve the environment. The analysis is based on the materials of sociological measurements conducted in 2021 in the four constituent territories of the Northwestern Federal District: the Vologda, Murmansk, Kaliningrad oblasts and the Republic of Karelia, with a total sample of 2,700 respondents. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the interdisciplinary scientific discourse of environmental sociology and environmental economics. As a result of the work, we have identified a slight territorial unevenness in the assessments of the population in the regions regarding the environmental situation, and determined the characteristics of the real participation of citizens in the activities to improve the environment. Negative assessments concerning the state of the environment are more common among the residents of the Republic of Karelia and the Vologda Oblast. At the same time, the population of Karelia demonstrates a higher level of environmental citizenship than representatives of the other regions under consideration. The Murmansk Oblast is among the regions-outsiders in terms of eco-activism. We made a conclusion about the environmental passivity of the regional community as a whole and named several reasons for this situation. It is worth noting that environmentally sustainable development must be ensured through the participation and joint efforts of all stakeholders: regional authorities, large state enterprises, businesses, non-profit organizations, initiative groups, and individual citizens. The perspective of the study is to consider the interaction between government and society in overcoming the negative impact on the environment.