A study of the environmental risk perceptions and environmental awareness levels of high school students

Since the moment they came into existence, human beings have needed a social life to continue their lives. Along with social life, the environment, the common area where human beings and other living creatures continue their relationship throughout their lives and interact with each other, has been formed (Türküm, 2006). In a broad sense, the environment is the accumulation of physical, chemical, biological or social factors at a specific time that may have direct or indirect effects on human activities and living creatures immediately or over time (Hamamcı & Keleş, 1998). Humans are social beings that are aware of their existence and interaction with the environment. They form artificial environments by changing the environmental conditions in accordance with their desires, using the opportunities that their intelligence and capabilities created (Özer 1993).

Today, rather than acquiring positive traits for the environment and humanity, changes in this artificial environment have taken on many negative aspects that may threaten the lives of all living creatures (Gündüz, 2004), and therefore, many environmental problems have occurred. With a history that dates back to early times, environmental problems have started to soar all around the world, particularly after the industrial revolution (Görmez, 1997). The largest factor in the occurrence of these problems is the changes in economies as a result of technological developments and the consequential increases in human needs (Bozkurt, 2008). Along with humans’ excessive and senseless usage of natural resources and population growth, industrial products, the amount and variety of technical tools and social equipment, and excessive consumption have reached unimaginable levels (Hertsgaard 2001).

Today’s world faces a wide variety of environmental problems. Air, soil, and water pollution, solid waste, nuclear waste, erosion, global warming, climate change, reduced biodiversity, radiation, and a decreasing number of plant and animal species are some of these problems. In 1992, the document “Warning to Humanity” (Öznacar, 2005) stressed that the opportunities people have will substantially disappear day by day and that people need to respect the environment they live in as much as they respect themselves. The concern that environmental problems will create bigger risks in the future is mentioned continuously (Beyhun et. al., 2007; Sam, Gürsakal & Sam, 2010; Szasz, 1994; Satterfield, Mertz & Slovic, 2004; Dunlap, Van Liere, Mertig & Jones, 2000).

In social sciences, the concept of risk is defined by considering its different aspects. Beck (1992) uses the concepts of risk and danger with the same meaning and argues that risks caused by modernisation cause irreparable harm to the environment. According to Beck, risk society is shaped as a result of not foreseeing the conclusions of these threats and of unamenableness and impassivity. The risk society approach, which became widespread in the 1990s, also states that risk has started to take up an increasingly larger place in life, and the risk concept is related to the social restructuring that is composed of social, historical and cultural contents. Studies about risk perception (Walsh-Daneshmandi & MacLachlan, 2000; Riechard & Peterson,1998; Slimak & Dietz, 2006; Gürsoy, Çiçeklioğlu, Börekçi, Soyer & Öcek, 2008; Lazo,Kinnell & Fischer,2000; Lai, Brennan, Chan& Tao, 2003; Beyhun et. al., 2007, Altunoğlu & Atav, 2009, Sam et. al., 2010) are important in terms of guiding risk management and contributing to studies on reducing risks (Gürsoy et. al., 2008). Risk perception is an important step for increasing the awareness of a society in reducing environmental risks. People respond to environmental problems that threaten themselves on the level they perceive them. Individuals’ ability to perceive environmental risks is proportional to how sensitive they are to environmental problems, and there is a primary need to increase individuals’ level of awareness about environmental problems. Many studies regard nurturing conscious and sensitive individuals as the most effective way to resolve environmental problems, and they also note that environmental awareness can be constructed by providing the type of education that will teach them correct behaviours (Kızılaslan, 2005; Alım, 2006; Gökdere, 2005; Uzun & Sağlam, 2006; Şimşekli, 2004; Esa, 2010; Kahyaoğlu, 2011; Türküm, 2006; Çabuk & Karacaoğlu, 2003).

Although acquiring environmental awareness starts informally in the family and close social environments and continues throughout the lifetime, it lasts formally in pre-school, primary education, high school and university phases. Some studies indicate that the provided environment education is not enough to develop environmental awareness (Yılmaz, Morgil, Aktuğ & Göbekli, 2002; Kiziroğlu, 2000; Kaya, Akıllı & Sezek, 2009; Şimşekli, 2004; Özdemir, Yıldız, Ocaktan & Sarışen, 2004; Ünal & Dımışkı, 1999; Demirbaş & Pektaş, 2009). Based on these results, it can be stated that there is a need to make changes in the environmental education provided in our country. Raising individuals with environmental awareness and sensitivity is only possible with a good environmental education. Although the problems that environmental pollution create concern the future of every individual, understanding these problems and gaining awareness is primarily possible in the high school and university periods (Sülün, 2002). Considering that not all students will continue on to receive a university education, it is important to nurture students to have a high environmental awareness in high school.

Purpose of the research

Environmental education provided in the high school period, in which personality starts to be shaped and awareness increases, provides more effective results. Thus, this research aims to determine the environmental risk perception and the level of environmental awareness of high school students in Eskisehir. According to this main purpose, answers for the questions below have been researched.

What is the extent of the level of environmental risk perception of high school students in Eskisehir?
What is the extent of the level of environmental awareness of high school students in Eskisehir?
Do the environmental risk perception levels of high school students in Eskisehir differ according to individual characteristics?
Do the environmental awareness levels of high school students in Eskisehir differ according to individual characteristics?