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PUBLICATIONS /   Public Opinion about current state of Hungarian Environmental Protection	magyar

What is the opinion about Hungarian environmental protection? We answered this question by a survey carried out in October 2005 by involving 1277 people. We split the problem into two parts: The respondents' opinion about current Hungarian environmental protection Which issue areas should we focus on in the future? During the analysis, we examined those answers, which were substantive and relevant. The first question was answered by 1272 people, while the second by 1258. 1. Opinion about environment's situation Mankind is destroying nature in an accelerating pace, which can not only be attributed to the heavier environmental burden, but the insufficient level of environmental protection. Thus, respondents were given three pessimistic options to choose from. Most of the people (41,4%) think that the area does not receive enough money so that we could achieve success. Proportion of those who think that the country does not live with the possibilities it has and those who believe the competent only speak but do not act for saving the environment is more or less the same: three out of ten people answered accordingly. Diagram 1. Opinion about environment's current state of the two genders is slightly different. Among women, proportion of those who think that we do not spend enough on environmental protection and those who believe people just talk, but do almost nothing are higher than the average. Among men, number of those who answered that we do not even live with our prospects (e.g. EU funds) was found proportionately higher than considering the two genders together. This latter answer was at second place among men and at third among women. Diagram 2. Taking the educational level into account, we can learn that the higher level of education the respondent gains, the lower the proportion of those who believe that "everyone talk, but do almost nothing" is. Diagram 3. 2. Environmental issues where stepping forward is essential There are many ideas among the most important environmental issues. In the first place, we find the stimulus of renewable energy sources with 28%. Every fourth person would stimulate the shift to environmental friendly fuels. We find the same proportion regarding the answer "manufacturing environmentally friendly products". Many people - almost 20% of those who answered - would put a greater emphasis on selective garbage collection in order to lift the state of the environment. Diagram 4. Considering the settlement type of the respondent, it becomes evident that moving from cities (Budapest and regional centres) to villages, the proportion of those who would put a greater emphasis on selective garbage collection as the most important environmental issue gets lower and lower. Diagram 5. Taking into account the level of education, it becomes clear that the higher level of school the person has, it is more possible that he/she regards selective garbage collection as the most important environmental issue. While among those who have 8 primary school classes or less, the proportion of this answer was 10%, two out of ten people from among the ones having finished a university preferred this answer as the most important. Moreover, it is interesting that the ones gaining an MA diploma, 3% of the respondents were thinking in terms of "other" solutions. Diagram6. To sum up, we can state that most of the people regard the lack of financial background as the most important reason for unsatisfactory level of environmental protection. Women are represented in higher numbers choosing this option. The higher educational level one has, it is more typical that he/she regards the insufficient level of environmental expenditures or the poorly utilised prospects (e.g. EU funds) as the most important factor for the low level of local environmental protection. Most of the people believe that stimulating the use of renewable energy sources should be the solution for solving Hungary's poor performance in the field of saving our environment. Especially those living in cities chose this answer from the possibilities. The "least successful" solution was the selective garbage collection, which however gets more and more popular as respondent's educational level gets higher. The country-wide, representative telephone research was carried out in October 2005 by involving 1277 people. Level of error - in case of examined questions - with 95% probability level is maximum +-2.9%. >> back to the publications