Determination of Risk Perceptions of University Students and Evaluating Their Environmental Awareness in Poland

Abstract. In this study, it was aimed to determine perceptions and awareness of university students in environmental and technological matters. In this context, a total of 788 students from Warsaw University of Life Science were asked 11 questions about different subjects in the 2014-2015 academic year. Face to face interview method was preferred to ask the questions. The data obtained were analyzed by using SPSS 20.0 software package and Frequency and Crostabb methods were used. As a result of the study, students were observed to be caring about social risk factors most among environmental and social risk factors; and terrorism was considered to be the most important social risk factor. On the other hand, students were observed to be care about water pollution most among technological and natural disasters as well as environmental problems that may occur in the future and considered nuclear power plants (51%) as the most important technological risk sources followed by chemical plants (39%) and storing nuclear waste (37%), respectively. 38% of the students want a nuclear power plant to be built in Poland, whereas 37% don’t want a nuclear plant and the remaining 25% have no idea about the matter. According to the results of questionnaire, they are concerned about receiving the correct information in case of an accident (48%) and they didn’t receive any civil defense training in order to protect themselves in case of such accidents and disasters. Internet seems to be an important information source for students (92%) about environmental issues. Media is also another information source in such issues. Keywords: Environmental perception; Environmental awareness; Technological risk perception; Social risk perception Ozet. Bu calismada, universite ogrencilerinin cevresel, teknolojik konulardaki risk algilari ve farkindaliklari belirlenmeye calisilmistir. Calisma kapsaminda, Warsaw University of Life Science da okuyan toplam 788 ogrenciye 2014-2015 yilinda toplam 11 baslik altinda soru yonlendirilmistir. Soru sorma bicimi olarak; yuzyuze sorma yontemi tercih edilmistir. Anket formlariyla elde edilen veriler SPSS 20.0 paket programiyla degerlendirilmis ve siklik analizi ve capraz sorgulama yontemleri kullanilmistir. Calisma sonucunda; universite ogrencilerinin cevresel ve sosyal risk faktorlerinden en fazla sosyal riskleri onemsedikleri ve terorizmin birinci sirada en onemli risk faktoru olarak degerlendirdikleri ortaya cikmistir. Ogrenciler teknolojik ve dogal afetler ve gelecekte olabilecek cevresel problemler konusunda ise; en fazla su kirliliginden kaygilanmakta ve teknolojik kazalar icerisinde ise en tehlikeli teknolojik risk olarak nukleer enerji santralleri (%51), ikinci sirada kimyasal fabrikalari (%39), ucuncu sirada nukleer atiklarin depolanmasini (%37) risk olarak degerlendirmislerdir. Polonya’da nukleer santral yapilip yapilmamasi konusunda; ogrencilerin %38 nukleer santral yapilmasini isterken, %37 si nukleer santral istemedigini, %25 si ise bu konuda herhangi bir fikri olmadigini beyan etmistir. Olabilecek bir kaza sonucunda yoneticilerin dogru bilgilendirme yapacagi konusunda kaygilarinin oldugu (%48) ve herhangi kaza durumda kendilerini korumak amaciyla sivil savunma egitimi almadiklari anket sonucunda ortaya cikmistir. Ogrencilerin cevresel konularda en onemli bilgi edinme kaynaklarinin internet oldugu (%92) ve medyanin onemli bir bilgi edinme kaynagi oldugunu gostermektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Cevresel algi; cevresel farkindalik, Teknolojik risk algisi; Sosyal Risk algisi