Lake Baikal and Psychological Resources to Encourage Environmental Patriotism

The American scientist R. Tyler formulated the concept of “libertarian paternalism”, which outlined a strategy aimed at ensuring that a person makes optimal choices dictated by reasons, not feelings. These ideas formed the basis of the “nudge theory”. In this article, we make an attempt to consider the possibility of using the concept of pushing with reference to the urgent problems of today - the development of environmental patriotism in people. The concept of "environmental patriotism" reflects not only an active life position on the protection and restoration of nature, but also active participation in specific activities to strengthen environmental well-being. Ecological patriotism today is a real factor aimed at neutralizing the environmental challenges and threats of our time. The nudge theory with the development of environmental patriotism can be demonstrated by the example of the inclusion of a person’s individual resources, which in turn explains what exactly “shifts” in the process of pushing and makes a person make his choice: – Natural resources of a person: understanding the impact of the ecological situation on personal health, a clear vision of the essence of the influence of specific natural factors on the well-being, lifestyle and life expectancy of an individual, when any harm caused to nature is returned by a boomerang to different systems of the human body (the famous Russian saying is «more expensive for yourself» discloses this aspect well). For today researches conducted by the authors of the article show that so many people are united by the idea that their health is directly related to the ecology of the region in which they live. Through “encourage” we must try to do everything possible so that installations of this kind become a constant possession of environmental consciousness and the environmentally friendly behavior of people; – Personality orientation: awareness of the solidarity of their environmental positions and actions, their thoughts with the opinions and attitudes of other people and hence their social significance; – Skills and competencies: presentation of the possibilities of using one’s potentials to protect the environment, ensure its prosperity, to develop its talents that are somehow related to the natural world, for the prosperity of the environment; – Self-esteem and social status: the desire for high self-esteem, which necessarily includes elements of awareness of the role of “me” in the transformation of the world, in achieving harmonious unity with nature; – Communicative resources of the individual: a desire to interact with other people about the vital values that environmental activity is filled with because of its social and personal benefits (the popularity of various options for the “green” campaign in the West eloquently illustrates this). Today shows that it is not necessary to rely only on the consciousness and responsibility of citizens in the formation of a reasonable attitude to nature. The above positions and attitudes become that internal foundation on which a careful attitude of man to nature can be nurtured. In our opinion, the image of the planet’s environmental defender, the Swedish schoolgirl G. Thunberg, is often used today by foreign media and politicians precisely in connection with his (image) ability to encourage even poorly informed young people to appropriate behavior. The demonstrations and demonstrations held in defense of G. Thunberg's positions in many European countries have convincingly confirmed this.