Views of Central European high school students on environmental issues and policies

Community uptake of knowledge about the environment, perception of the environment, and environmental awareness are of pivotal importance. Secondary school students represent an emerging young generation that will become actively involved in shaping the discourse of our societies, as they face major issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. The aim of the study was to explore environmental awareness and attitudes in relation to environmental policies on the national and European level. The study was conducted on the secondary school students from the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic and differences between the two countries and gender were investigated. Based on a questionnaire, the acquired data suggest that secondary school students exhibit environmental awareness and display environmentally friendly behaviour, by which they aim to reduce their negative burden on the environment. The study group identified environmental pollution and climate change as the most relevant contributors to this global crisis, while excessive construction, biodiversity loss, and insufficient protection were identified to a lesser degree. The environment as a whole was perceived as endangered, among which soil was singularly the least pronounced environmental category. The results show a strong negative perception of national actions to protect the environment, and the secondary school students in the study supported the idea that countries should be doing more to protect the environment. The European Union’s ambitious plans to reach carbon neutrality in 2050 were also met with a degree of pessimism and uncertainty.