ECOLOGICAL CONSCIOUSNESS – PRE-CONDITION OF SOLVING ECOLOGICAL ISSUES

Due to his activities, especially those in the 20th century, man caused many ecological problems which have been manifested at the global, regional and local level. ‘Pressures’onthe environment are to be viewed as the consequences of an explosive growth of populationand the process of urbanisation, the technical and technological development based on the anthropocentric and irresponsible attitude towards the environment.‘The wakening’ of ecological consciousness, seen as a part of the whole social consciousness during the last thirty years of the 20th century, initiated many changes at allrelevant levels (international institutions and organisations, national governments, economic subjects and civil society). It is a long-term but decisive process, which has to be done by mankind, the pre-requisities of which are education and an access to information for all the relevant subjects on the possibilities and ways of implementing the sustainable developmentin everyday life.In this paper, the author studies the environmental perception based on the survey that has been carried out on a sample of the students (N=150) at the Pula Faculty of Economics and Tourism ‘Dr Mijo Mirković’. The results show that the students are interested in ecological issues, but also suggest a lack of environmental knowledge as well as their insufficiently active engagement in protecting the environment.