The relationship between environmental awareness and pollution: An empirical study

Industrialization and urbanization have accelerated in parallel with advances in science and technology. While this situation causes an increase in environmental pollution, it has also caused environmental problems that threaten the lives of living things. In recent years, although there has been an awareness to be more sensitive to the environment by being aware of the damage to the environment, this situation is not enough to prevent the damage to the environment. In order to prevent environmental pollution, it is necessary to develop environmental awareness. This study was carried out to examine the effects of environmental awareness. The questionnaire form prepared in line with the purpose was applied to the households living in three provinces in Turkey at the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. The data obtained from 470 households were analyzed with the SPSS 24 program. First of all, the validity and reliability studies of the scales used were evaluated. Since the scales used were found to be valid and reliable, the first contribution of the study is that they can be used in future studies. The findings showed that the environmental awareness and awareness of the participants were above average but needed to be improved. It was determined that the educational status of men did not have an effect on environmental awareness, while the education level of women only had an effect in the dimension of vehicle maintenance. The findings also revealed that environmental awareness levels were higher in households with environmental awareness. This result has been evaluated as a prerequisite for the development of environmental awareness.