AMBIENTE, SOSTENIBILITÀ, ECOLOGIA. PERCEZIONI E COMPORTAMENTI DELLE GIOVANI GENERAZIONI

The issue of sustainability isgreatly debated and one of the main points inthe institutional agenda, but what is the opin-ion of the young generations and what is theirbehaviour? The aim of this work is twofold:to identify young people’s behaviour, percep-tions and how they get information about sus-tainability, and to define young people’sdifferent profiles and features. A CAWIsurveyaddressed to the students attending the fourthand fifth year of high school all over Italy wascarried out. The answers of 1013 studentswho filled out the questionnaire on the webwere then collected. The evidence that comesout is that high school students care about theissue of sustainability, which, however, variesdepending on the geographical area wherethey live and the school attended. A basic ideaof sustainability, particularly widespread inthe North and among the students of classical,scientific and linguistic schools consists in asignificant effort to reduce pollution, protectnatural resources, preserve food resources andimprove waste management.The other idea ofsustainability widespread in the South of Italyand among students of technical and profes-sional institutes, combines the idea of sustain-ability with that of the economic developmentof the territory.