UPBRINGING THE POPULATION ECOLOGICAL CULTURE AS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN SOLVING ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

The article notes that the solution of environmental problems is impossible without upbringing of the ecological culture of population. Therefore, an important role belongs to environmental education and upbringing. It has been noticed that the level of ecological culture of the population is most clearly manifested in the waste management of households. The article presents the results of the study of public opinion of the residents of Zhytomyr and Zhytomyr region on important environmental issues; in particular, the problems of solid household waste management, as well as the citizens' readiness to take part in their solution. As 84% of the respondents have noted, the waste management issue is very important and requires an immediate solution. The majority of the respondents stated that in their area there are garbage dumps. Regarding the possible solution of the waste treatment problems, the greatest number of the villagers have offered to oblige the district and village councils to provide a solution of the problems with waste removal (28 %) and to train the citizens' to proper waste management (24 %). Most of the researched urban residents believe that the most effective way of solving the problem with household waste lies in the organization of their processing (36%) and the introduction of separate collection (31%). Only 13 % of urban respondents believe that the problem of the treatment of waste can not be solved without the environmental education of the population. With regard of the readiness to take part in various activities of ecological orientation – only 38 % of the respondents declared their agreement with this; about the same number disagreed, believing that this will not lead to the expected results. So the majority of respondents perceives the problem of household waste, as something external, independent of them, and believes that its solution should be engaged in municipal services and governments. The conclusion is made about the need for more active work to improve the level of ecological culture of the people through their environmental education and training for different target groups. The households, the producers of goods and services, the business subjects in the field of waste management, as well as the local government may be the target audience concerning the research into the mentioned problems. For each of these groups various content of information messages taking into consideration the specifics of every target group are proposed.