Pro-environmental Motivations in Everyday Practices of Young Muscovites

During the last decades the problems of environmental degradation due to human industrial activity have become one of the primary concerns in public discourse. Recently, in the world, including Russia, there has been an increase in anxiety about the destruction of the environment. As a result, we can see a request for environmental practices within the population, although at the same time the Russian society seems to be oriented towards paternalism in the sphere of caring for themselves and their environment. In this regard, the question arises of what motivates younger people to still engage in environmental activity and why ecological agenda appears to be significant in their everyday experience. Taking into account the complexity of intrinsic motivations to engaging individuals in pro-environmental behaviour, and at the same time the fact that the personal justifications of environmental practices in Russia are poorly studied, the present paper focuses on the meanings of ecological practices and justifications, which link engagement of ecologically oriented young Muscovites in the practices of care for the environment to their everyday experience. Based on the data of 21 semi-structured in-depth interviews with ecologically oriented young residents of Moscow aged 16-37 who are involved in environmental care, it seems possible to say that for ecologically oriented young people, environmental concern is primarily associated with their understanding of the ‘ideal’ subject, his/her personal values, the expectations of the ‘right’ person from a moral and practical point of view. Based on the interviews, we found out that for the studied group, the everyday life is probably imbedded in the new social order, where care for the environment is a core value and everyday activity. In their understanding and regulation of pro-environmental activity, younger people are primarily focused on personal responsibility and personal interest, gaining agency through engagement in pro-environmental practices. At the same time, we suggest that in this case personal interest is expressed as both instrumentalism in caring for the environment (avoiding future ecological risks or contributing to the security of the future, self-actualization, acquiring agency), and as a sincere awareness of the value of the environment. The study suggests that being engaged in the practices of care for the environment allows individuals to claim the status of a ‘good, right person’ (as a morally loaded category, given by individuals to themselves and others) and approach the desirable ideal type of the modern subject. What is more, it seems possible to say that the possibility to talk about oneself as a desired ‘good’ individual is embedded not only in environmental concern and pro-ecological values, but first and foremost in personal pro-environmental engagement. Thus, through personal, often small actions in the stream of everyday life experience individuals approach the ideal type of a pro-ecological agent, that reflectively and responsibly helps the environment. As the narratives of young people indicate, they have a ‘pessimistic attitude, but positive hope for the future’. And at the same time, due to their orientation toward proactivity, their awareness of the risks associated with the environment does not paralyze them but fosters pro-environmental practices. Based on the data, we can suggest that environmentally oriented young people can become the proactive social group that will become the driver of environmental activity among the population.