Ecology

A significant part of the regular CVVM Our Society survey conducted in June and July 2023 was dedicated to the topic of homesteading and gardening.

These topics are part of the activities of the Institute of Sociology of the CAS within the framework of the AV21 Food for the Future Strategy.

Specifically, we investigated whether people engage in various activities related to subsistence farming, whether they produce their own food (fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat, etc.) and if so, where and why, whether people who grow or produce something in their households give these products to someone or exchange them with someone, or with how many people.

We were also interested in the other side of the story, i.e. whether people themselves receive home-grown or home-produced food from someone.

Last but not least, we also looked at how bio-waste is managed and how the current food supply compares to ten years ago.

In the period from the first half of September to the beginning of November 2022, a block of questions devoted to energy issues was included in the regular research of Our Society. Part of the questions focused on the transition of the energy industry to cleaner, more environmentally friendly energy sources in the production of heat and electricity. The survey specifically investigated how citizens evaluate the frugality of various energy sources in terms of the impact of their use on the environment, how they perceive the success or failure of the transition to cleaner sources in the Czech Republic, whether, in their opinion, the state should support the use of renewable energy sources, how it is important for them, whether the electricity they consume in their household comes from renewable sources, and whether they use or plan to use renewable sources for the production of heat or electricity, either in a community, such as multiple households within an apartment building, municipality or part of it , or independently in your own household.

In the period from the first half of September to the beginning of November 2022, a block of questions devoted to energy issues was included in the regular research of Our Society. Part of the questions focused on the issue of energy management. The survey specifically investigated how the households of the respondents manage to cover the costs of electricity, fuel and water consumption, whether they have concerns regarding the provision of heating in the Czech Republic, what, in their opinion, are the possibilities of reducing energy consumption in their household and whether the development of the energy market will make their household to reduce consumption.

In the period from the first half of September to the beginning of November 2022, a block of questions devoted to energy issues was included in the regular research of Our Society. Part of the questions examined citizens' interest in the energy policy of the Czech Republic and also focused on the issue of the so-called European Green Agreement from 2020.

In its Autumn 2022 survey, the Our Society series included a battery of questions on issues of nuclear energy. The survey examined public opinion about whether the proportion of nuclear energy in electricity production should increase or decrease in future, what people think about building a new unit of the Dukovany Nuclear Power Station (DNPS), whether or not they are concerned about the use of nuclear energy in the country, and whether they have confidence in the government’s decisions about the development of nuclear energy. A newly included question also asked whether citizens know how the Czech state manages nuclear waste.

The Public Opinion Research Centre addressed environmental issues as part of its survey carried out between early September and early November 2022. In terms of the state of the environment, respondents rate the environment in their place of residence better (84%) compared to the overall state of the Czech Republic (75%), the best rating since 2002. The activity of municipal authorities (59% of positive answers) and environmental organisations (56% of positive answers) are the best rated in the field of environmental protection. More than four-fifths (84%) of respondents think that doing something for the environment is good, even if it costs time and money.

In its July 2021 survey, the Our Society series included a battery of questions on issues of the energy system, with a detailed focus on nuclear energy and some aspects of handling radioactive waste. The study inquired how well informed about nuclear waste citizens themselves feel, how reliable they consider different sources of information on nuclear safety, how they think spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste are currently being handled in the country, how today’s society should respond to the problem of radioactive waste, and how they view different issues of building a deep geological repository of radioactive waste.

In its July 2021 survey, the Our Society series included a battery of questions on issues of nuclear energy. The survey examined public opinion about whether the proportion of nuclear energy in electricity production should increase or decrease in future, what people think about building a new unit of the Dukovany Nuclear Power Station (DNPS), whether or not they are concerned about the use of nuclear energy in the country, and whether they have confidence in the government’s decisions about the development of nuclear energy.

In the July survey the Public Opinion Research Centre focused on the issue of energetics. The survey dealt with a question of the future development of electricity consumption in the country, and whether or not it is possible to replace the production of electricity from conventional sources with alternative sources.

In July within the regular research, the Centre for Public Opinion Research focused on the environment. Representatives of the Czech population answered questions on particular environmental phenomena in the sense of their problematic character. As the most serious problems were stated the garbage cumulation (for 65% “very serious" problem) and the ocean pollution (for 60% "very serious" problem).