Abstract:

The problems of excessive increase in world population, decreasing natural resources and environmental pollution have been the subject of many academic studies in recent years. Environmental scientists developed the concept of "Ecological Footprint" (EF) in the early 1990s in order to measure how much of natural resources are used by humans and how much damage is done to the natural environment. Increasing people's awareness of EF is very important for the sustainability of the ecosystem. In this study, housewives were chosen as the target audience due to the importance of women in protecting the ecosystem. The sample of the study consists of 461 housewives living in four central districts of Kayseri and selected by simple random sampling method. The variables of the research are place of residence, age, education, number of children and family income level. The data was collected with the "Ecological Footprint Awareness Scale" and it was investigated whether there was a significant difference between the place where the participants lived and their demographic characteristics and EF. According to MANAVO analysis results, housewives' EF awareness levels are significant in the food sub-dimension depending on where they live. On the other hand, the awareness level has a significant difference in the food, transportation and energy sub-dimensions according to the family's income level, and in all sub-dimensions of the scale according to the age variable. As age and education level increases, environmental awareness also increases. Since the share of housing and food in environmental pollution is high and housewives are at the center of this area, increasing the awareness of housewives about their ecological footprint will make a significant contribution to reducing the ecological footprint of the society.

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