| Summary: | Abstract This study analyses environmental concern in the Komi Republic from the contextual perspective. The main research data consisted of thematic interviews of industrial workers (n = 114), teachers (n = 30), administration staff (n = 33) in the towns of Usinsk and Vorkuta in the Northern Komi Republic. In addition, the in-depth thematic interviews of state administrators, scientists and NGO actors are analysed as well as the survey study conducted in several regions in the republic. As a broad theoretical frame the study uses the context model, in which environmental concern in everyday life is interpreted at five closely connected levels. The study consists of four previously published articles, one submitted manuscript and a concluding chapter. As the major theoretical and methodological idea the study presents two different environments: a life-world of the individual, where environmental changes are perceived and experienced in a framework of everyday life, and secondly, global environmentalism’s Environment, which is nowadays in Western discourses viewed as a globe. This study focuses on the life-world perspective, and asks how these two environments communicate with each other in the particular contexts of the Komi Republic. In general, environmental issues hold a low profile compared with other social problems in the Komi Republic. However, the citizens of the Komi Republic are concerned about so-called ’brown‘ environmental issues; that is issues of pollution and waste disposal in their immediate environs. The public’s environmental concerns are mostly about ’ecological risks‘ — the health and well-being implications of environmental degradation. Environmental problems are regarded as part societal transformation. This ’brown‘ environmentalism is understandable in Russia since approximately 60 million Russians now live in zones with adverse environmental situations. Green or global issues are not much discussed among the public of Russia. The findings stress that engagement with the surrounding ...
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