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Empowerment of the disempowered: assessing the impact of young Muscovites through ecological practices
Taking account of the ambiguous lines of responsibility for ecological activity in present-day Russia, this study investigates why young people still engage in everyday ecological practices, despite environmentalism being a peripheral issue in relation to the dominant political agenda. The research is guided by the following research questions: how do proactive and ecologically responsible young Muscovites justify their everyday engagement in individual ecological practices, and what motivates them to actively care for the environment? Does the ecological agenda become, for them, a field of power struggle and a means of alternative political representation? Do young people, by engaging in ecological practices, become empowered, taking a stance against the official rhetoric?