Citizens are informed about environmental news through the media and they become their main source of information, emphasizing events or crises to which they had been oblivious. Therefore, environmental awareness is directly related to the degree of information to which they have been exposed, which influences the construction of social attitudes. The objective of the research is to determine the degree of information that the average citizen has about the environmental problems of their community and to analyze if the media are fulfilling their educational, informative and socializing function. The descriptive research was carried out through 224 surveys of citizens of Babahoyo, between 18 and 72 years of age. The findings show a low degree of environmental awareness on the part of the population, they do not even know who are involved, despite the evident deterioration of natural resources, residues and waste that are not properly managed, and the contamination of land, water and air due to uncontrolled discharges, among others.
