The paper sets out and actualizes research tasks related to the study of environmental risks and the establishment of a reflexive response to them in the practice of civic participation. The authors of the paper reviewed the results of sociological studies of environmental risks in the regions of the Russian Federation (expert survey, N = 120) and the involvement of Russian youth in volunteer practices under risk conditions (the study was conducted on a random sample, N = 1000). The study made it possible to answer questions about the main risks that exist in the Russian regions; about their localization in the socio-cultural, natural-ecological, technogenic and informational subsystem of the environment; on the adequacy of public response to environmental risks and threats