Environmental Education in Practice: Concepts and Applications

By Joaquim Carlos Lourenço

Globalization and the strong cultural, social and environmental crisis prevailing at the beginning of the Third Millennium have intensified the already serious socio-environmental problems of planetary scope, such as the greenhouse effect, the reduction of biodiversity, hunger and social disorders, showing that the construction of a new model of economic development is necessary.

In the search for better living conditions, accumulation of capital and expansion of the consumption of the most favored social classes, the human being has been exploring natural resources in an increasingly intense way. Therefore, the environment has been going through great transformations, which have impacted the lives of millions of people on the planet.

From this perspective, it is important to insert Environmental Education practices in the processes of awareness and mobilization of people to develop actions for sustainability. Especially that it is incorporated into everyday life: values, attitudes and skills, to assume their responsibilities.

The idea of writing a book on this theme arose due to difficulties in obtaining a bibliography on this theme, which approaches the concept with an effectively interdisciplinary and unanimous character, in addition to the verification of actions developed mistakenly understood as Environmental Education in different formative spaces.

The book presents a dynamic but at the same time technical language, so that it can reach an audience as multidisciplinary as the subject, and as much as should be treated by society.

This work was conceived with the purpose of providing a consolidated didactic material. The content developed was oriented to the specific themes traversing Environmental Education.

The objective of this book is to present an original approach to Environmental Education, explain concepts and practices misunderstood as Environmental Education. Considering other technical concepts related to the theme, as it is of fundamental importance to understand them to better understand the term, its correct use and application.

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lourenço
• Release date: Mar 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9798648705197

Book preview

FINAL FINDINGS

PART 1

Environmental education

Globalization and the strong cultural, economic, social and environmental crisis that prevailed at the beginning of the 21st century have intensified the already serious socio-environmental problems throughout the planet, such as the greenhouse effect, the water crisis, increased pests and diseases in farming and livestock, the reduction of biodiversity, hunger and social disorders, making it clear that it is necessary to build a new model of economic development.

In this scenario of constant anthropic  transformations, the search for better living conditions, accumulation of capital and expansion of the consumption of the most favored social classes, the pressure on natural resources has increased and some ecosystems have already reached their limit of support, that is, the exploitation of natural resources is above the planet's regeneration capacity.

In the medium and long term, social and environmental disturbances can impact the lives of millions of people on the planet. The degradation of the environment brings social, cultural, political, economic and environmental consequences for the whole society, and therefore a cycle of crises, such as the current environmental crisis, which according to Pereira (2014) ³³:

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is derived from these abrupt transformations resulting from the appropriation of the environment by human beings, which has intensified to such an extent that the issue has begun to become the target of debates and discussions, congresses, publications in newspapers, magazines and television news, reaching global proportions and giving rise to a series of efforts and initiatives in an attempt to reverse the picture of environmental degradation. And according to the author, it is in this scenario that arises the Environmental Education (EE), as a proposal that carries with it the perspective of formation of a new social, moral and ethical action.

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For Azevêdo (2014) Environmental Education is a dimension of education, an activity that induces in the development of individuals a social character in their interaction with nature and human beings. With this in mind, Environmental Education aims to maximize this human activity, in order to recover it from effective social practice and environmental ethics.

Environmental Education has the challenge of promoting a new harmonious relationship between society and the environment, in order to guarantee to current and future generations a more just, equitable and sustainable personal and collective development. Through Environmental Education it is possible to rethink social practices based on the essential understanding of the environment, as well as to assume problems and solutions, seeking to highlight the responsibility of each individual in the social environment.

The ultimate goal of Environmental Education is to reach a social group or an individual from the knowledge of their immediate reality, achieve changes in consciousness, attitudes and behaviors, and by a method of critical analysis, their own responsibility and encourage participation in solving environmental problems, in cooperation with the rest of the population ⁴.

Environmental Education is a process of formal and informal educational intervention that seeks to promote a critical awareness of the individual or group of people, for environmental problems of their reality. Furthermore, Environmental Education helps people to reflect on different environmental problems, reconsider their conceptions and internalize knowledge to improve their social reality.

According to Campos et al. (2011), both Environmental Education and environmental interpretation are useful tools for raising awareness of environmental problems, and for empowering the population in the search for sustainability. Both aim at a change in the human being's attitude towards nature.

That is why it is so important to insert Environmental Education practices in the processes of awareness and mobilization of people to develop actions in favor of environmental sustainability, especially that it enables the incorporation into the daily lives of each individual, values, attitudes and skills so that they assume the responsibility of sustainable economic development.

In this context, Environmental Education is an alternative to obtain better results from society in terms of knowledge, attitudes and procedures expected from the population in relation to conservation and preservation of the environment. Undoubtedly, Environmental Education can generate changes in people's attitudes and behavior in their daily lives.

1.1 Genesis of Environmental Education

The preservationist consciousness of the environment started to gain more prominence on the world stage recently, when people realized that the intensive exploration and production practices of industries cause serious environmental problems for life on the planet.

It was from these assumptions, legal requirements and people's awareness that the initial conceptions of Environmental Education emerged. In the last two decades of the twentieth century, the subject has been on the international agenda of several environmental events of global governmental organizations, and of organizations of the third sector.

In the 1960s, according to Wagner et al. (2011) awareness of humanity's negative impacts on nature increased, and environmental policies and programs were developed around the world. People became more aware of their own impact on the environment, of their daily lives.

During the 1970s, Environmental Education gained further evidence after a major joint effort by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Environment