Environmental Education Towards Sustainability of Life
By Carlos Eduardo Fortes Gonzalez
Note of the author: For purposes of the present article, Environmental Education, EE (abbreviation of Environmental Education), Eco-education, Environmentally Educative Processes, Eco-pedagogy, Ecological Education, Ecological Pedagogy and Education for the Environment, are all synonyms.
Environmental Education (EE) is the only branch of human knowledge directly concerned with the maintenance of the biosphere, including all live beings and humans, that’s why is not an exaggeration to affirm that it is certainly one of the most essential divisions of Sciences.
Considering the enormous relevance of such educational concept, it is imperative to perceive that EE is still unexplored by educators from all over the world. There are several explanations for this contemporary situation. Let’s describe some of the factors that affect the quantitative and qualitative offer of Environmental Education programs worldwide, in the next paragraph.
1 - Absence of expertise: There’s a lack of specialized teachers in the environmental area in many countries, even because, in terms of Sciences, EE is a historically new conception (it was formally recognized like a branch of the Sciences of Education about forty years ago, what is, in terms of Sciences, very much recent). So, it happens that the necessity of Eco-education is not officially incorporated yet in many regions of the world, and consequently there is a shortage of qualified teachers in this disciplinary field; 2 – Absence of educational laws, which could oblige the regular offer of Environmentally Educative Processes. It is observed that legal aspects, in several parts of the planet, are decisive for the implementation of modern concerns in pedagogy; 3 – The interdisciplinary approach utilized for Eco-pedagogy. Ecological Education is conceptually interdisciplinary, and, as Education normally works in a compartmentalized manner, the verity that EE is interdisciplinary generally causes the effect of not being taught due to the fact that Educators do not even mention the existence of it. In other words, each instructor teaches their own courses, with few or no consideration to interactive aspects of their disciplines in relationship to other pedagogical contents, including here the EE. I can state that cause I teach the course of EE in an environmentally - related program of higher education and, along with the students, we may notice that the interaction between Environmental Education and the other courses is not generally referred by my teaching fellows; 4 – Devaluation of theoretical approaches, considering that pragmatism can solve everything (that’s an old discussion between the applied and theoretical Sciences, due to the tendency of immediacy in the worldwide current societies. Such immediacy is an outcome of the capitalist system in which the world is immerged. It implies that various educational systems do not reflect on the magnitude of Ecological Education, and it results in the non-presence of Ecological Pedagogy in the official Education; 5 – Lack of general interest from the personnel responsible by the “road ahead” of the Education. Unfortunately, there’s no doubt that in numerous countries formal Education is not seriously managed, and as a result it may appear a very superficial educational scheme. This superficiality can obscure educative procedures, omitting teaching-learning themes, like Education for the Environment.
Upon more reflections, we would find more than those five elements pointed out here in this article as factors that influence the Eco-education offers. Concluding, if mankind is actually involved in the idea of preserving life on Earth, it’s time to ponder deeply on how we have been dealing with Environmental Education. It is crucial to study and produce more articles on this subject, in order to call the attention and sensibly touch the political and social actors of Education. Thus, we’ll have a hope on conserving the biosphere and our mankind. Human beings, due to their so-called “intelligence”, have the public responsibility of providing the conditions for the continuation of biological diversity.
If somebody asks “That’s interesting, but what does this teacher do, related to the improvement of EE?” The reply for this question is that I teach exactly in the area of Environmental Education and about the strategies that might be applied for the functioning of it. So, in my country (Brazil), to the best of my personal skills, I work for the development of the “state of the art” in EE, contributing to the formation of my students towards sustainability of Life. Our work is “think globally, act locally-based”, in the sense that we attempt to resolve local problems without forgetting the large-scale circumstances.
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About Carlos Eduardo Fortes Gonzalez
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