A importância de iniciativas de educação ambiental para a formação de indivíduos críticos: uma análise do Programa de Educação Ambiental do Plano de Ação Territorial (PAT) Chapada Diamantina – Serra da Jiboia

Abstract

The overall objective of this study is to identify how environmental education practices can stimulate engagement and critical thinking in favour of environmental preservation. Environmental education is an urgent necessity in the face of the challenges of contemporary society. However, this education must be emancipatory and critical in order to inspire citizens to change the imposed reality and create the capacity to take a stand on current climate issues. When analysing the historical evolution of the concept of environmental education, we realise that the concept started from a conservative or behavioural approach, which was shaped by individual conduct, to a critical approach, which incorporates social, economic, political and cultural roots in the analysis of the environmental crisis, and how, in this context, education is a fundamental factor for paradigm shifts. We also set out to understand the various explanations for the fact that knowledge about environmental problems does not necessarily lead to pro-environmental behaviour. To achieve our main objective, we sought inspiration in John Dewey's educational practices, which are based on the philosophical concepts of empiricism and experimentalism. In this sense, educational practices in the environment are part of Dewey's pedagogical proposal, as they seek to develop critical and independent thinking in individuals. A qualitative, descriptive approach was used, and as a methodological strategy, a case study was conducted in the project developed by the Government of the State of Bahia, the Environmental Education Programme of the Chapada Diamantina-Serra da Jiboia Territorial Action Plan (PAT), coordinated by the Institute of Environment and Water Resources (INEMA) in partnership with the Secretariat of the Environment (SEMA). As a result of this research, interest arose in developing an Education Project in the municipality of Camaçari with the aim of preserving the source of the Capivara River. This Social Management Technology for Territorial Development incorporates the principles of Critical Environmental Education and the fundamentals of John Dewey's Educational Experimentalism into its objectives, leading participants to reflection and critical thinking, and encouraging citizen participation.