Edgar J. González-Gaudiano

Climate crisis and the demand for more empiric research in social sciences: emerging topics and challenges in environmental psychology / Crisis climática y demanda de más investigación empírica en Ciencias Sociales: tópicos emergentes y retos en Psicología Ambiental

Abstract Climate change (CC) is one of the challenges facing humanity in the twenty-first century. The complex nature of the phenomenon requires further empiric research from the field of social sciences in general, and environmental psychology in particular. Clarifying how people and human communities interpret, evaluate and act in relation to climate change, environmental psychology can help to broaden the perspective on this field of study and make significant contributions related to emerging topics. Even more, it can help to elucidate the most appropriate tools that can allow people and communities to tackle and adapt to climate change by generating effective solutions. This article sets out certain pathways to give greater visibility to the research agenda about these topics, based on a review of the contributions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on CC and the explicit demand for empiric research in the sphere of social sciences.

Individual Resilience and the Environmental Education for Sustainability as a Base of Community Resilience. A Case Study with High School Teachers

This text describes the methodology and first results of a case study on the community resilience of cities that are recurrently affected by floods in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. A problem arising from the changes in the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones resulting from climate change which mainly affects populations in poverty and those settled in high risk areas. It has been documented that populations resist, recover and even transform themselves in the face of adversity, which has been called community resilience. Community resilience is based on individual resilience and the latter can be developed through education. For this, a significant figure is needed, among other things, to provide relevant models of resolution as well as leadership. The case study confirms that young people can play a determining role during the floods; therefore the significant figure can be originated with theirs teachers. So, teachers with resilient characteristics are necessary to strengthen resilience in their students. Then, students could share individual resilience with their friends, family and neighbors, to create a social belt of transmission of resilience permeated by environmental education for sustainability. For this it is necessary to have resilient teachers. Therefore, this research identifies the individual and community resilience of high school teachers to provide a diagnosis to be considered in actions that improve their capacities of prevention, recovery and transformation to floods.

Resilient Education: Confronting Perplexity and Uncertainty

The chapter explores the role that education plays in a context of growing conflict that magnifies the usual challenges faced by environmental education. The promotion of extractive megaprojects (opencast mining, micro-dams, shale gas extraction), including several preconized as alternative production and sustainable energy strategies (giant wind turbines), has resulted in social conflicts as a result of the breakdown of community ties, the destruction of regional economies, the loss of cultural diversity and the degradation of environments. In areas where such investments are located, local relationships have been disjointed and then selectively integrated and subordinated to globalized value chains led by large transnational corporations. This chapter ends with consideration of strategies that can be undertaken to strengthen local resilience against the onslaught of huge economic forces that tend to elicit the subjection of local governments.

La formación de educadores ambientales en México: avances y perspectivas

The training of environmental educators was established as an imperative of the field since the early years of its implementation in Mexico. While the development of professional training programs in the form of diplomas, specialization and masters has been continuous, it has also been vulnerable to changes in the universities of affiliation, as well as in government environmental policies. This article reports on this story. For this purpose, the problem is conceptualized, the current profile is found and summarized and some routes that have been designed to strengthen this field are described. In this regard, it particularly highlights the fact that various masters and doctorates in science or education accept proposals to research for environmental education. In this way, the sphere of professionalization has expanded beyond the environmental educators’ circuit, which has favored dialogue and creative and productive exchanges with other areas of education GONZÁLEZ-GAUDIANO, É. J.; ARIAS-ORTEGA, M. Á. La formación de educadores... Educar em Revista, Curitiba, Brasil, n. 63, p. 53-66, jan./mar. 2017 54 such as intercultural education, conservation, science, climate change, literature and poetry, among others, which together offer a perspective on the process of professionalization of environmental educators in Mexico.La formacion de educadores ambientales fue planteada como un imperativo del campo desde los primeros anos de su implantacion en Mexico. Si bien el desarrollo de programas de profesionalizacion en la forma de diplomados, especializaciones y maestrias ha sido continuo, tambien ha sido vulnerable a los cambios en las propias universidades de adscripcion, asi como a los de las politicas ambientales gubernamentales. El presente articulo da cuenta de esta historia. Se conceptualiza el problema, se resume el perfil actual que se observa y se apuntan algunas salidas que se han ido construyendo para fortalecer este campo. En este sentido, destaca especialmente el hecho de que diversas maestrias y doctorados en ciencias o en educacion aceptan propuestas de investigacion en educacion ambiental. Con ello, la esfera de profesionalizacion se ha expandido mas alla del circuito de los educadores ambientales, lo que ha favorecido el dialogo y los intercambios creativos y productivos con otras areas de conocimiento y alrededor de diversas te-maticas, entre ellas lo intercultural, la conservacion, las ciencias, el cambio climatico, la literatura y la poesia, entre otras, que en su conjunto ofrecen una perspectiva sobre los procesos de profesionalizacion de los educadores ambientales en Mexico.

What do university students think, say and do on climate change?: A study of social representations

Tratandose de un desafio de global magnitud, el cambio climatico amerita de una urgente atencion por parte de todos los actores sociales. Aunque exista un pequeno grupo de escepticos que ponga en duda la alta responsabilidad de la actividad humana hacia este fenomeno, es evidente el impacto que el cambio climatico ha tenido y tiene sobre los ecosistemas, asi como sobre el incremento de los procesos de degradacion ambiental. Por tal motivo, es inminente para la proteccion de los seres humanos y de todas las especies vivas del planeta, priorizar la adopcion de medidas de mitigacion y de adaptacion hacia las causas y consecuencias del cambio climatico. En este articulo se presentan los principales resultados de una investigacion realizada con el objetivo de conocer la representacion social que sobre el cambio climatico tienen los jovenes universitarios. Algunos aspectos teoricos y metodologicos sobre las representaciones sociales y el cambio climatico son abordados en la primera parte del articulo. En el estudio participaron estudiantes de las cinco sedes de la Universidad Veracruzana, de nivel licenciatura y posgrado. Entre los hallazgos se detecto que la informacion cientifica transmitida por diversas fuentes, cientificas y populares, no es suficientemente influyente entre los jovenes para generar cambios de comportamiento, orientados a frenar el cambio climatico. Se recomiendan nuevas estrategias de comunicacion y de educacion ambiental dirigidas a generar conductas ambientalmente sustentables.Being a challenging of global scale, climate change warrants urgent attention from all stakeholders. Although there is a small group of skeptics who doubt the high responsibility of human activity towards this phenomenon, it is clear the impact that climate change has had and has on ecosystems, as well as on increasing the processes of environmental degradation. Therefore, it is imminent for the protection of human beings and all living species on the GONZÁLEZ-GAUDIANO, E. J.; MALDONADO-GONZÁLEZ, A. L. ¿Qué piensan, dicen... Educar em Revista, Curitiba, Brasil, Edição Especial n. 3/2014, p. 35-55. Editora UFPR 36 planet to prioritize actions on mitigation and adaptation to the causes and consequences of climate change. The main results of an investigation aiming at understanding the social representation on climate change by university students are presented in this article. Some theoretical and methodological aspects of the social representations and climate change are addressed in the first part of the article. The study included students from the five campuses of the Universidad Veracruzana, from undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Among the findings it was found that the scientific information received from various sources, scientific and popular, is not sufficiently influential among young people to generate behavioral changes aimed at curbing climate change. New communication and environmental education strategies aimed at generating environmentally sustainable behaviors are recommended.

Que pensam, dizem e fazem os estudantes universitários sobre a mudança climática?: Um estudo das representações sociais

Tratandose de un desafio de global magnitud, el cambio climatico amerita de una urgente atencion por parte de todos los actores sociales. Aunque exista un pequeno grupo de escepticos que ponga en duda la alta responsabilidad de la actividad humana hacia este fenomeno, es evidente el impacto que el cambio climatico ha tenido y tiene sobre los ecosistemas, asi como sobre el incremento de los procesos de degradacion ambiental. Por tal motivo, es inminente para la proteccion de los seres humanos y de todas las especies vivas del planeta, priorizar la adopcion de medidas de mitigacion y de adaptacion hacia las causas y consecuencias del cambio climatico. En este articulo se presentan los principales resultados de una investigacion realizada con el objetivo de conocer la representacion social que sobre el cambio climatico tienen los jovenes universitarios. Algunos aspectos teoricos y metodologicos sobre las representaciones sociales y el cambio climatico son abordados en la primera parte del articulo. En el estudio participaron estudiantes de las cinco sedes de la Universidad Veracruzana, de nivel licenciatura y posgrado. Entre los hallazgos se detecto que la informacion cientifica transmitida por diversas fuentes, cientificas y populares, no es suficientemente influyente entre los jovenes para generar cambios de comportamiento, orientados a frenar el cambio climatico. Se recomiendan nuevas estrategias de comunicacion y de educacion ambiental dirigidas a generar conductas ambientalmente sustentables.Being a challenging of global scale, climate change warrants urgent attention from all stakeholders. Although there is a small group of skeptics who doubt the high responsibility of human activity towards this phenomenon, it is clear the impact that climate change has had and has on ecosystems, as well as on increasing the processes of environmental degradation. Therefore, it is imminent for the protection of human beings and all living species on the GONZÁLEZ-GAUDIANO, E. J.; MALDONADO-GONZÁLEZ, A. L. ¿Qué piensan, dicen... Educar em Revista, Curitiba, Brasil, Edição Especial n. 3/2014, p. 35-55. Editora UFPR 36 planet to prioritize actions on mitigation and adaptation to the causes and consequences of climate change. The main results of an investigation aiming at understanding the social representation on climate change by university students are presented in this article. Some theoretical and methodological aspects of the social representations and climate change are addressed in the first part of the article. The study included students from the five campuses of the Universidad Veracruzana, from undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Among the findings it was found that the scientific information received from various sources, scientific and popular, is not sufficiently influential among young people to generate behavioral changes aimed at curbing climate change. New communication and environmental education strategies aimed at generating environmentally sustainable behaviors are recommended.

¿Qué piensan, dicen y hacen los jóvenes universitarios sobre el cambio climático?: Un estudio de representaciones sociales

Tratandose de un desafio de global magnitud, el cambio climatico amerita de una urgente atencion por parte de todos los actores sociales. Aunque exista un pequeno grupo de escepticos que ponga en duda la alta responsabilidad de la actividad humana hacia este fenomeno, es evidente el impacto que el cambio climatico ha tenido y tiene sobre los ecosistemas, asi como sobre el incremento de los procesos de degradacion ambiental. Por tal motivo, es inminente para la proteccion de los seres humanos y de todas las especies vivas del planeta, priorizar la adopcion de medidas de mitigacion y de adaptacion hacia las causas y consecuencias del cambio climatico. En este articulo se presentan los principales resultados de una investigacion realizada con el objetivo de conocer la representacion social que sobre el cambio climatico tienen los jovenes universitarios. Algunos aspectos teoricos y metodologicos sobre las representaciones sociales y el cambio climatico son abordados en la primera parte del articulo. En el estudio participaron estudiantes de las cinco sedes de la Universidad Veracruzana, de nivel licenciatura y posgrado. Entre los hallazgos se detecto que la informacion cientifica transmitida por diversas fuentes, cientificas y populares, no es suficientemente influyente entre los jovenes para generar cambios de comportamiento, orientados a frenar el cambio climatico. Se recomiendan nuevas estrategias de comunicacion y de educacion ambiental dirigidas a generar conductas ambientalmente sustentables.Being a challenging of global scale, climate change warrants urgent attention from all stakeholders. Although there is a small group of skeptics who doubt the high responsibility of human activity towards this phenomenon, it is clear the impact that climate change has had and has on ecosystems, as well as on increasing the processes of environmental degradation. Therefore, it is imminent for the protection of human beings and all living species on the GONZÁLEZ-GAUDIANO, E. J.; MALDONADO-GONZÁLEZ, A. L. ¿Qué piensan, dicen... Educar em Revista, Curitiba, Brasil, Edição Especial n. 3/2014, p. 35-55. Editora UFPR 36 planet to prioritize actions on mitigation and adaptation to the causes and consequences of climate change. The main results of an investigation aiming at understanding the social representation on climate change by university students are presented in this article. Some theoretical and methodological aspects of the social representations and climate change are addressed in the first part of the article. The study included students from the five campuses of the Universidad Veracruzana, from undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Among the findings it was found that the scientific information received from various sources, scientific and popular, is not sufficiently influential among young people to generate behavioral changes aimed at curbing climate change. New communication and environmental education strategies aimed at generating environmentally sustainable behaviors are recommended.