Lucie Sauvé

Educação ambiental: possibilidades e limitações

No correr dos ultimos trinta anos, os que atuam na area da educacao ambiental tem gradualmente tomado consciencia da riqueza e da amplitude do projeto educativo que ajudaram a construir. Deram-se conta de que o meio ambiente nao e simplesmente um objeto de estudo ou um tema a ser tratado entre tantos outros; nem que e algo a que nos obriga um desenvolvimento que desejamos seja sustentavel. A trama do meio ambiente e a trama da propria vida, ali onde se encontram natureza e cultura; o meio ambiente e o cadinho em que se forjam nossa identidade, nossas relacoes com os outros, nosso “ser-no-mundo”. A educacao ambiental nao e, portanto,

Influence of the Globalized and Globalizing Sustainable Development Framework on National Policies Related to Environmental Education

This article presents and discusses some results of the authors’ analysis of international and national institutional documents related to environmental education from the 1970s to the present day. The aim of the study is to present a critical characterization of how environmental education is conceptualized and introduced through the ongoing worldwide educational reform movement. The results presented in this article highlight the influence of the globalized and globalizing international political program for sustainable development on national educational proposals. The shift from the previous institutional discourse related to environmental education towards a more explicit economicist view of the world is discussed. The purpose of this article is to stimulate discussion about some of the foundations upon which educational policies and other national initiatives related to environmental education rest, and to introduce elements that could enrich their conceptual and ethical dimensions.

Challenging a “Closing Circle”: Alternative Research Agendas for the ESD Decade

Abstract

Environmental Health Education: A Participatory Holistic Approach

In response to the lack of theoretical foundations in the emerging field of “environmental health education,” this article presents a proposal for a theoretical framework which integrates complementary elements drawn mainly from the fields of environmental education, health education, and risk education. This framework is centred on a participatory holistic approach; it seeks to stimulate the development of personal and collective competencies for citizen involvement in improving the relationship between communities and their environment in order to simultaneously promote human health and the integrity of the closely interrelated life systems. The development of this proposal is based on an initial theoretical construct, produced from an anasynthesis of existing literature and results of previous projects, that is being validated and enriched by actual empirical fieldwork. The latter involves the collaborative design and experimentation of educational-intervention projects, among social groups in the region of Lac Saint-Pierre, concerning the issue of fish consumption, its benefit, and also the risks associated to lake chemical contamination.

Ruling Relationships in Sustainable Development and Education for Sustainable Development.

ABSTRACT It is from historical perspectives on more than 40 years of environment related education theories, practices, and policies that we revisit what might otherwise become a tired conversation about environmental education and sustainable development. Our contemporary critical analysis of Stefan Bengtssons research about policy making leads us to different interpretations of some key observations and assertions about sustainable development (SD) and education for sustainable development (ESD). To counter the persistent weight of the underpinning resourcist and economic view of the relationship between people and the environment, we examine other perspectives about economy, about people and society, and about the environment. These divergences insist upon diversity in education and in environmental education.

Education as Life

Through my immersion in citizen resistance movements against invasive “development” projects, and my exploration of diverse ecosocial creative initiatives, I have observed the ongoing processes of knowledge construction and very often, the emergence of a collective and powerful intelligence in the mobilized groups. Noting the gap between school and such contexts of rooted and meaningful learning, some questions emerged: how can formal education build on these informal leaning dynamics so as to empower youths/citizens willing and capable of contributing to social debates and transformations for better living together within our oikos? In this perspective, how can the barriers between formal, non-formal and informal learning contexts be broken? More specifically, beyond any globalizing educational projects, what is/could/should be the contribution of environmental education to our human journey in this world?