In its definition of environmental education, the United Nations tells us that its goals are to train individuals to know and recognize the interactions between the natural and the social in their environment and to act in that environment. We try not to impose on our activities policies that seriously affect the balance of natural processes and allow the existence of an environmental quality suitable for the development of human life.
It is necessary to approach the issue of environmental protection with the necessary seriousness in order to be able to reverse the habits that have so far caused harm to our planet. It is necessary to take into account the idea that over time and by maintaining harmful behaviors towards the environment, we lose the chance of a better quality of life and deteriorate our planet and the creatures that inhabit it.
It is obvious that each of us needs to raise awareness and rethink what values and attitudes are based on the cultural change we need to adopt regarding environmental issues.
Beyond traditional education, that is, the simple fact of imparting knowledge, environmental education relates people to their environment and strives for a change in attitude, an awareness of the importance of preserving for the future and improving our quality of life improve.
Adopting a conscious attitude towards the environment that surrounds us and of which we are an inseparable part depends largely on the upbringing and education of children and young people. For this reason, it is the task of pedagogy and schools to play a fundamental role in this process.
Comprehensive environmental education
Environmental education is a comprehensive and interdisciplinary educational process that considers the environment as a whole and aims to involve the general population in the identification and solution of problems through the acquisition of knowledge, values, attitudes and skills, decision-making and active and organized participation.
The child grows and develops under the influence of a complex pedagogical-pedagogical process, in which the school fulfills a social task aimed at ensuring that the future citizen receives instruction and education and integrates harmoniously into the society in which he lives, politically and ideologically formed in accordance with the principles of our society. In this sense, the child must be educated to fully assume his rightful place in nature as a part of nature. He must understand that he is an integral part of the ecosystem and as such has duties to fulfill.
The formation and development of correct habits among students regarding the protection of the environment in the school and its surroundings helps to link theory and practice and to familiarize them with these tasks and requirements at the local level. This makes it easier for them to understand the importance of environmental protection and its various factors at regional and national levels and how a society can plan and manage the influence of the environment for the benefit of the community.
Use these topics, which are part of school education but are not just for information, to cross this limit. May it lead to the formation of a citizen who is aware of this problem and committed to it.
The need to address environmental problems requires a perspective that includes the critique of diverse knowledge and the development of human knowledge to create alternatives. In addition to the economic and social obstacles presented by the developmental style of addressing environmental problems, the possibilities for reversing the processes of environmental degradation are also limited by the very design of the educational process and knowledge construction.
A systemic perspective
It is necessary to approach the study of the environment in education from a systemic perspective. We must be clear that the conceptualization of environmental education includes content from several areas: conservation, justice, pollution, urban/rural environment, human rights, ecology, environmental science, comprehensive education, population, energy, poverty, ethics, sustainable development, Society, technology, quality of life, among others. Furthermore, these fields intersect and overlap. We then need to specify what relationships, interactions, outcomes, or consequences we want to discover and then communicate.
It is necessary from the state to make the topic of environmental education mandatory for the benefit of future generations and an appropriate quality of life.
Environmental education in Argentina is still barely in its infancy, despite the efforts and official plans implemented both in the national Ministry of Education and in the relevant provincial organizations, for the following reasons:
The lack of connection between the individual measures implemented and the social problem, the temporary nature of the proposed measures (they do not lead to the formation of habits), the creativity of the subjects is not allowed to develop since there is no continuity between the transmitted content and the ideas and representations of the subjects and finally the lack of information about local problems related to national problems. Public help is rare or practically non-existent.
This is mainly due to the precarious importance that is often given to education both by the state and by other sectors of society, which is reflected in a shrinkage of the public education system, as a result of a low budget and the absence of a debate about the Quality and benefits of the education offered.
This training goes beyond the formal framework of traditional education and is not limited only to educational centers, but is also used in the workplace, company or workplace and is an excellent means of transmitting values in favor of the environment. , related it to the productive properties. On the other hand, the effective development of environmental education requires the full utilization of all public and private resources available to society through various application systems and subsystems linked to laws, policies, plans and programs. the implementation, actions and control mechanisms and all decisions that governments make regarding the environment.
The formation of socially just and ecologically balanced societies that maintain a relationship of interdependence and diversity must be promoted.
Environmental education, in the context of sustainable development, must urgently lead to changes in the quality of life and a greater awareness of personal behavior and harmony between people and between them and other forms of life.
The application of environmental education does not therefore consist in the mere application of adaptations and additions to traditional educational programs, but rather in demanding new approaches, new content and new methods and in making traditional structures more flexible. www.
Cristian Frers – Senior Environmental Management Technician and Senior Social Communication Technician – Argentina
