Percepção e gestão ambiental: de espaços indiferenciados para lugares valorizados

Abstract

The paper analyzes a program for environmental education developed at a primary school in Boa União, a small village in western Minas Gerais, Brazil. This program of environmental education utilizes the triad of (i) distance, (ii) recognition and (iii) valorization. The use of this triad in environmental education derives from the hypothesis that, in order to change an individuals behavior that of mere observer to one of social actor, it is necessary to rupture theirs routines and habits concerning the environment. We observed that a change in attitudes toward the environment does not require the acquisition of elaborated Knowledge: that is, the student does not need to have an elaborated knowledge of the environment and its problems in order to change his attitude. Instead, the student learns only fractions of knowledge, but if these fractions of knowledge are in accordance with their desires and beliefs about the environment, then they are able to understand environment problems at a level sufficient to motivate a change in their attitude towards the environment.