PARTICIPAÇÃO COMO AÇÃO POLÍTICA PARA ACESSO À DIREITOS FUNDAMENTAIS: QUÃO PRÓXIMO E O QUÃO DISTANTE?

Abstract

Environmental Education is the result of the convergence of two epistemologically distinct fields: environmental and educational. As such, it accommodates discourses that sometimes diverge from one another, even though they share the goal of social transformation. Given this, it is important to recognize that the political-pedagogical trends that make up the field of Environmental Education are diverse and reflect different ideological conceptions. In this article, we propose to discuss the political dimension of participation and how it is configured in Environmental Education, reflecting on which meanings converge for the critical and emancipatory formation of a society that experiences the contradictions of a political and economic system, which is facing the challenges of a world under the aegis of the climate crisis. We argue that education is a powerful social tool that can mobilize society for action by investing in the participatory political education of individuals. Therefore, we believe that, regardless of the diversity of discourses and conflicts inherent in the transversality and political-pedagogical trends of Environmental Education, it is essential to define what kind of society we want to build, given that we live in times when it is urgent to plan possible futures and define viable alternatives for rebuilding the social fabric that serve human political and social nature in a more just, supportive, and pluralistic way.