Abstract

LIMA, Gustavo Ferreira da Costa  and  TORRES, Maria Betânia Ribeiro. An education for the end of the world? Contemporary socioenvironmental challenges and the role of Environmental Education in school contexts. Educ. Rev. [online]. 2021, vol.37, e77819.  Epub Sep 22, 2021. ISSN 1984-0411.  https://doi.org/10.1590/0104-4060.77819.

This article is a theoretical essay on the state of the art of contemporary civilization's polycrisis at global and national levels, and on the challenges that these crises represent for environmental education that takes place in school contexts. Its objective, therefore, is to reflect on the magnitude of the socioenvironmental, climate and health crises and on the contribution that environmental education in schools can offer to reverse or mitigate the existing threats. The scientific and daily evidence reveals worrying signs that affect the state of the biosphere, human well-being and health, the food security of populations, the maintenance of peace and democracy and, ultimately, the very survival of the human species on planet earth. In these terms, allusion to narratives of collapse, catastrophe, rupture, decay and the end of the world is becoming more and more frequent in discourse and the social imaginary. Methodologically, the text dialogues with socioenvironmental literature, with contributions from critical environmental education, political ecology, conflicts and socioenvironmental justice. The reflection concludes that in the face of the challenges posed, environmental education in schools cannot surrender to social and pedagogical reproductionism. The time is for development and transformation of subjects capable to exercise freedom and defend life.

Keywords : Socioenvironmental crisis; Environmental Education; Climate change.

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