Environmental Education as an educational process beyond the walls of the University in times of pandemic

Abstract

The problems caused in the environment by human actions, added to the lack of knowledge about the environmental theme and the educational processes has become the object of various discussions since the 1960’ and 1970’s in several countries, Brazil among them. With its origins on the environmental movements struggles and achievements, outside the educational sphere, this discussion has advanced in a fragile way concerning theoretical-methodological issues, and its limitations may be observed with regard to proposals for environmental education in a critical perspective and its relationship with the community. In this context, in which such limitations are observed, it is necessary that the environmental education is approached in schools and within the community through extension actions in a view that aims to break through pragmatic, punctual and reductionist practices. We cannot become hostages to actions that aim only to separate waste, plant trees and save resources during a time that the pandemic caused by Covid-19 shows us that we increasingly need to rethink our relationship with the environment. We need to advance on discussions that lead our students and the community to comprehend a critical environmental education that questions the current society-nature model. That said, this work searches to reveal several environmental education actions that are being carried out by the university-school-society partnership so that the extension is possible, promoting the training of agents that act in formal, non-formal and informal spaces, beyond the walls of the university.