Environmental Education in Times of Crisis. Where Is It When It Is Most Necessary?

Abstract

This article analyzes the disappearance of environmental education from public policies and their funding lines, precisely at a historic time that, now more than ever, would call for its strengthening. For this reason, it is important to analyze the power dynamics that lie beyond the discourse justifying the austerity policies that lead to a disappearance of EE. To this end, we approach the field’s trajectory by applying Bourdieu’s theory, from a socio-biographical approach based on the life trajectory of nine environmental educators, a survey addressed to the Galician professional field, and a discussion group. The analysis of the point of origin and access to the field reflects the political and militant dimensions that characterize an anti-hegemonic field which is constantly an object of subjugation and adaptation to less incisive models by certain forces. To this respect, the ambivalent relation with the public administration has fostered both conquests, as well as important compromises in its trajectory.

Environmental education in times of social-environmental crisis: possibilities of its inclusion in occupational therapy training, from the academics' perspective

“…The findings of this research show that the need to include the relationship between occupational therapy and nature in professional training circulates discursively. At the same time, coinciding with Núñez et al (2017) it is verified that environmental education, when considered as contrary to the dominant episteme, is in a relegated position in the field of occupational therapy teaching.…”

Educación ambiental en tiempos de crisis socio-ambiental: posibilidades de su inclusión en la formación de terapia ocupacional, desde la perspectiva de las/os docentes

“…Los hallazgos de este estudio dan cuenta que circula discursivamente la necesidad de incluir en la formación profesional la relación de terapia ocupacional y la naturaleza. Al mismo tiempo, coincidentemente con Núñez et al (2017) se constata que la educación ambiental al considerarse como contraria a las epistemes dominantes, se encuentra en una posición relegada en el campo de la enseñanza en terapia ocupacional.…”

Educational hazards? The politics of disaster risk education in Rio de Janeiro

“…Beyond this, a key precept of both behaviourist and transformative approaches is experiential environmental education: to learn about the manifold ecological, geological, and developmental processes that lead to hazards and disasters, and how society can promote local safety ( cf. Wisner, 2006; Núñez, Castro, and Cartea, 2017). In the case of floods and landslides in Latin America, such environmental education must undoubtedly incorporate disaster creation via settlement on deforested land, processes often initiated by developers or politicians external to the immediate locale.…”