Educação ambiental no Centro de Ciências Rurais da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria

Abstract

Due to great inequality in the distribution of the world income, it is possible that the social classes economically disfavored do not have access to foods in quantity and quality necessary to maintain their daily nutritional demands. There is the necessity of sustainable growth in the production of foods, under penalty of compromising the ecosystem even more. Environmental Education (EE), when situated in a broad context, the one of education for citizenship of people worried about environment and sustainability of ecosystems, constitutes of an impor-tant element to consolidate the development of real citizens and, certainly Environmental Education is one of the best tools to put into practice the changes in behavior, which will con-tribute to the preservation of environment and maintain life quality. The objective of this study was to identify how EE has been treated in its different forms in the Rural Science Cen-ter (CCR) of the Federal University of Santa Maria with an approach focused on the course of Zootechny. The research was developed with the use of qualitative and quantitative tools of data collection, gathering characteristics of exploratory and descriptive nature to measure how EE is inserted in the CCR at UFSM, pointing conditions, challenges and perspectives to the amplification of its inclusion in the professional education. With this study there was the pos-sibility of verifying how EE is present in the CCR at UFSM. It was possible to establish that there are many ways connected to the EE in the CCR, those which take environmental educa-tion to CCR under different perspectives. It is possible to glimpse that if there is the relation between formal education, non-formal and informal education, the totality represents a satis-factory balance of EE in the CCR. For that, however, it is necessary that the already existing aspects expand, new initiatives aimed at EE appear, and that there is a valorization of EE in the curricula of the courses belonging to CCR.