Challenges of environmental education in a hospital institution

Abstract

A study aimed to get to know the challenges of environmental education in a hospital, from the perspective of the individuals involved in its planning and execution. The research used a qualitative approach, case study type, using the workers of the Center for Environmental Education of a hospital group in the Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, as subjects. Data were collected, between August 2011 and January 2012, through documental research and interviews, and analyzed by content analysis. The challenges of environmental education include the lack of an institutional environmental policy that works as a financial, legal, human, and structural background for the development of actions focused on this topic. It was also observed that academic graduation does not consider environmental sustainability. It is clear that to work on these institutional challenges and overcome them during the development of environmental education is a prerogative for the construction of knowledge in environmental sustainability.

<b>Aspectos relevantes da educação ambiental na visão de educadores ambientais de uma instituição hospitalar / Relevant aspects of environmental education in the vision of environmental educators of a hospital

“…Quando a instituição de saúde abraça e hasteia essa "bandeira da sustentabilidade", incorporando o pensamento sustentável a metas próprias, como um saber a ser construído e consolidado localmente, e não como mero aparato normativo, torna-se possível a adoção de um novo espectro de ação. Diante de uma sólida política institucional há maior disposição para arquitetar e concretizar atividades de EA de caráter permanente (14) .…”

Discussing the Consequences of Environmental Education Actions in a Context of Reflective Modernity

“…3 Undoubtedly, educational activities represent a concrete space for action-reflection, 4 and for a possible rupture of a state of generalized alienation, disenchantment with the world and loss of control over the meaning of human existence, which can lead to a re-appropriation of the world through the channels of knowledge, 5 which is why EE is one of the fundamental processes in the search for alternatives to ecological problems. 6 In the hospital context, however, the actions in this area are almost nil, being presented in a study on the issue, as specific and very limited initiatives, 7 although in the literature there is the recognition that the reflections from EE activities can motivate more responsible actions for health by the health workers; reordering social practices. 8 It is recognized that if these spaces of reflection do not exist [or are limited], there is a perpetuation of mechanized and automated conducts; and of banalised discourses about the environmental crisis.…”

“…In fact, the protective barrier can be broken, temporarily or permanently by events that demonstrate the negative contingencies that are part of the risk, 16 for example, through an EE capable of "mixing" with the emotionality. The problem is that if these activities are transient, isolated and temporarily limited due to the scarce resources (professional, financial, political, structural) available to those who do them, 7 it is difficult to reach the "emotional", the "sensitive" of individuals. Thus, generally, they do not go beyond much more than a temporary break in the existing protective shells.…”

“…In this sense, it is recommended that there be the presence of an environmental policy that offers a legal, structural, financial and human framework in the health institutions, 7 capable of guaranteeing continuous EE and exploring sensitivity, poetic, imaginative and lived experiences of frequent activities, involving the workers' collective for more than a few hours, year after year, indefinitely. Only in this way can one respond to a planetary logic.…”

“…The validation of a local policy enables the gradual construction of an institutional commitment and new ways of thinking, believing and doing, 7 or rather, in this condition, there will be a pressure mechanism for responsible action, which could influence the structuring of a self that is truly concerned with the question-if a practice based on the recovery of the sensibility and the sense of belonging to the world can be adopted.…”