Environmental degradation: The urgency of socio-historical contextualisation and the contribution of non-hegemonic perspectives

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the issue of environmental degradation based on understanding the material foundation of modern socialisation, which in capitalism is centred on the production of surplus value. This topic is justified by the hegemonic way in which the environmental issue is currently addressed: the inevitability of environmental degradation considering a supposed historical march towards the progress of humanity, to the detriment of natural resources. The argument put forth is that effective environmental education depends on proper contextualisation of the capitalist process. Central to this discussion is an ideological understanding of the neutrality of science and the assumption of the inevitable ongoing environmental degradation considering a presumed population explosion and pursuit of human well-being. Thus, alternative historical-cultural forms are sought to address the tensions that emerge between humanity and nature, or culture and nature, divided into the origin of the hegemonic cultural form consolidated in late modernity. Levi-Strauss’ work is taken here as an accurate historical-empirical record, namely the Nambikwara people of the Brazilian Midwest in the context of the 1930s. The referential used in this article seeks to articulate science education and environmental education with the critical theory.