9. Eco-education and environmental culture: a vision for the planetary cohabitation

Abstract

The present essay has the purpose of making reflections on some theoretical arguments that allow to  propose the eco-education as pedagogical alternative to encourage the environmental culture in the school context. Currently, the education from an ecological perspective conform a theoretical-practical construct that emerge from the needs and interests of the educational institutions, the communities and the socio-natural environments in which they take place. In this sense, the eco-education represents a chance for educators to lead processes for attitudinal changes in students through pedagogical actions taking to the comprehension of the socio-natural phenomena and to the planetary cohabitation with a conscious and a sense of mutual belonging as humans from the earth. It represents itself a contribution to the sustainable development to integrate past, present and future of the planet due to the complexity uncertainty and dynamics of the society. It is concluded that the development of the environmental culture in the Venezuelan schools should be oriented to projects that put students in touch with science, technology and development under sustainability frameworks that potentiate the awareness of the care for the environment.