Conservação e percepção ambiental por meio da triangulação de métodos de pesquisa

Abstract

The current environmental crisis is characterized by the disequilibrium between the relationship of human society and the environment in which it is inserted, and it is materialized as one of the main problems nowadays, what challenges constantly the scientific community. In order to achieve the environmental conservation, there is the need of joining scientific knowledge and environmental consciousness. The level of environmental conscience of each individual is directly related to his/her degree of environmental perception. From this, the present study identified and analyzed the environmental perception and the actions for environment of professionals that attended Lato Sensu post graduation in Environmental Management of Agricultural Systems at the Federal University of Lavras. In the research process, in order to capture the perception and actions in the more comprising way possible, a quantitative research through longitudinal survey and a qualitative research by means of two case studies were developed. The main results were: the professionals, mainly of the field of agricultural sciences, understand the environmental crisis as atmospheric problems; they define environment as "interaction" and "medium"; they highlights harmony as the main perception; and they sometimes include men in the definition of environment, but other times exclude them. Regarding the actions, most of professionals develop those actions linked to environmental responsibility. In order to guarantee scientific basis for this study, data were interpreted and analyzed by means of the following theoretical tripod: the theory of social representation, the theory of environmental complexity, and the methodological categorization of purposes of actions for environment. Subsequently, a triangulation of these types of research was performed, which was fundamental to build proposals of curricular interventions for the "Lato Sensu" course studied, and also for the undergraduate courses related to agricultural sciences. Three interventions were proposed: the first one was referred to concept of environment, which should remit to the term "system"; the second one refers to the intensification of the rationalization of interaction between men and nature; the third one is constituted of a stimulus to the conservationist and conscientious actions. These interventions aim to lapidate the men/nature relationship for the construction of a conservationist and ethical relationship.