Um novo olhar para os resíduos urbanos: uma experiencia de educação ambiental com estudantes de arquitetura

Abstract

An important factor responsible for environmental degradation is the large amount of solid waste deposited in nature without the correct destination. Some professions such as civil engineering and architecture deal with this reality constantly, because they are areas that present a great index of losses of the materials used. The present research aims to evaluate the results of the application of environmental education workshops and use of urban solid waste together with university students of Architecture and Urbanism. This is a quantitative qualitative research of exploratory intervention. The following instruments were applied: the Ecological Behavior Scale, the Environmental Belief Scale; And a questionnaire for surveying sociodemographic variables, waste disposal and recycling behavior, before and after an environmental education intervention. The first year students of Architecture and Urbanism were invited to participate in the Environmental Education workshops. Afterwards, an evaluation of the results of the intervention was made to analyze the impact of this on the ecological behavior and the perception of the residues in the civil construction by the students of Architecture and Urbanism. When analyzing students' responses to ecological behavior, environmental beliefs, the questionnaire on disposal and recycling, it can be seen whether they adhere to sustainable attitudes. It is believed that the realization of these interventions will provide students with awareness of care for the environment as well as the reflection on environmental ethics issues in which the Architect is involved. Fifty - eight students from the Architecture and Urbanism course enrolled in a private educational institution located in the southern region of Brazil participated in the exploratory research. The Ecological Behavior Scale and a questionnaire on waste production and disposal were applied. Regarding the pro-environmental behavior, the highest average was presented in urban cleaning and the lowest in activism and consumption. As for the behaviors of saving of water and energy, and recycling, the students evidenced the tendency to realize them occasionally. The answers to the questionnaires showed that 59.9% of the students do not care about the amount of waste produced; 68.8% seek to separate recyclable waste; 37.86% rarely or never re-use product packaging; 41.32% seek to wash them before discarding them; And only 10.34% have participated or participate in programs that encourage environmental preservation. The data obtained indicate the need for the environmentalization in Higher Education Institutions, taking into account the students' environmental beliefs and values and involving them in social projects, aiming at the development of pro-environmental attitudes.