Diagnóstico Ambiental como instrumento para planejamento de práticas ambientais

Abstract

The overuse of natural resources causes environmental imbalance. Seeking solutions that minimize damage to environmental systems to ensure the future of generations is essential. Environmental Education (EE) is a tool that aims to solve environmental problems such as pollution, waste generation, contamination, and environmental degradation, playing a key role in building the subject's socio-environmental awareness. The school is an appropriate place to work on Environmental Education, assuming a relevant role in the education of future generations. However, this physical environment has environmental aspects that, if not properly managed, can cause significant impacts. Therefore, an environmental diagnosis of the Professora Terezinha Hueb de Menezes Municipal School, Uberaba-MG, was carried out. The Environmental Diagnosis was carried out in three stages: Environmental Audit of nine categories, such as: Waste, Water, Energy, Outer Spaces, Organic Farming, Mobility, Noise, Food, Environmental Management; Application of a Structured Questionnaire to the students; and execution of other Complementary Techniques: the tree survey and the physical analysis of the soil. The environmental performance of the school was considered unsatisfactory according to the Eco-School Program, scoring 36.56%. Several environmental aspects were identified, among them: incorrect waste disposal; water and energy waste; water contamination by heterotrophic bacteria; lack of actions for environmental awareness and sensitization; moreover, the environment was considered unhealthy according to NBR 10152 and CONAMA. It is noteworthy that the use of the Environmental Diagnosis in schools is of great importance to contribute to environmental issues, and that the tool developed in this work serves as a starting point for the planning of actions and/or environmental practices. From the diagnosis, I concluded that an environment that does not have environmental practices that involve individuals in understanding their reality, extracting from the dayto- day the possibilities for its transformation, does not present satisfactory results in relation to environmental quality. In view of this, in the potentialities and problems raised in the environmental diagnosis, it proposed suggestions for actions to be developed in the school. This study suggests the use of the Environmental Diagnosis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of schools, because through this it is possible to make projections about the environmental issues of greatest relevance in the physical school environment.