Environmental formation: the possibility of being an ‘other’ in the world

Abstract

Local and worldwide expressions of the contemporary environmental problems confirm the need of environmental formation to support civilizing paradigms that favor the environment, a task to which educational institutions are inescapably commited. The theoretical identity of environmental formation is a crucial aspect often neglected in plans and programs of study of higher education institutions and even in specialized literature. This research proposes as a basis the category Subject in the process of environmental formation, to contribute to the theoretical construction of environmental formation and its elucidation as a process in itself in order to advance in the conformation of the subject required by postmodernity, capable of facing the difficulties generated by environmental insecurity. Our research was guided by the methodological-interpretive paradigm and the phenomenological-hermeneutical approach, with the participation of two universities in the state of Sonora, Mexico, and 29 subjects (students and teachers) through semi-structured interviews. The results highlight a distinction between formation and education, the direct relation between formation and environment, and regarding the properties of environmental formation as a process in itself, located in experience, the "human" aspect stands out as capable of being modified to become an ‘other’ in the world and produce an effect on it and on oneself.