Instituto Verdeluz e Juventudes: ações desenvolvidas como ferramenta de mudanças socioambientais

Abstract

Verdeluz Institute is a Non Governmental Organization (NGO), located in the city of FortalezaCE, which seeks to promote changes in society through Environmental Education (EE), activism and conservation. Formed mainly by young university students, it develops actions with the objective of promoting debate and criticality of the environmental reality. This paper seeks to analyze the understanding of Verdeluz Institute volunteers about environmental policies. To contextualize the theme, Environmental Education, public policies, youth and the description of the institution studied were discussed. From the general objective, the specific objectives were defined: describe the actions developed by Verdeluz Institute since its creation, to outline the profile of the participants in the Environmental Education projects of Verdeluz Institute and to verify the vision of young people at Verdeluz Institute about the impacts of actions for socio-environmental changes. The analysis used were triangulation, with the support of secondary sources and semi-structured interviews. The research had the collaboration of volunteers and one of the founding members of the NGO to carry out the interviews. The research began at the end of 2019, but remained stopped, resuming its writing in 2021. As a result, it was observed that the NGO seeks to work through its actions on Environmental Education, as a tool for changing the paradigm, through the participation of policies for the construction of a society more aware and connected to the environment, contrary to the current development model that is not compatible with sustainability.