454
M. Bizerril et al.
of wasting the opportunity to be an educational structure that brings transformative
learning during the implementation of sustainability actions. Environmental management in higher education stands out for its differential in being able to expand educational processes beyond the formal scope restricted to the classroom. In this sense,
Petrelli and Colossi (2006, p. 71) pointed out that “Higher Education Institutions
perform a significant social function: to provide higher education to people who can
influence society’s development process towards the improvement of life in planet”.
To accomplish this mission, universities need to transcend the proposed models
for the inclusion of sustainability into public administration as well as those related to
environmental business management. Furthermore, in addition to the dimensions of
teaching, research and extension, and especially university administrative management itself, emerges a privileged space for participatory environmental management
with the horizon of bringing together the majority of the university community.
Participation is the key idea contained in university environmental management.
3 Participatory Process of Fostering Sustainability
at Faculty UnB Planaltina (FUP)
The FUP campus, located in Planaltina, a city in the northeast portion of the Federal
District, Brazil, is one of the four campuses that make up the University of Brasília.
With an interdisciplinary organization, FUP was created in 2006 and consists of 116
professors, 137 staff, and 1355 undergraduate and graduate students. The sustainability theme is related to the courses offered by the campus and the profile of
the professors who research sustainability under different approaches. Both the
four undergraduate courses offered (Degree in Natural Sciences, Degree in Rural
Education, Bachelor in Environmental Management and Bachelor in Agribusiness
Management) and the postgraduate programs in Environmental Sciences (PPGCA),
Environment and Rural Development (PPGMADER) and Sustainability of Traditional Peoples and Lands (PPGMESPT) have close connection with the theme of
sustainability (Bizerril 2018).
FUP has had influences from Environmental Education in the broadest sense
since it opened. This influence was maintained by successive actions of projects
organized by different professors without a formal continuity between projects, but
in a complementary way. Thus, in 2007 the “Nosso Campus” (Our Campus) project
was implemented, which used elements of communication and cultural promotion
to develop a sense of belonging and care for the campus, with special attention to
selective collection (Bizerril et al. 2009). It should be noted that the development
of the sense of belonging and the culture of participation has been an important
management mark of FUP since its inception (Bizerril 2015).
The idea of making the FUP campus an educational structure where all spaces
and processes could become elements of living and learning about the sustainability culture gained strength with the creation of the “Esperança Verde” (Green
M. Bizerril et al.
of wasting the opportunity to be an educational structure that brings transformative
learning during the implementation of sustainability actions. Environmental management in higher education stands out for its differential in being able to expand educational processes beyond the formal scope restricted to the classroom. In this sense,
Petrelli and Colossi (2006, p. 71) pointed out that “Higher Education Institutions
perform a significant social function: to provide higher education to people who can
influence society’s development process towards the improvement of life in planet”.
To accomplish this mission, universities need to transcend the proposed models
for the inclusion of sustainability into public administration as well as those related to
environmental business management. Furthermore, in addition to the dimensions of
teaching, research and extension, and especially university administrative management itself, emerges a privileged space for participatory environmental management
with the horizon of bringing together the majority of the university community.
Participation is the key idea contained in university environmental management.
3 Participatory Process of Fostering Sustainability
at Faculty UnB Planaltina (FUP)
The FUP campus, located in Planaltina, a city in the northeast portion of the Federal
District, Brazil, is one of the four campuses that make up the University of Brasília.
With an interdisciplinary organization, FUP was created in 2006 and consists of 116
professors, 137 staff, and 1355 undergraduate and graduate students. The sustainability theme is related to the courses offered by the campus and the profile of
the professors who research sustainability under different approaches. Both the
four undergraduate courses offered (Degree in Natural Sciences, Degree in Rural
Education, Bachelor in Environmental Management and Bachelor in Agribusiness
Management) and the postgraduate programs in Environmental Sciences (PPGCA),
Environment and Rural Development (PPGMADER) and Sustainability of Traditional Peoples and Lands (PPGMESPT) have close connection with the theme of
sustainability (Bizerril 2018).
FUP has had influences from Environmental Education in the broadest sense
since it opened. This influence was maintained by successive actions of projects
organized by different professors without a formal continuity between projects, but
in a complementary way. Thus, in 2007 the “Nosso Campus” (Our Campus) project
was implemented, which used elements of communication and cultural promotion
to develop a sense of belonging and care for the campus, with special attention to
selective collection (Bizerril et al. 2009). It should be noted that the development
of the sense of belonging and the culture of participation has been an important
management mark of FUP since its inception (Bizerril 2015).
The idea of making the FUP campus an educational structure where all spaces
and processes could become elements of living and learning about the sustainability culture gained strength with the creation of the “Esperança Verde” (Green