SUSTAINABILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE CONTEXT OF WESTERN AMAZON UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

Introduction: The environmental framework that characterizes contemporary societies reveals that the impact of humans on the environment has had consequences increasingly complex, both in quantitative and qualitative terms (1). In the university events large quantities of banners tarpaulins are used for disseminating research papers at conferences, forums, seminars and events of different nature. All this material is subsequently discarded in the environment. The subject under examination is of significant importance since it is a practical example of a common habit in universities, making it a contributor to leakage of material which is difficult to decompose in the environment. Objective: Transforming Universities banners disposable on reusable bags for shopping, thereby reducing the disposal of this material on the environment as well as reducing the consumption of disposable plastic bags used in trades. Methodology: We have based the idea that the integration of environmental issues within the University, the functional integration of the activities of Research, Education and Extension appears as a fundamental condition for the success of this complex process. Therefore, we seek to develop an action research in the district of Petropolis, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, with 500 families. Results and Discussion: All the work has been wrapped in an educational process for the awareness on environmental issues. The banners were collected on several universities of Manaus and sent to a group of women from the community for making the bags. The opposite side of the banner became the outside, used to print the logo design created and chosen by members of the community. There were produced the amount of 520 bags to 500 families in the district. Then the bags began to be used by families instead of small disposable plastic bags. Materials were produced with informative guidelines on environmental care. Thus, a work - where environmental education could be incorporated as an innovative practice in different areas in the community - just started. For researchers, the project became a great educational opportunity for mediation, for a set of social practices, generating new social and cultural practices where there is the assimilation of a new ideology of environmental values. We conclude that the basic sources which cause ecologically predatory activities are caused by social institutions, individuals or their values adopted by it. Thus, we understand that the vocation of education is the formation of political subjects able to act critically in society, changing it for better, and in this process the University can and should collaborate.