Jornada pelo meio ambiente: A educação ambiental como instrumento de mudança de cultura empresarial em uma indústria siderúrgica

Abstract

More and more companies are having to adapt their processes and their ways of relating to the ecosystem, due to the visible consequences of the negative impacts of human actions on the environment. The need to invest in forms of sustainable development has been highlighted by scholars and specialists worldwide. Within this context, it is necessary not only technological investments, but also an action at the base, which contributes to a change in the culture of all employees of an organization, allowing changes in behavior to be perpetuated inside and outside the limits of the enterprises. In this scenario, environmental education plays an important role, and when applied effectively, it can help strengthen Environmental Management with a strategic approach to business. Based on the importance of the performance of industries in mitigating the environmental impacts generated, and on the role of each employee in transforming the environment, this work aims to design an Environmental Education Program that works to change the culture of companies, with a robust methodology and easily replicable. The idealization of the project took place within an industry of the steel sector, where methods of knowledge of the reality were applied - focus groups and diagnosis of the current situation - and methods of project conception - studies of legal requirements and mental map. Through the methodology, a project called Journey for the Environment was reached, divided into three stages of development: Awakening, Awareness and Action. Specific objectives and targets were defined for each stage, and the results of its first year of execution show a low maturity of people with the theme, at the same time yielding positive effects of its implementation. A highlight was the effective participation of most employees in training on Environmental Management. The project proved to be effective and is already expanding to other units of the group, undergoing constant improvements and with the potential to become a reference in the Environmental Education Program.