Folha do Meio Ambiente

The project approved by the Environment Office of the state of Goias for the construction of a dam at 3.7 km from Itiquira Waterfall was a destructive act to the environment, the Brazilian natural patrimony and the citizens} conscience. The accusation made by Folha do Meio, on July}s edition, had tremendous national repercussion. The construction was stopped, but the population of the town of Formosa continues mobilized.

Sadly, in this story, the authorities of Goias had previous knowledge of the facts.

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In this edition we bring another very important subject to the attention of educators: the school is assuming more and more of the over all upbringing of the child. Within this context, a partnership between the school and the family is of fundamental importance. To explore this new situation in education, we interview the educator and writer Cosete Ramos, a specialist in Total Quality in Education. Professor Cosete raises a point of special interest to adolescents: anyone lacking a broad, diversified education, with a complete set of essential abilities and competencies, will have a slim chance of obtaining quality employment. Since jobs are tight, it would be wise to pay attention to the new directions in Education. (pages 8 and 9)

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The economic crisis, the growth of guerilla left-wing warfare and the daring drug trafficking, in Colombia, are leading to a terrible suspicion, like the justification used as an excuse in Kosovo of ” for humanitarian reasons “: a military intervention by the United States is taking place on South American grounds. And how deeply is Brazil involved with any of this? A lot! Why!? Because the Amazon region, owner of the biggest biodiverse area in the planet is under constant international covet. Boardering many countries, including Colombia, the Amazon became a most importat issue. Brazilian troops are under alert.

The commander of the Amazon troops informs that ” the invasion of the Amazon is a serious matter ” and the Brazilian Army reaches beyond the quarters: it has been united with the Ministry of Environment and is ready and willing to fight against the deforestation and the forest fires to save the Amazon. In pages 13, 14 and 15 you can find everything about the activities of the Army in the Amazon, with details on the North Gutter Design and the implantation of the SIVAM – Integrated System of Monitoring of the Amazon.

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Brazilian Tourism has started a quantitative and qualitative growth. All because, five years ago Embratur decided to invest in formalizing the Brazilian tourism. For this goal the National Program of Municipalization of Tourism, is leading the municipal administrators to the goldmine of tourism development. The technicians of the PNMT are guiding, directing and helping to search for financing in order to simply facilitate the management of tourism in all the cities that have this potential. The results have come faster than it was believed possible in the beginning. All who participated on the 5th. National Meeting of PNMT, in Brasilia, felt the difference. The magic word was professionalization. Whoever knows how to plan, showing quality, good services, cleanness, seriousness and creativity is conquering the tourists. And with the tourists will come the increase of the profits and jobs and an improvement of the internalization of the economy, the quality of life and the environmental preservation. Tourism is a mirror to joy, relaxation, leisure, beauty and harmony. The tourist does not want any violence. Tourism is the new name for Peace! Enjoy your reading!

DF: Children living on the outskirts of Brasilia have ecology lessons

In the areas surrounding Brasilia, a teacher and some volunteers, offer every two months, lessons on the importance of preserving and loving nature. The activity is done with children from 0 to 10 years of age in the cities and agricultural zones of the cities of Luziania, Alexania and Santo Antonio do Descoberto. The idealist of the ” Program of Reading and Writing with Nature “, teacher Jacy Guimarães, explained that by teaching young children on the importance of ecology, the feeling created on each child will be preserved when they become adults. The lessons are held in Reserve parks, at the student}s homes, waterfalls, bushes and schools. The program normally happens every 2 months. According to teacher Jacy, the lessons do not have a rigid programming. They read ecological stories, they explore, examine and comment on a study subject such as seeds, water, trees, and soil. ” Usually, after the explanations, the pupils go to the field and carry out a practical activity on the subject that they had learned, like collecting seeds, planting trees, or observing the soil erosion “, Jacy said. All the people who participate on this Project are volunteers. Even the snacks that are served to the children are made from donations. ” This program involves many children, so, all contributions come from upper-classes”, added the teacher.

Asbestos are all around. And they can kill!

In next the 35 years asbestos will be responsible for the death of 500 thousand people in Western Europe alone. This apocalyptic forecast made three months ago by scientist Julian Peto, head of the section of epidemiology of the Royal Cancer Hospital of Sutton, England. How many fatalities will occur in Brazil? No one knows. There are not many studies about it. However, two things are known: asbestos kill and it is found everywhere. More than 3 thousand products are available to the general public. The asbestos fiber is part of water tanks, thermal isolation blankets, thermal gloves and suits, division boards, covering boards, roofing tiles; in the vehicles, it is found in brake canvases, chips and clutch disks. Each time that a car brakes, asbestos fiber is released into the air. According to the Brazilian association of people exposed to asbestos(ABREA), American citizens are annually exposed to the amount of 100 grams of asbestos; Canadians (the country is the second biggest producer of asbestos in the world, producing 585 thousand tons per year) are exposed to 500 grams each year; Brazilians are in contact with 1,400 grams every year. Everyone is subject to to absorb these fibres, but it is at the production units or plants where it is handled that the asbestos danger is higher. The absorption of asbestos fibres from mines or industries slowly kills the workers by causing cancer or asbestose (gradual reduction of the pulmonary capacity). In accordance with Fernanda Giannasi, security engineer of the Ministry of Labor, and member of the virtual network for the banishment of asbestos, ” It has already been proven that asbestos is a cancer causing agent besides being responsible for so many other diseases; we cannot force mine or industry workers, even people in general, to be jeopardized by this danger. Science and common-sense demand that such production and commercialization are to be cancelled “. It informs that mechanics – while dealing with brake canvases, low shoes or clutch canvases – do not know the hazard level, ” in São Paulo alone there are 300 thousand mechanics in contact with the product “. The individual that installs asbestos roofs or water tanks in the houses runs the same risk. In danger are also the people that use such products, since the water, after reacting with asbestos, releases the substance and it is absorbed by the user.

Education: Time to Salvage Values and Emotions

The school that hopes to prepare its students for the World of Work in the next Millennium must make a change, if it has not already done so. As soon as possible. It is time to adapt to the demands of a new society.

Such is the advice of Cosete Ramos, educator and consultant, who considers the traditional school outdated, where the pedagogical approach has a single focus, valuing the memorization of great quantities of information at the expense of contextual comprehension and reasoning.

Cosete counsels parents to visit the schools they are considering for their children, to acquaint themselves with the educational philosophy each school has adopted, the priorities they embrace and the pedagogical alternatives they offer.

Above all, she suggests the family take every precaution in observing the values and emotions their children and adolescents would be exposed to. “The school has taken on certain roles that traditionally belonged to the parents. So it is important for the parents to examine the way the formation of emotions and values is being carried out,” comments the educator.

In order to better understand the process of transformation society is passing through, Professor Cosete turns to the analytical model formulated by the North American thinker, Alvin Toffler, based on the image of successive waves of change, each one of which brings its own patterns of transformation.

The Waves

The first wave is associated with the earth as the means of survival. An agricultural society is best symbolized by a hoe, its basic activities centered on agriculture.

The Industrial Revolution provoked a dramatic change, the advent of the second wave. The masses left the country side and moved to the city, in order to live near the labor market and schools for their children.

Industrialized society, whose main activities center on manufacture, is best symbolized by the assembly line.

Cerebral activity dominates in the society of knowledge, the third wave which began to emerge in the 1950’s, linked with the Information Revolution. The computer is its principle symbol.

Shocks and Contradictions

Cosete Ramos explains that not all countries are at the same stage of development. Nevertheless, it can be asserted that we are witnessing a shock between civilizations: contrasting, antagonistic, sharing the same time and space, yet with completely different patterns.

Many of these countries, as is the case with Brazil, are living with these contradictions within their own borders. Cosete cites the example of the Landless Movement (Movimento dos Sem Terra), representing the interests of the first wave, caught in the struggle for survival. At the same time in the urban zone, the children of the middle and upper classes do their homework searching the Internet on their home computers, typifying the third wave.

The educator explained with some relevant statistics. Agriculture (first wave activity) in the United States only accounts for 2% of the labor force, while 100 years ago it was the major employer in that country.

In Brazil on the other hand, in São Paulo, 200 thousand jobs in the industrial sector (second wave) were eliminated in the past few months.

For Cosete Ramos, schools of the second wave should be seen as a reflection and an exigency of the industrial society, an authoritarian society characterized by massification: mass production, mass consumption, mass media, and, obviously, mass education.

Tourism: the Third Millennium industry

The 5th. National Meeting of the PNMT – the National Program of Municipalization of Tourism, which happened from August 03rd. until the 6th. at Brasilia}s Fair and Display Pavilion at the City Park is the biggest process of economic and cultural development of Brazil.The 5th.

PNMT is an important landmark in Brazil, whose program was confirmed by the great success in more than 1.600 cities with tourist potential displaying in 284 booths in the pavilion of the EXPOBRASILIA. The great public in contact with this extensive display discovered the immense economic potentiality that municipal tourism offers as a producer of wealth, income and jobs. According to Anna Maria Marcond Machado, the PNMT is so spread out in Brazil that it has already achieved independence.

It is such a great success that it is not a subject of any kind of paternalism from the State. This program is rooted in Spain}s development process with its impressive number of 40 million tourists that arrive from other countries each year. The success of tourism in Spain was a result of the tourism decentralization, by putting into effect regional tourism agencies, valuing its historical groups, a multiple patrimony that had mixed the Spanish, Basque, Moorish, Castille, and Lion people, among others.

Caio Carvalho speaks up for tourism in Brazil

The president of Embratur, Caio Carvalho, is categorical: ” Brazil with its 5.507 cities, more than 160 million inhabitants and an area of 8,547,403.5Sq.Km, with the biggest hydrographic basins in the world and its gigantic Atlantic coast has tourism as its greatest trophy to become one of the world}s greatest tourism sites! “. ” For this “, as the president of Embratur explains, ” there is an urgency of total engagement with the National Program of Municipalization of the Tourism. At the moment the PNMT relies on only 1,400 engaged cities, 4.000 municipal monitors, 4 Federal program partners, 6 private institutions, 2 official banks, 20 universities and 3 social organizations. These are the dimensions of the institucional and human resources that are interweaving and conspiring in favor of the ideal of developing Brazilian cities. Whether in urban areas, or in agricultural ones, Brazil has many extraordinary places capable of attracting many national or foreign tourists. But what is lacking is the will from politicians to develop all these potentials. Brazil still has some areas of poverty because both the government and the private initiative have still not awakened to the reality that tourism represents an immense wealth in all the quadrants of the planet. It is a fact that tourism is the great industry of the Third Millennium. It is the industry of beauty, creativity, esthetic, harmony and the industry of Peace,” concludes Caio Carvalho.