Environmental education in the light of Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed

Abstract

In 1968, Paulo Freire (1921–1997), a well-known and recognized philosopher and pedagogue, completed the writing of the book ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ [1]. The exile to which he was subjected by the Military Dictatorship in Brazil (1964–1985) lasted for 16 years (1964–1980) and can only be seen as a determining context for the evolution of his thought. Since Paulo Freire wrote the book ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ [2] the world has changed a lot. Human population more than double, energy consumption tripled, motor vehicles are now seven times bigger, carbon dioxide emissions quadrupled, and ecological footprint rose to be 75% bigger than the Planet itself [3–6]. As a corollary, climate change arose confronting humanity with a serious and global ecological crisis.