Environmental education in Rincão Gaia: through the health and religion trails in a ecological landscape

Abstract

This paper focus the relationship among ecology, religion, and health based on a phenomenological ethnography. Merleau-Ponty, Thomas Csordas and Tim Ingold are the main authors for the theoretical and methodological references. The place of this ethnography was the Rincão Gaia, the rural place of Gaia Foundation, an NGO founded by the environmentalist José Lutzenberger. Located in Pantano Grande, 120 km from Porto Alegre (RS), the Rincão Gaia is the local where occur educational trails, environmental education, workshops related to the ecological theme and touristic activities. The article takes the Rincão Gaia as a landscape that combines environmental learning with experiences of religion, health and healing.