Abstract:

The Anthropocene is a geological era marked by human influence on our planet. For sure we have never lived as well as we do today, on the other hand, several studies show that this lifestyle marked by excessive consumerism is a problem when we are faced with the urgent need to solve climate change. Consequently, the resolution of this problem will have to go through education as a structural basis for the construction of values and the adoption of more sustainable attitudes, that is, we must reinvent ourselves in the face of the urgency of mitigating one of the greatest challenges of humanity. In this article we present a reflection in the light of the current complexity, made from a careful search for literature that addresses the issues associated with consumerism and its relationship with happiness (or the false feeling of it) and the role that education can have in this connection against the background of the search for more sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyles, but also promoting happiness and wellness. We believe that the school, being an institution that risks functioning as an instrument of reproduction of the status quo of the current society, must promote a critical consciousness, promoting the transformation of the social reality that contributes to climate change. The school has been teaching notions of sustainability and ecology, but they still fail to respond to the urgency of solving the problem.

Keywords:

Anthropocene, consumerism, environmental education, society.