The work addresses the study on a set of actions in the community of San José. Taking into account the main cultural needs of its inhabitants, what could be captured through the diagnosis made previously by applying a system of methods and techniques such as analysis and synthesis, observation, surveys, interviews, brainstorming, consult experts, among others; with the active and conscious participation of the formal leaders of the community. Actions prioritize the formation of values and attitudes in a dialectical relationship between practical, cognitive and evaluative activities, without underestimating the necessary communication.The proposed actions are intended to stimulate the active participation of all the social actors in the community to improve the social and natural living conditions of the community with an endogenous approach to transformation and, at the same time, capture financial and material resources through of projects prepared by the professionals of the community itself to improve the urban and environmental conditions of the settlement in question, thereby raising the quality of life and self-esteem of its inhabitants. This system of actions is in the initial phase of application and the enthusiasm and willingness of the community members, as well as the commitment to sharing the different structures of the university center of Las Tunas, among other institutions, can already be shown as results.
Introduction
Culture and environment have been recurring themes in men of thought for millennia since ancient times, due to the implication they have to explain the main natural and social events. This interest increased with the development of society itself in its productive forces, while man, apparently, increasingly separated himself from nature and could only use it to make use of it, with which changes in the natural conditions of planet Earth leading to what are now known as global environmental problems, including pollution of water and the atmosphere, destruction of the ozone layer, global warming, desertification and drought, loss of biological diversity and the disappearance of animal and plant species.
These phenomena are closely related to the culture of peoples, with the different cultures in which the contradictory nature of social reality is reflected in all historical epochs.
Culture was considered synonymous with civilization and as an attribute of certain human groups endowed with conditions that placed them above others, given their knowledge, customs and ways of life. In this view of approaching the issue, culture was not understood as the heritage of all social groups, but only of the most developed.
The English Tylor (1832 - 1917) offers a definition of culture whose main elements are in full force today. Later definitions of culture created by other thinkers contain the ideas contributed by him.
In the conditions of the current world with such an advanced development of the productive forces capable of creating means to disappear life from the face of the Earth in the short term, not only through the use of the atomic bomb or other weapons of mass destruction, but as a silent process that destroys the natural bases of social existence. The perception of this reality has generated social movements that stimulate the knowledge and preservation of the natural conditions essential for human existence.
Some current authors when dealing with culture in general consider three dimensions in it. In a first dimension they place the separation of man from nature and the appearance of traits and qualities that reveal the condition of the human in its genesis and development; the second dimension is given by the formation of a system of opinions, feelings, beliefs and their objectification, resulting from which human knowledge and modes of action are formed and the third includes the set of material and spiritual values created by humanity in the course of its history.
In the analysis of the environmental question, the natural and the social cannot be separated in practice for many reasons to take into account since man is nature and cannot live without it when responding to biological laws even though its ultimate essence is social. Science has demonstrated the natural origin of human beings and their permanent relationship with the biotic and abiotic components of the world. Without air, without water, without plants and without animals we cannot live or work.
Today, the different factors that influence human life, whether biotic, abiotic or social, are recognized as integrated into the environment and their content cannot be contained in any of the more than one hundred definitions used. It is a complex and dynamic system in which ecological and socio-economic relations in constant evolution through the historical process of society, the historical-cultural heritage, that created by humanity, social relations and culture occupy a central place..
Environmental culture is appreciated where culture and the environment are harmoniously linked as two very general social realities giving rise to a system of knowledge, conceptions, points of view, habits, customs, capacities, attitudes, values, social relations, treatment of nature and among humans to promote the orientation of economic, social and cultural processes towards sustainable development.
Environmental culture is one of the aspects of community cultural development in any society and especially in Cuba, where work has been done both to culturally overcome the people and as part of the State's general cultural policy aimed at raising the level and quality of life of all citizens with the active and conscious participation of all the social actors of the different structures of the State, of civil society, of families and of each individual.
For the analysis of the San José community regarding the topic discussed, it is necessary to take into account its own conditions and the influence of factors beyond its limits, both nationally and internationally.
It constitutes a recently created and developing semi-urban settlement, but the first families settled in the territory from the first years of the 1960s. At the moment it is constituted by inhabitants coming from different localities of the province and from other provinces located more to the east.
Steps have been taken in this community in the development of culture. For example, the primary school for children from preschool to fourth grade was built, the municipal house of culture located a cultural promoter there; an amateur musical group was created; a family doctor's and nurse's office was set up to provide primary care to local residents; a warehouse or mixed store and a small square were built to sell agricultural products; all the structures of the mass organizations and the zonal nucleus of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) are constituted; The delegate of the constituency lives there, who is both president of the popular council and member of the municipal assembly; there is a good average level of general education for the population,It is an electrified area and all families have access to radio and television information in their own homes.
Despite these achievements, the environmental and cultural needs of its inhabitants are not met and deficiencies such as: the productive potentials existing in the community and its surroundings are not exploited; the aesthetic aspect of the dwellings - interior and exterior - denotes a lack of initiatives and a willingness to improve their setting and contribute to public decoration; the existing recreational options for the different population groups are scarce and little enjoyed, the inadequate treatment of solid and liquid wastes favors environmental contamination; Knowledge of the theory is limited to the interior of the environmental and cultural problems, there are no aqueducts and sewers, and the quality of the water is not the best;the assortment of agricultural products is insufficient in the varieties and quantities required for adequate nutrition, there are volitional potentials without stimulating for cultural and environmental improvement, there are no sports fields, no library, no cafeteria, the streets are not paved or have sidewalks; most houses lack ornamental gardens.
Sociocultural work in this community is affected by endogenous and exogenous limitations, both material and organizational, expressed in insufficient use of the cultural potentials that it possesses, which results in a lack of correspondence with the process of socio-economic transformation. that are developed in the territory. In most homes there are pets without proper veterinary treatment; the organizational structures of the community have failed to mobilize the community based on the decoration and setting of the houses and their surroundings; the existing video equipment in the school is only used for educational activities of the schoolchildren and not for the recreation or recreation of the neighbors;health talks are rarely done by the office staff; the supply of agricultural products to the little square (viands, vegetables and vegetables) is very poor; the point of sale of light products is poorly supplied and almost always the only thing it offers is cigarettes, tobacco and soft drinks at high prices, sports activities are not organized either.
In recent years, a project to improve the community was financed with the creation of a musical group, but over time the results are not very appreciable and the group does not have funding for the necessary continuity in terms of equipment repair, fundamentally. By other efforts, a large number of trees were planted, but most of them have been destroyed due to the neglect of the community members themselves.
For the development of the research, the following tasks were outlined:
1. Bibliographic review to establish the theoretical methodological position of the research.
2. Carrying out a diagnosis of the community to find out the historical trend, the current real situation and the perspectives of the evolution in it of the environmental culture.
3. Determination of the cultural needs of the community, especially regarding environmental culture.
4. Preparation of the system of actions for the development of environmental culture in the community of San José.
The theoretical-conceptual system that allows the theoretical foundation of the paper has been worked from the study of the works of a group of authors specialized in the community cultural theme, among which stand out: Héctor Arias, Ezequiel Ander - Egg, Rafaela Macías, Marcos Marchioni, Antonio Días, Carmen Mayoral and Roberto Follari. Works by specialists in environmental issues were also consulted: C. Darwin, J. R Acosta, Pablo Bayón Martínez, Fidel Castro Ruz, Carlos J. Delgado Díaz, F. Engels, Bruntland, Clara Elisa Miranda Vera, to support the related aspect with the environmental culture.
To carry out the scientific investigation, the methodological instruments made up of the following components were used:
The dialectical materialistic approach allows the study of the community of San José, the reality both in its evolution and in its development; which will contribute to support the laws, principles and categories on which the object of study is based. Only with a dialectical criterion is it possible to understand the path by which the objective truth of the reality studied is formed, the search for the solution to the contradiction expressed in the problem to be solved, to lead to the sociocultural development of the community.
The culturological approach is used since cultural community studies, by assuming its concepts, methods and principles, envision community work and dimension environmental problems from culture, as a complex and contradictory process that is enriched for material reproduction and spiritual life, the preservation of nature and society, the enrichment of the cultural identity of peoples and the cultural heritage of the community.
The harmonious interaction of both approaches enables investigative actions to reflect the peculiarities of environmental culture with an adequate scientific level in the community of San José.
Currently in the field of social research, once the polarities and methodological-conceptual oppositions have been overcome and accepting that qualitative and quantitative research are not mutually exclusive, methodological complementarity is applied in this research.
It is not a mechanical sum or mixture of methods, procedures, and techniques. It is about the use in a harmonious combination of different perspectives having triangulation and convergence as a starting point leading to the corresponding multimethodological synthesis in the study of environmental culture in the community of San José.
The following general methods were used based on these criteria:
The logical - historical method, the logical insofar as it indicates the regularity, the tendency of development of the object of study given by its internal need. The historical method reproduces the history, the historical memory of the studied community and allows us to infer the future trend.
The analytical - synthetic method consists in the study of the community, starting from the decomposition into factors, always starting from the identification of the fundamental factor capable of generating actions leading to a superior result and the integration of the object of study as a whole for the work. Sociocultural community supported by processes such as abstraction and generalization.
The inductive - deductive method allows reasoning of great value when moving from the singular facts present in the community to the general propositions, and vice versa, in a way that contributes to establishing the methodological regularities necessary to carry out community sociocultural work.
Other methods used were: research - action - participation that allows to combine the simultaneity of the process of knowing and transforming through the active participation of the community members. This method is of great value in community cultural work where people act both as objects and subjects of self-knowledge and self-transformation and feel doubly stimulated towards the successful fulfillment of the proposed tasks.
The methods of the qualitative methodological perspective provide the significance side of things; the phenomenological allows the interpretation of the phenomenon, from the perspective of the subjects. Grounded theory contributes to conceptual theorizing. Selective participant observation allows the observer to focus their attention on specific aspects of the reality studied to deepen their knowledge and improve the information collected.
The techniques from both perspectives, among which are: the Delhfi technique, surveys, observation, in-depth interviews - focused and in groups - provide general and specialized information on the subject and allow us to know how community members think, feel and act..
The DELPHI technique was very useful in consulting the community expert group and specialists and officials from other institutions, as well as the SWOT matrix for the strategic diagnosis of the community.
For the sociocultural diagnosis, historical memory, cultural needs, the community - institutions relationship and the community - environment relationship were taken into account as guiding ideas.
For the construction of knowledge, the interpretive paradigm is assumed taking into account its usefulness in terms of the meaning and understanding of human actions. This paradigm focuses on understanding the educational reality from the meanings of the people involved and studies their beliefs, intentions, motivations and other characteristics of the educational process not directly observable or susceptible to experimentation (Gil Flores; webgraphy: 7) This without neglecting what He was able to contribute the sociocritical paradigm.
The research has great practical significance as it allows the mobilization of material, human and financial resources towards coordinated actions for the transformation of tangible and intangible elements in the development of the community's environmental culture and raising the quality of life of the community.
The result of this research, contained in this thesis, is the system of actions for the development of environmental culture in the community of San José in the municipality of Las Tunas that is closely related to the theoretical position and the diagnosis made.
Once the main aspects contained in the thesis are exposed, you are in a position to move to a theoretical position on the subject.
Development
Conceptual theoretical analysis of culture and the environment
The term culture in its Latin origin means cultivation or elaboration. There are several definitions and interpretations that are given to this concept in specialized literature. "In the broad sense, culture must be understood as the set of material and spiritual values, and the procedures for creating, applying and transmitting them, obtained by man in the process of historical social practice. In a stricter sense we speak of material culture (techniques, productive experiences, and other material values) and spiritual culture (results in the fields of science, art, literature, philosophy, morality, instruction, etc.) ”(Rosental; 1981). The concept of culture is also used to designate the entire complex world of artistic and literary culture.
The relationship between material culture and spiritual culture is so close and they interpenetrate so much that they can hardly be separated in thought and not in reality. Culture as a concept indicates a particular way of life, of people, of a period or of a human group and this meaning of culture is closely linked with elements such as values, customs, lifestyles, norms, material forms or implements and social organization. Hence, for anthropology, culture consists of implicit or explicit patterns of behavior acquired and transmitted through symbols, and constitutes the unique heritage of human groups, including their expression in objectives.
Culture as a set of human relations and as a result of man's interaction with nature and with society (Enoa, 2005), has transcended over time and allows man to conserve, reproduce and create new knowledge and values necessary for transformation of its social and natural environment and becomes increasingly important as a fundamental support for the satisfaction of the material and spiritual needs of humans.
There is a close relationship between the culture of human groups - at different times and places - and their relationships with nature beyond the original genetic link, as well as with environmental deterioration, both globally and in regions and localities.
The central nucleus of culture is in traditional ideas and especially the values linked to it, so that culture systems can be considered on the one hand as products of action and on the other as conditioning elements of future action (Enoa, 2005: 16)
“ Culture, as a complex social phenomenon, is not only framed in the products of human activity, but fundamentally in the realization of man as a self-product, self-creation through what his development as a social being is expressed.
The criterion of human development, and therefore of culture, is constituted by their social relations, which make up the "substance of culture". The existence and manifestation of culture is found, therefore, in and through social relationships that man establishes in vital activity. ” (Guadarrama; 1991: tome 2, p. 374)
Some current authors when dealing with culture in general consider three dimensions to be taken into account in it, such as the separation of man from nature and the appearance of traits and qualities that reveal the condition of the human in its genesis and development; the formation of a system of opinions, feelings, beliefs and its objectification, resulting from which human knowledge and modes of action are formed; and the set of material and spiritual values created by humanity in the course of its history.
Edward Brunet Tylor (England, 1832 - 1917) contributed a definition of culture, which has transcended time and its value is recognized by researchers from other generations. The Tylorian definition highlights the complex nature of culture and the integration in it of knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, customs, and any other habits and capacities acquired by man, as well as the possibility of investigating it according to general principles and discovering in it the valid laws for the thought and action of man.
Already in the 19th century evolutionist conceptions considered cultures in motion through various stages of development towards what they called civilization. According to Morgan, the evolution of culture occurs in three main stages: savagery, barbarism and civilization.
The researchers viewed cultural evolution closely related to biological evolution. The theories of Herbert Spencer, Thomas Malthus and Charles Darwin, among others, are notable in this regard. Towards the end of the 19th century, social Darwinism appeared, according to which cultural and biological progress depended on the fight for survival and natural selection in which the most adapted survive.
This biologizing trend assumes a naturalistic position by trying to mechanically apply natural laws to society without perceiving the qualitative differences between the two levels of development.
The recognition of the origin of human society as a product of the evolution of nature to which it belongs inseparably for all time due to metabolic demands, demands from science the observance of the visceral link of any human creation with the environment in which people unfold. This evident reality was not perceived in the early stages of social development, but already in the second half of the 17th century, systematic attempts appear to approach from scientific positions the cultural differences attributed to different levels of knowledge and rational achievements. It was not easy for these ideas to break through amid so many limitations imposed until then.
In opposition to the socialist and Marxist Darwinist evolutionary doctrines, other theories were developed in the 20th century, among which the one assumed by the American Franz Boas (1858 - 1942) and his disciples known as historical particularism stands out.
Boas considered insufficient the empirical evidence used to discover the laws of cultural evolution as well as the attempts to outline the stages of cultural progress of the 19th century because, according to him, each culture has its own history, each people has its culture and does not share the criterion of some cultures superior to others. (Macías: 2005: 7).
Without denying the evolutionary character of culture as a constant process of human improvement, this contribution by Boas for the study of the community was accepted as valid, it also has its culture created and shared for several decades that can serve as a base and starting point to achieve higher goals in terms of environmental culture as part of the general comprehensive culture in theory and practice.
This thesis recognizes the scientific value of Tylor's contribution regarding the existence of regularities and general laws in society and the no less important contribution of Boas regarding the particularities and specificities of culture in certain social groups and communities. These divergent points of view do not exclude each other, they must both be assumed dialectically as we will see later in this section.
Another contribution from Boas and his disciples helped to understand the need for field work among the peoples in avoidance of speculative conclusions, so the research had a high component of on-site interaction with the community not only as objects, but, and above all, as active subjects in the investigative process.
Regardless of assuming the existence of culture in different peoples and human groups, each with its own characteristics, we cannot fail to assume a dialectical approach in the study of communities and recognize in themselves the presence, at the same time, of regularities, of tendencies and valid laws to create a general science of culture with which the cultural relativism defended by Boas is discarded. In culture, the dialectical relationship of the relative and the absolute is also manifested.
In the culture of San José, its own nuances coexist with other generals of the region and of the country formed as part of a process of interaction of other native or foreign cultures over several centuries, which allowed Don Fernando Ortiz to consider Cuban culture as an ajiaco. San José is no exception, there is also an ajiaco, but it is less dated.
Anthropology assumes this process as cultural diffusionism attributed to the tendency, says Macías (2005), of human beings to imitate each other considered as the main source of the cultural differences and similarities of peoples. This conception emerged at the beginning of the 20th century as opposition to the evolutionaryism prevalent in the 19th century.
The author of this investigative report recognizes the existence of the evolution and diffusion of culture as complementary in most of the towns. Without the first, culture would not have advanced in isolated groups during the early stages of humanity, the second is inevitable in the current conditions of the globalized world, although some peoples maintain resistance to the influence of other cultures.
British structural functionalism, anthropological current of the early twentieth century, defends the view that before explaining the roots of the similarities and differences in the culture of social groups, cultural anthropology has the task of describing the functions of customs and institutions. This position is assumed, among others, by the Americanized Pole Malinowski (1884 - 1942) for fear of possible speculation and the lack of scientific nature due to not having written records as a guarantee of due scientific objectivity.
The French Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917) also made important contributions to cultural studies as the concepts of solidarity and collective consciousness essential for the study and orientation of community sociocultural work in the current Cuban context to promote the participation and collective action of the social actors and be in tune with the most essential of the cultural values of the Cuban social project.
For an investigation into the theme of this paper, it is essential to refer to the representatives of cultural neo-evolutionism because they emphasized the influence of environmental factors on society and its culture.
Leslie A. White: (USA 1900 - 1975), for example, postulated that the global direction of cultural evolution was determined, to a large extent, by the amounts of energy that could be captured and put into operation per capita by year. This point of view cannot be assumed mechanically and think that the more energy consumption, the more culture. But with a materialistic dialectical approach it can be applied to the San José community where a better orientation in terms of food culture and an awareness of producers is necessary.
Julián Steward (USA 1902 - 1972), pioneer of cultural ecology - in the mid-20th century - considered the role of the elements of the geographical environment (land, rain and temperature with cultural factors), technology and the economy to be significant in the peoples culture. There is no denying the influence of climate, water sources, soil quality and other natural and technological factors on social customs and traditions, whether they are mountains, valleys with alluvial soil, or very cold or desert regions.
Steward was opposed to the unilateral and linear approach to development by stages because, according to him, there are really various development trajectories, depending on the initial environmental and technological conditions, among others. It is an appreciable multilateral approach to analyze the system of concurrent influences on cultural exchanges in the current times where communications have advanced so far.
All the anthropological currents analyzed, despite their differences, provide essential considerations for the theoretical position in this research, although none of them can be assimilated as unique, because it is useful as a method to consult others in search of different criteria to enrich the sources that fertilize the path to the author's position.
From the previous considerations about the social and historical character of culture, the presence in it of the universal and the individual is understood, because through itself the universality of the human is expressed, while society necessarily exists in the individuals who they express their culture materially and spiritually and participate with their performance in the construction of the general culture expressed in the human essence as the set of social relations. Together with Lenin we can affirm that the conscience of man not only reflects the objective world, but also creates it.
In his master's thesis, Fidel Álvarez (2001: 10), for example, disagrees with Porzecanski regarding the use of the term “subculture” because, according to him, “it minimizes the concept of culture, reducing and subordinating it”. For this assessment, it is based on the criterion that it would contradict the approach that "culture is not the sum of subculture", considers that the parts are not elements independent of the whole, nor inferior, that the members of a community, ethnic group, sex, religion or social group can have and have particularities and singularities that are not necessarily present in other social groups of a country or region, but have universal essential features that together with other groups make up the culture of a country, such as customs, traditions, beliefs, behaviors, languages, values, principles, sense of belonging,etc. that are constantly revealed in a nation.
Continuing the theoretical controversy with Porzecanski, Álvarez says that she analyzes culture in the community as a “subculture”. For the author this occurs in ethnic groups, religions, occupations, in the social strata, in the sexes. She conceives reality as a complex totality made up of behaviors, customs, traditions, beliefs and values that the social group constantly puts into practice, a totality that, due to its intrinsic complexity and the nature of its constitution, cannot be divided into.
Without knowing all the arguments contributed by Teresa Porzecanski in this position and based on the arguments found in Álvarez's thesis, and without pretending to detract from their discrepancies, another angle of the analysis based on the dialectical conception of the relationship of the universal can be considered. and the singular, and the system approach when analyzing the complexities of culture as the other aspects of society. In the dialectical relationship of the individual and the universal, the interaction of the unique and the diverse is verified, expressed in the thesis that “the unique world only exists in the form of a set of different phenomena, objects, events that have their individual characteristics (Guadarrama; 1991: tome 1 p 50)
In every object, phenomenon and process are present, both the individual and the universal. The individual is what distinguishes one object from another, it is its own thing. Universal is another, more internal, more essential category, with the force of law through which the genetic link is expressed, the connection of the object with the more general system. Following the logic of this analysis, the presence of culture as a universal category in the different ethnic groups, religions, occupations, social strata, sexes, behaviors, customs, traditions, beliefs and values of social groups could be recognized. The same can be said of the culture seen in its particularities as economic culture, political culture, religious culture, among others. Returning to the relationship of culture and "subculture" can be understood at first as the most general,as the universal and the second as the category through which the specific, the individual, the concrete manifestation is expressed.
The system approach recognizes, from its simplest view, the presence of entire "subsystems" as part of a larger system without depreciation between them. A similar relationship could be established between “subculture” or subsystem and culture as a system, knowing that each subsystem is, at the same time, a system in itself.
In the specific case of the studied community, as in any other, its culture forged through its own activity and the interrelation with other cultures through the years is present, where the specific and the universal coexist.
The environmental theme is in the highest priority of science at the beginning of the 21st century, both economically and politically, axiologically, legally and culturally because human existence itself is at stake and requires urgent attention because “A An important biological species is at risk of disappearing due to the rapid and progressive liquidation of its natural living conditions: man ”(Castro, 92).
What factors have led to this dramatic and somewhat apocalyptic situation for the human species at the end of the 20th century? Is it possible to avoid or remedy such a catastrophe?
In order to preserve the human species, it is necessary to urgently attend to environmental problems, their causes, their consequences and their possible solutions as manifestations of the imbalance in the relationships of human society and between it and nature due to the great contaminating load spilled by the first on the second beyond the possibilities for recovery. "… there is no more urgent task than creating a universal consciousness, bringing the problem to the masses (Ramonet; 2006)
Given the prevailing level of interrelation and interdependence in social activity, a dialectical, multilateral approach is imperative, exempt from unilaterality, objective and concrete of the problems of today's world because “Everything is associated: illiteracy, unemployment, poverty, hunger, diseases, lack of drinking water, housing, electricity, desertification, climate change, disappearance of forests, floods, drought, soil erosion, biodegradation, pests and other tragedies ”(Ramonet; 2006: 400).
Many authors consider harmony in social relationships as a condition for harmony in society - nature relationships. Talía Fung, for example, quoting Sagan; (1994), states: “… the reconciliation of humanity with nature, the fundamental axiological value of our days, passes through the reconciliation of man with man” (Delgado; 2002: 55)
Women and men on this planet have always been interested in their relationships with nature and with other social subjects, but, although that interest has not always been generalized, nor has it had the same degree of depth, always a group of thinkers Visionaries have dedicated their intellect and energies to the search for solutions to the problems of this relationship, on which the criteria have varied over time, finding positions that range from total indifference to considering it vital for humanity.
The environmental problems so widespread today, have a long history and have been manifested since primitive man began to produce, dominate and use fire with destructive effects on ecosystems. "We have come this far after a long process of evolution of human society in which three main leaps can be distinguished, namely: the neolithic revolution where agriculture arises and passes from the appropriating economy to the productive one, the industrial revolution produces the transition from artisanal work to machining and industry is created, and the scientific-technological revolution gives way to automated production ”(Miranda; 1997: 17).
The exchange of society and nature in many cases has surpassed the self-regulatory capacities of natural systems, thus the so-called global problems arise that respond to the following demands: (Guadarrama; 1991: 297) affect the destiny and interests of all the countries of the world or a significant part of it; the subsequent development of humanity depends on its solution; they demand urgent solutions because they threaten the vital, historically formed foundations of mankind and their solution requires the joint efforts of all humanity.
They are currently recognized as major global environmental problems, loss of biological diversity, increased pollution of water and the atmosphere, climate change, soil degradation and depletion of the ozone layer.
In the extensive bibliography consulted on this subject are works by specialists such as: C. Darwin, Rachel Carson, Mateo, J. R Acosta, Pablo Bayón Martínez, Fidel Castro Ruz, Carlos J. Delgado Díaz, F. Engels, Brunthand, Clara Elisa Miranda Vera, to support the aspect related to environmental culture.
These are global problems that require the collaboration of the entire international community, especially the most industrialized countries, to achieve awareness and practical actions to mitigate and solve the environmental crisis.
Within the great set of causes leading to such a dramatic situation are the unconscious actions of those who do not know the problem in question but there are others who assume selfish and pragmatic positions and act against the grain of reality without inhibiting themselves from the fatal consequences.
The fact that the solutions must be global does not deny but confirms the imperative of concrete actions in the different countries, regions, communities and individuals, both in practice and in consciousness.
This is a starting point to consider in any socio-cultural environmental transformation: that of harmoniously combining changes in the living conditions of communities with the evolution of their thinking.
We can affirm with Lenin that consciousness not only reflects the world, but also creates it because the two processes cannot be mechanically separated because they are dialectically intertwined, and the founders of the dialectical materialist conception of human society demonstrated it, man thinks as he lives but consciously guides his activity as he thinks. Federico Engels, in a letter to José Bloch, was in charge of confirming it by proposing “… the factor that ultimately determines history is the production and reproduction of real life…. The economic situation is the basis, but the various factors of the superstructure that rises on it… also exert their influence on the course of historical struggles and determine, predominantly in many cases, their form "(Marx; 1971, t 3: 514).
A contradictory aspect to take into account in social development is its influence on the improvement of social welfare and, at the same time, its deterioration until putting human existence at risk. A question arises: Is environmental deterioration a purely social or natural problem?
Regarding the environmental question, the natural and the social cannot be separated in practice for many reasons to take into account since man is nature and cannot live without it for responding to biological laws even though its ultimate essence is social. Science has demonstrated the natural origin of human beings and their permanent relationship with the biotic and abiotic components of the world. Without air, without water, without plants and animals we cannot live or work.
We live in a turbulent time, of transition, of great threats and "we are in the presence of a crisis of industrial technological civilization and culture,… and for the first time in history, human beings have the possibility of destroying the planet" (Bayón / webgrafía / 1).
This author refers to the great and rapid changes that are taking place in the world, due to the globalization of the economy, the accelerated technological growth, the opening of markets in peripheral countries, the privatization of public companies, the dismantling of the state social, the establishment of blocks between countries to achieve competitive advantages in the market.
Referring to the “current rampant environmental crisis”, he mentions widespread deforestation and the loss of biological diversity, climate change, the decrease in the ozone layer, great famines, pandemics, extreme poverty, and other causes. wars of enormous environmental content, migrations that are changing the face of the planet, imbalances between North and South and within industrialized communities themselves, and demographic imbalances backed by the existence of more than 6 billion inhabitants in the planet. (Bayón / webgrafía / 1)
The aforementioned allows us to affirm that the world must live within the limits of the self-regeneration capacity of terrestrial systems, which presupposes the sustainable use of the Earth's resources and at the same time consider that the development of environmental culture is closely linked to the general cultural development of humanity.
The term ecology is an antecedent to the concept of the environment and "was forged in 1869 by the biologist Ernst Haeckel, and at the beginning of the 20th century it came to mean the study of a given species and its biological relationships with the environment." (Cruz; 2005: 9)
In the middle of the century, scientists developed the notion of ecosystem as a study unit that includes all the interactions between the physical environment and the species that inhabit it. In the sixties it was discovered that the most ecologically critical regions were the interpenetration zones of different ecosystems that when brought together form a whole called the biosphere.
“The final stage, which has become one of the cornerstones of UNESCO's Man and Biosphere (MAB) program, has been the inclusion in the very concept of ecology of the predominant role that man plays in the biosphere., of the responsibility that it has in its evolution and, consequently, of the need to take into account certain intangible or non-quantifiable aspects of the human spirit, such as: the perception that it has of the environment and the way in which quality of life is conceived. (Cruz; 2005: 9)
Today the different factors that influence human life, whether biotic, abiotic or social, are recognized as integrated into the environment and their content cannot be contained in any of the more than one hundred definitions used, one of which defines the environment as “a complex and dynamic system of ecological, socio-economic and cultural relations, which evolve through the historical process of society, the historical-cultural heritage, that created by humanity, social relations and culture ”(University for all, 2000, p.3.).
The scientific debate on environmental problems is several centuries old and has undergone modifications over time as its treatment became more imperative. Starting in the 19th century, it moved from the naturalistic approach to the implications of technological development until its insertion in general political and sociological life, generating concepts such as biodiversity, sustainable development and others. The integration into the environment of three major spheres of elements is recognized: biotic, abiotic and social.
Mateo (2000: 735) points out three stages in the environmental debate.
The first stage only recognizes the environment as the natural environment, as nature. It appears in the 19th century linked to concepts such as geographic environment, biological ecology, ecosystem and geosystem. This debate focused on the characteristics and properties of nature.
The second stage is characterized by debate from a technological context (Rachel Carson, 1964 and the Club of Rome, 1971). The environmental dimension begins to look for a space in the object of study of the particular sciences.
The third stage focuses on the debate from the socio-political context (Brunthand Commission, 1987 and Rio Summit, 1992). It goes from ecodevelopment to sustainable development. There are divergent positions in this debate, ranging from ecofascism to the radical green left.
Carlos Marx and Federico Engels demonstrated the qualitative difference and the indissoluble unity of society with respect to nature, emphasizing the role played by social factors.
"Society - Marx pointed out - is the finished essential unity of man with nature, the authentic resurrection of nature, the realized naturalism of man and the realized humanism of nature" (Manuscripts Econ. And Philos. 1844)
Engels recognizes the social potentialities to transform nature for his own benefit, but warns us that “We should not flatter ourselves too much about our victories over nature because it takes revenge on us for each of the defeats we infer from it. It is true that all of them translate mainly into the expected and calculated results, but they also carry other unforeseen events, which we did not count on and which, not infrequently, counteract the former ”(Marx; 1981, t 3:75)
The recognition of the origin of human society as a product of the evolution of nature to which it belongs inseparably for all time due to metabolic demands, demands from science the observance of the visceral link of any human creation with the environment in which people unfold. This evident reality was not perceived in the early stages of social development, but already in the second half of the 17th century, systematic attempts appear to approach from scientific positions the cultural differences attributed to different levels of knowledge and rational achievements. It was not easy for these ideas to break through amid so many limitations imposed until then.
Carlos Marx demonstrated in the 19th century that the human essence is given by the set of social relations while recognizing the close link between society and nature. However, there are conflicting views about that relationship.
The different conceptions of thought regarding the relationship society - nature can be grouped into three main philosophical lines, in one of them the identification of natural and social laws occurs; in another they are considered opposite and separate from each other and in a third the dialectical integration between society and nature is conceived.
The representatives of the first line do not understand the complexity of society and reduce social laws to natural ones. Thus geographic determinism and the biologizing theories of social life such as social Darwinism, Malthusianism and racism arise. This philosophical naturalism that does not distinguish qualitative differences between nature and society assumed a materialistic position against idealism in the study of society.
The other philosophical line also assumes a mechanistic position and conceives a radical opposition and separation between society and nature, considering the latter only as an object of contemplation, without taking into account the active, transforming role of man; According to this line, social life is subject to other types of laws, above all spiritual; This point of view defends the criterion that nature does not develop, since its laws are constant, repeatable and society only develops by changing its consciousness and enriching ideas.
The third philosophical line takes into account the dialectical integration between society and nature. The defenders of this line rely on the discoveries of Carlos Darwin and others where the natural origin of man is demonstrated, in the qualitative difference of society with respect to nature, emphasizing the determining role of social factors and the role of work as an essential factor in the society-nature bond and in the humanization of man.
This third line is identified as Marxist evolutionism. "Marx was opposed to social Darwinism" (Macías; 2005) but the influence received by him from the prevailing theories of evolution and cultural progress in the 19th century cannot be denied.
Marx emphasized the importance of struggle in cultural evolution and progress because Marxism was also strongly influenced by the prevailing notions of cultural evolution and progress in the 19th century (Macías; 2005: 10)
At the same time, he defended the indissoluble unity between society and nature and in this sense he expressed:
- "Society is the finished essential unit of man with nature, the authentic resurrection of nature, the realized naturalism of man and the realized humanism of nature" (Guadarrama; 1991: 284)
- "The fact that man's physical and spiritual life is inseparably linked to nature means that nature is inseparably linked with himself, since man is part of nature" (Guadarrama; 1991: 290)
It is not idle to emphasize, from these quotations, on the natural condition of each and every person, since no individual is exempt from responding to biological laws, especially metabolism, as an indispensable question to live and shape the population that together The geographical environment constitutes two essential basic requirements for human existence.
The National Environmental Strategy of Cuba recognizes the “… advantages that socialism as a system offers for the development of an effective environmental policy, in particular by:
- The decisive role of the State and the advantages of a planned economy, with the capacity to project the use of resources in a harmonious and long-term manner.
- Its ethical-social conception, the solidary social environment that it engenders and the conceptual integrality in the operation of the government.
- The advantages offered by social property have a positive impact on the protection of the environment and the sustainable use of natural resources. (CITMA; 2006: 11)
When José Martí stated: "Being educated is the only way to be free" he was not only referring to political freedom, he also understood other forms of material freedom, including ecological and spiritual freedom. For the apparent freedom of man to destroy nature without respecting its laws, is reversed as a slavery to the destructive effects caused by man. (Martí; 1884: 9)
Martí himself is in charge of clarifying the breadth of his message regarding culture and freedom when he expresses “Men need to know the composition, transformations and applications of the material elements whose labor comes from the healthy arrogance of those who work directly in nature, the vigor of the body that results from contact with the forces of the earth, and the honest and secure fortune that its cultivation produces. ” and it abounds in the relationship between the material and spiritual values, and between the psychic and the physical in people when expressing “Men grow, grow physically, in a visible way they grow, when they learn something, when they enter to possess something, and when they have done some good. ” And he adds later “Happiness exists on earth; and it is conquered with the prudent exercise of reason,the knowledge of the harmony of the universe, and the constant practice of generosity. "," Being good is the only way to be happy "
Martí does not limit himself to making clear the answer in the didactic sense and goes further, making use of his wide and deep knowledge with valid arguments for all and for all times when expressing that men always need the products of nature and that the only way to prosperity is to "… know, cultivate and take advantage of the inexhaustible and intangible elements of nature…" The relationship between culture and the environment is obvious in this position of Martí.
And he emphasizes that it is not only about bringing scientific and practical knowledge to the fields, but also cultivating people's feelings for the necessary harmony in human coexistence “Not only agricultural explanations and mechanical instruments; but tenderness, which is so necessary and so good to men. ”
“An ignorant people can be tricked with superstition, and made slavish. An educated people will always be strong and free. An ignorant people is on the way to be a beast, and a people educated in science, is already on the way to be God… the best way to defend our rights is to know them well, so you have faith and strength: every nation will be unhappy in So much so that you don't educate all your children. A people of educated men will always be a people of free men. Education is the only way to save oneself from slavery ”
"Martí projects a conception of real freedom and total independence as the only alternative to solve Cuba's problems, the political balance of the region and the confrontation with North American expansion." (Velázquez; 04: 75)
We went to Engels to clarify how freedom should be understood and its close relationship with the culture of peoples. "Freedom does not reside in the dreamed independence of natural laws, but in the knowledge of these laws and in the possibility that it brings coupled with making them act in a planned way for certain purposes. And this applies not only in the laws of external nature, but also with those that preside over the physical and spiritual existence of man.
"Freedom consists, then, in the knowledge of ourselves and of external nature, based on the awareness of natural needs: it is, therefore, necessarily, a product of historical development" (Engels; 1965)
In the aforementioned reflections from Marti, two essential elements to be taken into account in culture appear clearly: relations between men and between men and nature. Also material and spiritual production, as well as the cognitive and volitional sphere.
This approach to the relationship between culture and freedom has full validity and guiding application for the elaboration and application of a proposed strategy where the orientation towards knowledge of science and technology, the formation of feelings and tenderness must not be lacking to achieve the necessary balance of the human and natural world. Because in Talía Fung's words "the harmony between man and nature necessarily passes through the harmony between men" (Delgado; 1999: 5)
But that harmony between human groups does not exist and perhaps it is far from being achieved by the predominance of powerful forces with selfish and hegemonic intentions.
The environmental debate from the socio-political context begins with the book "Our Common Future" by the Brunthand Commission in 1987, and has among other top moments the Rio de Janeiro for Environment and Development cover, in 1992 and the summit " Rio 5 ”in New York in 1997.
The events mentioned radically change the focus of the debate and the theory and ideology of development is carried out from an environmental perspective. There was a shift from eco-development to sustainable development and sustainability. New transdisciplinary concepts such as cultural ecology, ecological or environmental economics and political ecology appear. A heterogeneous but powerful ideological trend is taking shape: environmentalism, which manifests itself as a wide range from the extreme right (eco-fascism) to the radical green left. In science, the egocentric or environmental paradigm is reflected in the different trends in environmental education.
Most of the consulted authors agree that environmental culture comprises a complex system of knowledge, conceptions, points of view, habits, capacities, attitudes, values, social relationships, treatment of nature to promote the orientation of economic, social processes. and cultural towards sustainable development.
The Cuban environmental problem is conditioned by a difficult economic situation characterized, on the one hand, by insufficient environmental awareness of economic and social actors, and on the other hand, by also insufficient application of a policy that in practice integrates the environmental dimension into development processes. That is why a rational management based on the harmony between the conservation of the social conquests achieved and the sustainable protection of natural resources is required, and for this, a population capable of consciously incorporating the dimension into their daily life is needed. environmental.
Goncalves, citing Gómez (2008: 14), states: “Cultural development as a dynamic process means enriching culture, strengthening forms of cultural expression, and making culture available to all, promoting broad participation and creativity through resources ideal in a spirit of mutual respect and tolerance ”
In this complex process, the way of thinking and the behavior styles of individuals and communities, the policies of the sectors of the economy, science, education and culture play an important role, but above all, the existence of a political will that is already guaranteed by the Cuban State and the capacity to integrate them.
In Cuba, environmental culture is closely related not only with the general culture, but also with the history lived by the inhabitants of this country in stages prior to 1959 because the deterioration of the environment is due to both natural and social factors, especially to the latter that accumulated from the colonial period, during the 16th to the 19th centuries, and the pseudo-republican one, between l902 and 1958, due to the lack of political will and economic structures incapable of implementing environmental programs and avoiding these ills.
According to historians, in Admiral Christopher Columbus' diary on his first trip to these lands, when he arrived in Cuba, he wrote: It is the most beautiful land that human eyes have ever seen. This phrase alone expresses the benefits of nature in the Cuban archipelago, especially the vegetation, whose forests covered almost the entire surface of the territory. Soon the conquest and colonization of the archipelago began and, as a result of the encounter between two unequal cultures, a slave system was implanted by the newcomers, which quickly exterminated the indigenous population, replacing it with the trafficking of Africans in a despotic regime extended during the 16th to 19th centuries. In that period the environmental culture was very depressed,mainly due to the colonial character that was applied synthesized in the following aspects:
- Exploitation and extraction to the maximum of human, natural and economic resources.
- Absence of cultural, educational and environmental policies.
- Absence of nation, of identity, even of Cubans until the 19th century.
- Destruction of natural resources.
- Slavery system where people were treated worse than animals, which had in Weyler's reconcentration, his most dehumanized expression.
Nature in Cuba was treated with such contempt during that period to such an extent that its echo reached Europe and is picked up by Federico Engels in the following quote: “When in Cuba Spanish planters burned the forests on the slopes of the mountains to obtain with the ash a fertilizer that was only enough to fertilize a generation of high-yield coffee trees, it mattered little to them that the torrential rains of the tropics swept the vegetal layer of the soil, deprived of the protection of the trees and left no more what bare rocks! ” (Marx; 1974: t 3, p 76)
In the pseudo republic the situation remained almost the same, subordinated to Yankee interests.
In La Historia Absolverá Fidel raises the main problems that Cuba suffered in those times and among them the problem of land, education, health and unemployment.
Keep in mind that in 1958 only 14% of the Cuban national territory was forested. The Revolution inherits a negatively impacted environment with high levels of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and low levels of health. (Strategy; 2007)
The Revolution opens the floodgates that allow the torrent to be unleashed towards the endless channel of development of the culture of Cubans through which the environmental culture navigates towards the environmental summits.
Cuba was recently recognized by the UN as the only country that meets the demands of sustainable development.
Environmental Culture Study. Community of San José. Las Tunas, Cuba.
In the study of environmental culture in the aforementioned community, it is necessary to take into account Marti's teachings in order to avoid the repetition of situations raised by him more than one hundred and thirty years ago when he expressed: “Most of the men have slept on the Earth. They ate and drank; but they did not know about each other ”. (Martí; 1975: 283).
In San José, the features that allow it to be considered a community are present because this is a social category that expresses common elements of the social actors in it, such as: a determined territory where people interact, the basic conditions of life, its culture, its history, that distinguish it from any other in its development, stability and permanence. It is a complex unit where your collective material and spiritual life unfolds.
It is also identified by general sociological, natural, political, cultural and social features present in other subsystems that comprise it, such as families, individuals, groups, organizations and institutions.
In his definition of community Armando Hart Dávalos (1988) includes aspects such as multidimensionality, the geographical, sociological, natural, territorial, political, cultural and social elements that must be known, respected and integrated in order to make the locality an efficient social organism and effective in the material and spiritual. Héctor Arias Herrera (1995, 11) highlights in the community the system approach, the objective character and the interaction in the activity.
The territory where the community is located already had the name of San José at the beginning of the eighteenth century (Reyna; 2002: 29) because in the archives of the San Jerónimo Church it appears that in 1704 the herd of Las Tunas recognized from San José is recognized up to the Cornito, and these two points indicated are at opposite ends towards the outskirts of the city.
The diagnosis comprised two phases, one general and the other comprehensive.
The general diagnosis allowed an approach to the problems of the community and capture its most significant problems or the most obvious deficiencies. This phase was carried out attending to the following variables: geographical location, industries, factories, age groups, origin of families, houses, buildings, migratory movements and community displacements, social organization, social conflicts, birth rate, mortality, occupation, level of education, availability of water, sanitary service for families.
Political relations were also taken into account in their structures and levels, leadership, groups, institutions, number of families, socio-class composition, workers, workers by sectors, technical personnel, peasant, intellectuals, self-employed.
This phase allowed obtaining information on the state in which the economic, social, political and cultural reality is found, contributing as a result, its main features to have a general knowledge of the community.
In the general phase of the diagnosis the methods of observation, investigation - action - participation and ethnographic were applied.
Techniques were applied such as: study of maps (plates 1 and 2), structured, unstructured, in-depth, focused interviews; surveys, questionnaires, document review, observation and statistical reports.
As there are no figures from official sources, data provided by mass organizations was appealed, according to which this settlement has 644 inhabitants. The child population up to 14 years old is 114 children; 201 young people between 15 and 35 years old and a total of 59 are over 60 years old, the rest is between 35 and 60 years old (see annex). The sex ratio is approximately 50% (Annexes 8 and 10).
Most of the population comes from other territories of the province and from other provinces of the eastern region that have arrived up to here with the immediate purpose of obtaining a house in the provincial capital, very close to the health complex and important centers of the higher education. The engineer Edelio Reyna, in his diploma thesis, considers that the oldest house was built at the “beginning of the 20th century” and adds that from the 1980s, after the construction of the health and educational complex, it grew the community product of an “unplanned migration looking for a source of employment” (Reyna; 2002: 29) giving rise to a “demographic explosion of houses in poor condition, without local planning”.
The author insists on the absence of planning due to the predominance of spontaneity and the lack of urban planning in the layout of the streets and other elements that should have been foreseen in the community's master plan. Due to these insufficiencies in the layout of the streets, most of them are interrupted by constructions or are narrowed (plates 5 and 6) too much affecting the present and future urbanization.
The aspects indicated above constitute discordant and incompatible elements with environmental culture and the advancement of urban engineering and architecture, due to the carelessness shown in the arrangement of buildings in San José, especially after the construction of the cities of Cienfuegos in Cuba and Brasilia in Brazil.
Most of the families come from rural areas of other municipalities in this province and from the rest of the eastern provinces, almost all the houses were built in recent years or are in the process of construction with brick walls and fiber cement roofing, almost all of a single floor, the tallest buildings are several two-storey houses (annex 2).
This community constitutes a segment within the constituency but it has its own social organization (annexes 1, 8 and 10) since it has a zonal nucleus of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC); two areas of the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) committees with their corresponding subordinate grassroots organizations; a block of the Federation of Cuban Women with their respective delegations; a grassroots organization of the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution (ACRC) and a pioneering collective made up of primary school children; as well as the Community Work Group under the direction of the Delegate who is the representative of the state power in the Circumscription and made up of a representative of each of the organizations and agencies in the locality.
The composition of the workforce is mainly made up of state workers, the average level of instruction is at the secondary level, and there are a large number of professionals who work mainly in the educational and health centers.
It does not have installed up to the houses nor aqueduct nor sewage system, most of the families use the water from wells and have latrines or graves with the consequent environmental implications (annexes 8, 9, 13 and 14). The urbanization is affected by not having paved streets or having sidewalks (plates 4, 5 and 6), at the same time that they are not traced before assigning the lots to build the houses, causing constant interruptions in the streets and significant disproportions in its configuration. There are no industries or factories in it (Annex 2).
This diagnosis was made attending to four fundamental methodological axes: historical memory; community - institutions relationship; community - environment relationship; sociocultural needs or problems that affect development.
The study of historical memory allowed us to capture the aspects that make up the collective memory of the community from the analysis of aspects such as: the founding family, historical, artistic, political, scientific, educational and economic events; personalities, characters, legends, popular games, traditions, popular speech, aspects of idiosyncrasy, attitudes towards the cultural event, psychology, degree of cooperation, sharing experiences, sensitivity to community problems, commitment to the community, tolerance, acceptance on the other, diversity, respect, solidarity, humanism and patriotism.
To capture the information in this part, surveys, structured interviews, document analysis, reflection workshops and interviews with experts were used as techniques.
Historical memory is collective memory, group memory, it is the flow of memories, evocations, customs, habits. All memory is shared heritage, while a part of it is made up of the accumulation of experiences not lived and / or assumed from knowledge. Every subject is the bearer of a memory, which is the result of a sum of subjects of which none occupies a privileged position, but which have contributed to giving the individual his sense of universality.
Historical memory is the ability to remember, it is the support where the traces of the past are printed, the virtual and updateable information that they contain, and the information effectively updated in the form of memories.
Before 1959 there were no houses in the area that the community now occupies, they were land dedicated to pasture for the raising of cattle, mainly and the owners of the dairy farms had their homes located in the city or in other nearby rural areas.
After the triumph of the Revolution, on January 1, 1959, revolutionary laws began to be applied and with the passage of land into the hands of the State a process of transformation in the fields began, and thus some constructions were carried out and several families settle in the surroundings. In 1981 the Ernesto Guevara General Hospital was inaugurated, which is part of the large complex of health facilities close to the studied community.
The territory was gradually populated with families from other areas of the eastern regions, especially from Las Tunas, Puerto Padre, Holguín and Bayamo (Annex 12).
The information gathered through key informants has allowed us to determine that the first family settled in the vicinity of this territory is surnamed Velázquez, which gives its name to a neighborhood very close to this community (Annex 3 and 4). A member of that family is José Ramón (Mongo) Velázquez Bello, whose current residence is located on Calle Francisco Varona No. 278, between Nicolás Heredia and Joaquín Agüero.
According to Mongo, the farm had 18 caballerias and was dedicated to raising cattle and was purchased in 1947 by Aurelio (Yeyo) Velázquez from José Acosta. The only house existing on the site at that time was located in the vicinity of where the winery is located today and lived in it by the estate manager named Ángel Bello, cousin of the owner's wife.
The farm was intervened in the first years of the Revolution through the application of the agrarian reform law and after a few years it began to populate with new inhabitants.
Next to the mayoral's house were the corrals for milking the cows whose water source for all the facilities came from the subsoil extracted by a windmill to a tank. One of the milkers in mid-1963 was Antonio Álvarez Soriano, who came to the area from La Rosa in the Las Tunas municipality (Annex 5) and is the person who has lived in the community for the longest time.
Álvarez states that in 1963 when Cyclone Flora struck, there was no home in the place where the center of the community is located today, by that time five families already lived in its vicinity and responded to the surnames Velázquez, Pérez, Palmero, Meriño and González.
The first house in the town, says Álvarez, was built later by a certain Pablo, Emerita's husband, and today it serves as a home for Cachanito. In front of that house, a villa was built later on Calle 80 where Dr. Senén Peña lives today.
The Pérez family arrived from the Mil Nine area through an exchange with the State.
Among the significant events from the historical point of view, the community remembers the birth of the child Reynol Vicente Estrada Rodríguez on January 23, 2005, the day of the anniversary of the birth of Major General Vicente García González, for which he received a layette module and gave I start a tradition in the community that is celebrated every year. In 2006, the party's first secretary in the Jorge Cuevas Ramos province and Vladimir Amad Moro municipality attended the boy's first birthday.
Main needs of environmental culture
- Deepen and expand knowledge related to environmental culture.
- Increase the collegiate and coordinated participation of the community in the prevention and solution of environmental problems in the environment.
- Stimulate the willingness and dedication of the community towards the actions that promote greater community hygiene, aesthetics and recreation.
- Elaboration of a strategy to project and manage the development of environmental culture in the community.
- Promote projects, research and interventions in the development of the material and spiritual environmental culture.
- Promote and systematize sociocultural animation activities with the participation of local factors and institutions of the territory.
- Encourage emulation among the organizational structures of the community in favor of cleaning, beautification and recreation of the community.
- Perfect and seek diversification to improve food culture.
- Improve the quality and quantity of gardens in homes and communal areas.
- An integrating strategy of all projects and actions for environmental cultural development.
Other insufficiencies
- Productive potentials without taking advantage
- There is no aqueduct or sewer
- The quality of the water is regular
- Few recreational options for the population
- Most houses lack ornamental gardens
- There are no sports fields, no library, no cafeteria
- Knowledge of environmental theory is limited
- Domestic animals exist without due veterinary treatment
- They have not managed to mobilize the community based on the decoration and setting of the homes and their surroundings
- There are volitional potentials without stimulation
The action system proposal is based on current environmental legislation.
The National Environmental Strategy has within its general strategic objectives:
Set the stage and design the actions that lead to the preservation and development of the environmental achievements of the Revolution.
Contribute to the prevention and solution of the main environmental problems in the country, which includes the gradual eradication of the insufficiencies detected in the application of Cuban environmental policy and management.
Cuban environmental management and policy are based on principles such as:
1. Contribute to economic and social development on a sustainable basis.
2. Recognition of the citizen's right to a healthy environment, where the constant elevation of the quality of life of the population constitutes the center of the national environmental task.
3. Concentration of efforts on the main environmental problems of the country, without neglecting local problems and their priorities.
4. Active participation of all social actors, both at the central and local levels, on the basis of coordinated action, founded on cooperation and co-responsibility.
5. Deepening of environmental awareness, with emphasis on environmental education, dissemination and information actions.
Proposed System of Actions to be executed
Cuban cultural policy is based on closely linking the endogenous potential of the communities with the contribution of national and international exogenous factors. For the development of environmental culture they must dialectically harmonize material and spiritual transformations.
As a result of the study carried out and the application of the diagnosis, the deployment is not appreciated in the San José community, with a strategic approach to all the ways for the development of its environmental culture due to limitations in the availability of material and financial resources in the structures of the municipal government, also due to the lack of a comprehensive and coordinated approach to carrying out community cultural work and due to the lack of knowledge and initiatives to improve the cultural and environmental conditions of the community. But it is possible to achieve this if adequate transformation models are implemented taking into account their needs and potentials, if there is cooperation and coordination of all endogenous and exogenous factors related to this work.
Given the broad spectrum of the needs of the environmental culture in San José, a system of actions is proposed due to its integrating nature, it is not just about tangible transformations or using many material and financial resources, but also to change the way of thinking of the social actors and improve the quality of life from the formation of new values and strengthen feelings and convictions. The application of the system of actions for the development of environmental culture contributes to the development of the general culture of the community, to the advancement of community cultural work and to the elevation of the quality of life of the community.
