ENVIRONMENTAL CARE AND PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE: A STUDY WITH MILITARY FIREFIGHTERS IN THE FACE OF THE CLIMATE CRISIS

Abstract

Among the professional categories that work in the field of public safety and care for the population in the face of emergencies and disasters, military firefighters are one of the central occupations, also susceptible to mental illness processes. Although there is epidemiological data on the health-disease process, little is said about the perception and environmental care of these professionals, an aspect necessary when considering that these professionals deal directly with human-environmental problems and their impacts, a reality that has been intensifying in the face of the climate crisis experienced. Thus, this research aims to analyze how firefighters evaluate their performance in the face of emergencies and disasters, and how they perceive the concept of environment and environmental care, understanding whether they see the engagement of the community and themselves in pro-sustainable care actions. For this, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 military firefighters living in Natal/RN and the metropolitan region. The results indicate that, in general, these professionals understand environmental care as a way to contribute, as social actors, with adaptation and mitigation measures in the face of environmental problems and their consequences, but they believe that there is a need for greater engagement and promotion of their professional practices in the area of ​​prevention, in addition to greater awareness on the subject among the general population.