Environmental voices from the public audience of the national constitutional assembly

the effectiveness of an ethical environmental paradigm

Abstract

The Constitution of the Federative Republic of 1988 represented a significant change in the advancement of Brazilian environmental law, particularly the article 225, which established guidelines, principles, and constitutional support for environment protection. The caput of this article established an ecologically balanced environmental as a fundamental right, introducing a new ethical paradigm that permeates the entire legal framework. The present research aims to investigate the construction of environmental ethics regarding the formulation of this caput, analyzing the contribution of lawmakers and citizens through the minutes of public hearings held during the National Constituent Assembly. Problematizes how the development process unfolded, leading to the formulation of the caput of article 225 of the Constitution, specifically in terms of the presented environmental ethical paradigm. The study concluded that popular participation and the democratic model were decisive in shaping the constitutional ethical framework, establishing the expanded anthropocentric ethical paradigmm. There was no rupture in the adopeted conception but a coherent evolution with the constitutional system, as the environment came to gain recognition as a diffuse fundamental riht. Environmental goods are no longer mere objects for individual possession, they now belong to the community. It is an interdisciplinary and exploratory research, based on the collection of bibliographic and documentary data. The analysis is qualitative in nature, based on content analysis methodology in theoretical construction.