We live in a world situation that urgently calls for new ways of securing our environmental, economic and social livelihoods. Sustainability and global cooperation are more necessary than ever for the future of humanity. Education should help people to survive and to be ready for the future. It should allow for connective thinking, discernment and direct experience; it should pass on joy and hope for the future. The development and implementation of innovative forms of learning with future-oriented subject matter is not only an educational issue but has long been a political one. It is a matter of survival; the Earth needs new information.
“The thinking of the future must make wars impossible.” Albert Einstein declared decades ago. This thinking is based on ethical principles: respect for all living creatures; care for each other and for the whole biosphere; solidarity with all human cultures and religions and the stance on which Mahatma Gandhi based his non-violent revolution of liberation in India: “Be the change that you want to see in the world”. The earlier a person learns this way of thinking, the more his decisions and actions are shaped by it. This way of thinking leads to a praxis which brings about the healing coexistence of all beings on Earth.
“Water, energy and nourishment are freely available to the whole of mankind if we no longer follow the laws of capital but follow instead the logic of nature” (D. Duhm.) Our profit-driven economic culture results in many people not having access to adequate drinking water, sufficient food, heat and energy. These fundamental rights are privatized and through stock market speculation, become prohibitively expensive to the poor. Here again adults must take a stand for the protection of human life and the children of this world.
“In a world of limited resources we need to let go of the idea that one can continue to grow forever. We need to learn about growth in quality rather than just in quantity. Our brain demonstrates this by not continuing to grow until the skull bursts but by intensifying its connectivity; the relationship between nerve cells”.
(Prof. Dr. Gerald Huether; neurobiologist, in ‘Schools awakening’).
