{"id":73813,"date":"2024-08-15T00:41:50","date_gmt":"2024-08-15T04:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=73813"},"modified":"2024-08-15T00:41:50","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T04:41:50","slug":"education-in-the-anthropocene-addressing-the-environmental-crisis-means-learning-about-our-place-in-earths-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/education-in-the-anthropocene-addressing-the-environmental-crisis-means-learning-about-our-place-in-earths-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Education in the Anthropocene: addressing the environmental crisis means learning about our place in Earth\u2019s history"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Education should prepare young people to face the challenges of their time. To keep up with the changing world, this means that education has to keep adjusting. But unfortunately, our education systems have fallen out of sync with the times.<\/p>\n

Environmental decay is arguably the greatest challenge facing humanity today. However, education systems are\u00a0failing to prepare young people<\/a>\u00a0for life on a rapidly changing planet.<\/p>\n

One way to escape this trap is to shift our perspective on the period of time we inhabit. Instead of the 21st century, we might think of ourselves as\u00a0living in the Anthropocene<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Anthropocene is a proposed new geological epoch \u2013 a unit on the geologic timescale \u2013 characterised by unprecedented human influence over the natural environment. While a panel of geologists\u00a0decided against<\/a>\u00a0declaring the Anthropocene an official geological epoch in 2024, there\u2019s no doubt that it remains a powerful way to understand the world around us.<\/p>\n

Thinking of \u201cour times\u201d as the Anthropocene \u2013 official epoch or not \u2013 rather than the 21st century forces us to confront \u201cdeep time\u201d. This means considering what our society is doing to the planet not just during our individual lifespans but over the long term, before we were born and after we die.<\/p>\n

This could be, for example, considering how sea level change might affect the places we live in a hundred \u2013 or a thousand \u2013 years\u2019 time, and what life might be like then.<\/p>\n

Educating differently<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Recent education policy has often focused on\u00a0\u201c21st century skills\u201d<\/a>, an idea that stresses the new challenges brought by an interconnected post-industrial society, such as navigating the benefits and pitfalls of new communication technologies. Concepts like \u201ccritical thinking\u201d, \u201ccollaboration\u201d or \u201ccreativity\u201d have\u00a0become increasingly influential<\/a>\u00a0across many education systems around the world.<\/p>\n

But the problem with this approach is that it reduces learning to an instrument to grow the economy. The \u201c21st century skills\u201d are now so commodified that we can almost think of them simply as tickets to the\u00a0job market<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Critical thinking has come to mean \u201cproblem-solving for infinite growth\u201d rather than an ability to truly reflect critically on our society\u2019s values and practices.<\/p>\n

Shifting the focus to think about the long term shows us just how inadequate the idea of 21st century education is at tackling the challenges we face, including environmental degradation.<\/p>\n

My research<\/a>\u00a0has focused on what an education fit for the Anthropocene might look like. Right now, this education often takes place outside school walls, such as among grassroots environmental movements. In my work, I argue that schools would do well to take a cue from these \u201calternative\u201d spaces of learning if they are to remain relevant.<\/p>\n