The Thinker
St. Petersburg, Russia, ca. 1995
Getting back to the global classroom, what sort of curriculum will it need?
Climate change is coming. It has already begun at the polar latitudes, and is presently creeping toward you with the stealth of a panther. When that panther leaps, claws extended, toward your throat, you will finally realize that all along, it was real.
The Oil Boys will suck every last dollar out of their oil. The war profiteers will uphold the traditions of at least five thousand years. TV screens and computer screens will continue to provide their alternative reality, so that Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear can exercise their thumbs.
Our international schools will train engineers to weave a web of clean energy around the world. But they must also offer courses in Clean Energy Economics: How can the building of this new grid provide jobs, and ongoing education, to a growing number of people from a broad range of cultures?
They must offer courses in Clean Energy Law: As a century of reliance on oil engendered wars and corporate wealth and dictators in power for decades, how might a century of reliance on clean energy engender light bulbs for all as well as justice for all? Let the wind turbine be our college of democracy.
At some point, the rebellious teenager matures enough to respect the mother who gave him birth. Finally, he sees that she was right when she tried again and again to scold him. Today, we are a bunch of sixteen-year-old brats, gorging on the last of Mother Nature's bounty. Our schools will need to offer courses on Ecology, and on Ethics, so that we can build an unprecedented harmony with the world that sustains us.
Please, may I sign up as a student?
John Slade
Woodgate International
No comments:
Post a Comment