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Permalink Reply by Rob Hasse on September 19, 2010 at 11:01am

I applaud the efforts to bring awareness of the transitions movement to our teachers, education systems and children.

As for Freire’s quote on conformity or transformation, I think our education systems need to accomplish both. The present systems have emerged through the efforts of individuals who studied the logic of previous systems and made discoveries which inevitably changed the world. Every individual must discover how they are to succeed within the present system but also realize it will need to constantly transform to improve conditions for society and sustain the life of our planet.

Look to the natural world for examples and lesson on conformity and transformation, you will see the areas with the greatest abundance of life also have the greatest diversity. While there are many similarities in the various ecosystems and bioregions around the world the fact is each one is in a constant state of transformation interacting with and adapting to the available resources in the immediate environment. Everything has seasons of growth and maturity; everything also eventually declines and is recycled. Everything interacts with, contributes to, and lives within the cycle of life.

Our challenge today is to get everyone to wake up to the fact that humanity is just a part of the miracle of our living planet. We must awaken to the reality the natural world does not exist for our benefit; man exists for the benefit of the miracle of life, to witness it, to appreciate it, to celebrate it, to love it, to nurture it, and to preserve it for countless generations to come. I am grateful we are all blessed with the capacity to continue to learn each and every day of our life and am confident humanity will make it through this transformation.

Is anyone aware of anything to present the transitions message in simple entertaining format for the short attention span of today's world? Something like the old School House Rock videos!