Our changing nature

Our connection to the natural world has profoundly evolved throughout history. Education can play a key role in helping us nurture healthy and sustainable relationships with ourselves and our surroundings. This chapter explores these issues through five themes: There is no Planet B: highlights the unsustainable pace at which we are consuming natural resources. The natural world: explores efforts to protect natural ecosystems in the face of an increasingly urban population. Food for thought: discusses trends in food production and consumption. Our human body: examines progress in medicine and human enhancement technologies. No one lives in cyberspace: highlights the growth of digital communication and reality, but reminds us that a hug emoji is not the same as a hug. These trends are linked to education and its future through a series of questions and scenarios. Potential implications of COVID-19, both immediate- and longer-term, are discussed.