The fact that today we can be anywhere and connect with anyone through the internet and our phones is a testament that although the physical vastness of earth hasn’t changed, our capacity to reach farther has evolved beyond all expectations.
It seems pretty crazy that we can be sitting on our sofas simultaneously seeing the first pictures of a black hole whilst ordering organic fruit and vegetables grown a mere few miles away to be delivered to our homes. Likewise, we can buy a dress which will reach us almost instantaneously but that was made only a few weeks ago by garment workers on the opposite side of the planet.
Interconnections have reached stellar proportions. When it comes to education and learning, this is more than a breakthrough; it is a revolution allowing citizens from all over the world from wildly different circumstances to access knowledge.
This has enabled more people than ever before access to information about systemic social problems and ecological breakdown.
What we are facing right now is unprecedented, precisely because it is so visible. Awareness has been raised, inspirational voices have spoken and are being heard, and science confirms it: we have ushered in the era of the Anthropocene (the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment) and its dire consequences. Dinosaurs weren’t warned about the meteorite before it struck. We, on the other hand, know what to expect, yet it’s only recently that we have started to publicly manifest our discontent on a global scale with organised movements such as Extinction Rebellion and YouthStrike4Climate, fanned, like Fashion Revolution, by the never-ending connections allowed by social media.
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