Our Children's Futures: are there lessons for environmental educators?

Summary This paper argues the importance not only of actively listening to young people's voices on the twenty first century but for quality responses by teachers and teacher educators. Drawing upon new research in Australian schools, this article, which is a revised version of a paper presented at the European — Australian Invitational Seminar on Research in Environmental Education at the Binna Burra Rainforest Lodge and Griffith University in 1995, addresses such critical questions as: What are our children's fears about the twenty first century? What are their dreams? As environmental educators, what can we learn from what our children have to say about the future? A strong case is put for an explicit futures dimension, both in environmental education programmes and the school curriculum generally, if we are to better meet our children's needs and the needs of successive generations to live in more ecologically sustainable ways.