Magic Round Table Dialogues

Since the year 2000, interdisciplinary Round Table Dialogues have played a central role in PNW events. Many inspiring people have met with youth from all over the world to discuss promising steps towards a common positive future. Among them were Jakob von Uexkuell (founder of the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize), Heiner Benking (independent futurist and curator of the Global Change Exposition), Farah Lenser (developer of avantgarde dialogue formats), Christian Ströbele (MOP Germany, civil liberty advocate), Merete Mattern (sustainable urbanism visionary), Jean Yves Nossin (EU culture manager), Bri Lörcher (Living Values educational project), Sudeesh Didi (BKWSU), and many more.

In 2003, PNW organized interdisciplinary Round Tables at the German Ecumenic Church Day (Education, Traditions and Ethics), German Week of Sustainability (Alternative Futures), European Forum for Education (New Worldviews and Sustainability Education), Netdays Europe (Co-Laboratories, LearnScapes, Netizenship, Online Democracy), Unifying Aspects of Cultures Congress in Vienna (Cultures and International Cooperation).

We are applying the Magic Round Table format (by Farah Lenser). To learn more about it, follow the link to "Re-inventing democracy".

http://open-forum.de

Creating a global collective public space representing the broad scope of pacemaking sustainability networks and empowering youth for self-guided learning and participation in democratic changemaking.

There is a great wealth of sustainability good practice and sound strategies for responsible governance available around the world. Many are well documented on the internet, but how find it? For the vast majority of society, including youth, teachers and learners, they are impossible to find, understand or apply. And how bear with the databases, how remember, how form an orientation and contextual overview of the various interdependent issues involved in sustainability?

There exist some good teaching resources for sustainability education, but most are artificial, theme specific, theoretic, closed, "for school-use only" and offer no links and bridges to empowerment after classroom activities. To join in change-making, youth need an overview and orientation in globalisation and sustainability, a promising aim, an overview of pacemaking organisations, allies and actors, oppportunities for joining the tidal wave of change-making, know-how for initiating projecteering and for participation in effective democratic expression, - short: an overview of the Sustainability Movement.

The World Future School project is an approach for establishing this missing link. Instead of using confusing hierarchic database tables for arranging complex content and context, the WFS transfers our common orientation experience from the real world (remember your last hike in a LandScape), and uses illustrated LearnScapes. An example: imagine a camp full of real youth and sustainability organisations, with round table dialogues, an exposition ground for sustainability solutions and applications, a worldwide information cinema of online magazines, a net-(cit)izenship hub for online petitions, stages for youth leaders and recognized advocates for sustainability, seminars on ways of learning and healing in different cultures, a building site for new worldviews and future scenarios, - and everywhere, you can participatory, add your ideas and knowhow. Now transfer this to virtual space, like a virtual reality game, - this is the WFS. It is a fantasy virtual world, but all its actors, visitors and features do exist and operate in different locations involving real people all over the planet.

Now further imagine that this is arranged in education apllicable format, accompanied with a universe of best practice sustainability curricula, specific lesson plans, school and youth projects. And whenever students realize a project in their school, they can present it on the respective stage in the WFS. The effect of their work is multiplied, as it automatically serves as learning resource for their global peers. This way, the students become each others' teachers. Wouldn't this make a great leanring resource for school application?!

The WFS is now in its final groundbreaking stage. Organisations and individuals are invited top connect for sharing their knowhow with the young generation, for representation and integration in the WFS LearnScapes. Different forums will nurture networking for volunteerships, development cooperation, Fair Trade and Fair Travel. Especially for youth, there are many opportunities for participation: in working as online volunteers, editors and for effectively changing their schools by applying WFS features and projects.

http://worldfutureschool.org