Reboot the Future - “a small foundation with big ambition, works with young people on a large scale by providing inspiring educational resources and online campaigns. It helps them name and articulate their concerns, values and visions for a more equitable and sustainable future, based on the Golden Rule” For more information on How Will You Reboot the Future? visit their website and follow them on social media: @futurereboot @globaldimension
You can also :
Watch the #LearningPlanet festival sessions in which Jonathon Porritt presents “Rise Up”
Watch the trailer : https://youtu.be/xW03ZVJZscI
- Find out more about the launch event : bit.ly/HWYRtF
- Visit the campaign page: bit.ly/rebootthefuture
Can you describe your next campaign, “How will you reset the future?”? Why is this campaign timely?
How Will You Reboot the Future? is a new campaign aimed at awakening young people's optimism, harnessing their imagination and creativity, and offering them positive, personal ways of getting involved in climate action in the run-up to the United Nations climate conference in November (COP-26).
The campaign is a collaboration between Reboot the Future, veteran campaigner and environmentalist Jonathon Porritt, a team of talented professionals from the UK creative industries, and young climate campaigners.
We wanted to use the COVID-19 conference as a springboard for young people to imagine and act for a more positive future. The anxiety and uncertainty generated by the coronavirus crisis have gripped young people around the world, but they still express hope for a more egalitarian, caring and understanding world. As we begin to emerge from the worst of the pandemic, we wanted to give students and teachers the space to take up the challenge of restarting the future in a positive and hopeful way.
The campaign is launched on our teachers' platform, Global Dimension, the wednesday april 21 , with the publication of Jonathon Porritt's new e-book(Rise Up to Reboot the Future), 5 “Rise Up” short films, a set of accompanying educational resources and a social media campaign. In July, we'll be inviting young people to express their vision of the future through a creative call to action, presented online in the run-up to COP-26 in Glasgow.
Why is it so important to awaken a sense of optimism in students aged 14-18 about their commitment to climate action?
At present, climate change education is not compulsory in UK schools, which can be daunting for teachers who want to teach the subject to their pupils but don't necessarily feel equipped. A recent survey by Teach the Future revealed that 44 % of secondary school teachers say that climate change is never or rarely discussed in their school, while 91 % of them feel concerned by the phenomenon.
Secondary schools, in particular, struggle to integrate climate change into a busy, exam-oriented curriculum. Yet it is these age groups (14-18) who are most concerned about the climate crisis and the impact it will have on their future. Likewise, they are often at a stage in their lives where they are becoming aware of their own power and ability to create change. in 2019, many young people in this age group felt energized and empowered to demand action to tackle climate change, but the COVID-19 pandemic brought most of this action to a halt. We want to re-energize young people for 2019 and inspire them to take action.
We know that teachers are under enormous pressure at the start of the new school year, and that they've had some very difficult years. Our campaign is designed for non-specialists, to be used flexibly and to fit easily into any hole in the timetable - from tutor group time to citizenship lessons to assemblies - and includes five engaging and thought-provoking short films (5 minutes each).
While the first phase of the campaign, in April and May, is aimed at 14-18 year-olds, the’creative call to action will invite all children and young people to participate, from 5 to 25 years of age. We want to capture a great depth and variety of visions for the future from young people at this critical time as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and head towards COP-26, the world's most important climate change event.
How does Jonathon Porritt's book “Rise Up to Reboot the Future” complement the upcoming campaign?
We were delighted to work so closely with Jonathan Porritt CBE, one of the UK's leading environmentalists. Jonathan has written an e-book especially for this campaign, Rise Up to Reboot the Future, which served as the inspiration for everything else. Set in 2025 and told through the eyes of three young people, Rise Up to Reboot the Future tells the story of the “great transformation”, of five years that shook every orthodoxy on which the established world order rested until the COVID-19 crisis.
We worked with a fantastic creative team to adapt Jonathon's book into a series of five interconnected short films called “Rise Up”, told through the eyes of five different young people, one of whom is a young woman.’history of Lahari, the story of a young Indian woman whose experience of air pollution and asthma is recounted through a series of Tik-Toks; L’history d ‘Erin, a young British woman whose relationship with her grandfather is illustrated by the slow but inexorable erosion of the Norfolk coastline; and the ‘he story of Jamal, the video diary of a budding chef whose personal relationship with food and its wider consequences are illustrated by the hustle and bustle of central London.
How have Reboot the Future and #LearningPlanet worked together to advance common learning goals, and how do you see this collaboration evolving in the future?
The fundamental principle underlying Reboot the Future is a modern version of the Golden Rule(treat others and the planet as you would like to be treated)) which is fully aligned with #LearningPlanet's mission.
We were delighted to partner the #LearningPlanet festival in January 2021, where we relaunched our platform for teachers, Global Dimensionto mark United Nations International Education Day. In particular, we organized a event during the festival with world-renowned climatologist Johan Rockstrom, whose aim was to help educators support climate action during periods of lock-in.
We are delighted that #LearningPlanet is one of the main partners of How Will You Reboot the Future? and that it brings visibility and awareness of the campaign to its vast networks of education players and communities.
Global Dimension is the UK's leading global learning platform, supporting a community of 15,000 teachers to bring global perspectives such as climate change, migration and democracy into the classroom. Global learning plays a vital role in sustainability, social justice and building a better future, and is a key element of target 4.7 of the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education. We look forward to finding new ways to collaborate in the pursuit of education that fosters respect, well-being and fulfillment for ourselves, others and the planet.
