Children’s Imaginaries of Ecological Civilizations: Mapping Theories and Ethics for a Transformative Ecological Education

<p dir="ltr">This paper argues for a transformative ecological educational paradigm that could be aligned with supporting an emerging philosophy to support ecological civilizations. It does this by exploring how reimagining of education through ecological and ethical lenses can support learning with and as the environment, where children are co-constituted learners and teachers supporting a liveable future. It maps a reimagining of education through recent turns in theoretical thinking in deep ecology, ecofeminism, posthumanism, new materialism, and Indigenous approaches and by assembling a community of theorists including Rosi Braidotti, Donna Haraway, Val Plumwood, Arne Naess, Rachel Carson, Jane Bennett, Margaret Cavendish, Spinoza, Vicki Kirby, Pauliina Rautio, Riikka Hohti, Robyn Wall Kimmerer, Nathan Snaza, and Michael Paulsen to dialogue with. Then through the stories gathered by posthuman educator Karen Malone of child-nature relations ranging from child-animal and child-virus interactions to Indigenous future imaginaries and multispecies connections, these theories will be put to work. Through this philosophical analysis and cartography, this essay maintains that an ecological approach to education drawing on these theoretical frames can cultivate new relational ontologies, pedagogies, and understandings, enhancing ethics, matters of care and respect, resilience, hope, and enchantment for a future world.</p>