48. What transmissions for a world in transition ?

The Earth University is held exactly 50 years after the first United Nations Conference on the Environment (Stockholm 1972) and 50 years after the adoption of the Convention on World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

What kind of world do we want to pass on to future generations? This question is of particular urgency and acuity in view of the conjunction of crises and transitions to be made. Ecological and climatic upheavals threaten the preservation of buildings and territories listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites, accelerate the collapse of ecosystems that are in danger of disappearing, and force us to rethink our cities and our usual, even ancestral, ways of life. The new digital era virtualizes our modes of learning, communication and transmission.

The mission of transmission is disrupted by the heterogeneity of access to knowledge and by the questioning of the mission and vocation of teachers. Education and learning are at the heart of one of the greatest transitions that our society has to make. The transmission of know-how is also threatened. Companies and craftsmen are heirs to a long tradition of innovation, creation and gestures that must be protected and adapted, but also passed on to young people and to those who want to return to the trades of the hand and the craft. Traditional trades and companies are threatened because the necessary skills are not available.

The transmission must mobilize us all. What do we want to keep and preserve? What are we ready to lose and leave to the past?

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