ABSTRACT
Involuntary population movements and inter-ethnic conflicts, the failures of international aid and support for vulnerable peoples and nations, and above all the difficulties of environmental degradation and resource depletion all demand responses that transcend boundaries. [They] all – if in different ways – represent important learning challenges. Environmental problems and solutions are a good example, since this is an area in which governments have no answers that are independent of the attitudes and behaviours of individual citizens; nor can we take solutions, ready made, from expert knowledge, as the experts tend to disagree on both the causes and the answers. The knowledge economy, and reflexive individualism, are at the heart of both the problems and the solutions. If lifelong learning has no part to play in this of all areas, we might as well forget it. (Field, 2000)
