Performing biospheric futures with younger generations: A case in the MAB Reserve of La Sepultura, Mexico

Abstract

Providing opportunities for younger generations to voice out their views in the building of our common futures within the limits, opportunities, and dynamics of the biosphere is a central component in sustainability learning. To this aim, a novel methodological approach using participatory theater was implemented to explore future scenarios with young people in the Man and Biosphere Reserve of La Sepultura, Mexico. Three workshops were carried out as part of a broader environmental education process, aimed at enhancing critical awareness and ownership of participants’ own futures. Through the reflective enactment of scenarios linked to personal actions and resources, alternative ways to think through the interconnections and the affective bonds between participants and their natural heritage were collectively represented and explored. Our process helped not only to identify different plausible futures and potential barriers to them, but also to realize positive roles that young people could play to overcome such barriers and engage with their desired futures.