Voices of nature:exploring eco-democratic education in, with and for nature

In this presentation, we share the early stages of Voices of Nature, a new research and development project with Danish upper secondary schools, rooted in the Anthropocene condition—where all life is shaped by (specific) human activities, yet remain also animated by creative, more-than-human forces. We aim to explore how environmental and sustainability education (ESE) might take shape as education in, with, and for nature—without falling back on essentialist understandings or reproducing a sharp nature–culture divide.<br/>Drawing on post-humanist, post-colonial, Indigenous and relational perspectives, the project experiments with aesthetic, sensory and participatory learning forms that invite students to engage with their local environments as co-researchers—alongside teachers, researchers, and more-than-human actors (Brückner &amp; Paulsen, 2025; Rousell &amp; Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, 2022). Inspired by eco-democracy theory (Blenkinsop &amp; Wilhelmsson, 2025), we want to explore a continuum between deliberative and eco-centric approaches to eco-democratic education, with a special interest in how relational and place-responsive methods might support expanded forms of ecological citizenship.<br/>We are still in the initial phase of the project and will use the symposium to present our ideas, questions, and emerging methods—not as fixed results, but as invitations for dialogue. We hope to open up creative conversations: What does eco-democracy mean in practice? How might we co-create imaginative and situated sustainability pedagogies that involve both human and more-than-human communities? What kinds of micro-methods or aesthetic interventions might support this? We welcome reflections, critiques and provocations that can help shape the project as it unfolds.<br/>Blenkinsop, S., &amp; Wilhelmsson, L. (2025). In Search of Eco-Democracy: Education for Mutually Beneficial Flourishing. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 1–13. doi:10.1017/aee.2025.13. <br/>Brückner, M. and Paulsen, M. (2025). Practicing care for life - Wandering through speculative research practices based on pedagogical events with(in) the Anthropocene. In Windsor et. al. (ed.) (2025): Paradise Lost? Knowledge, Love and Care: Narratives for and in sustainability education. Routledge. Forthcoming.<br/>Rousell, D., &amp; Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, A. (2022). Posthuman research playspaces: Climate child imaginaries. Taylor &amp; Francis. <br/>