‘Rare Earths’ – Visions for the future between sustainability and global justice

Rare earth elements are key resources for digital technologies, renewable energy and electric mobility. At the same time, their mining and global distribution are associated with significant environmental impacts, geopolitical dependencies and issues of international justice. The topic thus exemplifies the convergence of technical, economic and normative dimensions. 

The scenario workshop uses a participatory future-planning format to make these complex interrelationships accessible for reflection. By working with alternative visions of the future, pupils develop their own scenarios in which different courses of action, conflicting goals and value orientations become visible and open to discussion. The method creates an exploratory space for thinking in which uncertainties, ambivalences and normative tensions are not simplified but addressed productively. 

In this way, the workshop combines subject-specific engagement with the promotion of ethical judgement, perspective-taking and discursive competence. Scenario work thus proves particularly suitable for exploring socio-politically sensitive issues relating to raw materials within the framework of reflective, democratic educational work. The workshop views rare earths not merely as geological resources, but as a starting point for reflecting on time. On promises for the future. And on how societies decide which paths to take. 

Objective: Drawing on multi-perspective expertise from specialists in the fields of economics, politics, geology, the environment and the arts, the pupils will develop well-founded future scenarios on the topic of rare earths.