Abstract
The paper will explore the potential of new technologies in helping educators to play an active role in creating and promoting the learning that is needed for local and global communities to live sustainably. In particular, it will examine the potential of the virtual world to develop local and global communities for transformative learning for sustainable development. It is organised into three sections: 1) the need for new ways of knowing, learning and understanding; 2) the challenges an opportunities of the virtual world; 3) the role of virtual learning communities in education for sustainable education; 4) regional centres of expertise as a mobilising mechanism. Faced with the major challenges of climate change, environmental degradation, poverty and social inequality, it is clear that learning to live sustainably has never been more urgent. The credit crunch has thrown these into sharp relief and provided an opportunity to take stock of our current ways of organising the world economy which have led us to this unsustainable impasse. We are faced with a critical moment in world history which offers the chance to make the changes needed to set human beings on a path to a more sustainable future. In order to address these immense challenges, new forms of learning are needed, and the paper will argue that all educators, as responsible members of local and global communities, need to play key roles as agents for change. Globalisation and new technologies have changed the way we think about the world and about what constitutes the global and the local. It is clear that both local and global solutions must be found to address the serious dilemmas of the 21st century. This paper will see to examine the opportunities and challenges of the virtual world in enabling and supporting the development of effective ESD communities of practice.