Today, the amount of information available to us is greater than at any other time in history. According to the Mobile Data Association, in 2007 in the UK, we sent 57 billion text messages, and that rate is increasing by 40 per cent a year. The internet is so vast that in 2008 Google indexed 1 trillion web pages - that’s 1,000,000,000,000 - compared to just 26 million in 1998.

For knowledge junkies, we live in privileged times indeed. But what we do with all this data is as important as having it in the fi rst place. With so much to know out there, how can we be sure we are seeing through the fog to fi nd the right stuff? If one website says there is a 90 per cent certainty climate change is man-made and another says 50, if one says to buy local and one says fair trade, how do we make the right choices?

We all need the ability to go beyond facts and fi gures. Education supports the decisions we make and helps us to see there are links between what we do and what happens in the world - that we are inextricably linked to everything.

Ultimately, there is no right or wrong answer to anything, but to be equipped with our own opinions and values means making those choices so much easier. If you don’t know what you think, if you haven’t explored your own view, then where can you even begin?

Our world and society is changing so quickly that in 50 years time our children will most likely be doing jobs that haven’t even been invented yet. It’s an exhilarating and exciting time in human history, but one where it has never been more important to be informed and to think critically.

It is also a worrying time in our history, and often fear can lead to inaction. A study from the University of Cambridge showed that school children who were anxious about climate change had their worries lessened when schools talked to them about their fears.

Over the next few decades, the problems we face are likely to grow increasingly complex, but we have the imagination and determination to solve them, no matter what. Through a well developed network offering education and information we can not only fi nd the answers, but fi gure out the questions before they even arise.