Cutting Edge – This year’s Edge Foundation’s Annual Lecture focused on the need to integrate the environment into the education system. The speakers were Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project, George Lamb founder of GROW, a new environmental education programme that offers London-based pupils the chance to farm and learn mindfulness training, and Shaun McInerney, the Senior Project Coordinator of Ashoka Changemaker Education. It was chaired by Emma Hardy, the MP for Hull West and Hessle, the Shadow FE & Universities Minister.
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Our Shared World – If you missed OSW’s recent discussion [Did you COP that?], you can see videos here. And if you want to take part in the next session on January 18th, which is a Deep Dive into the DfE Sustainability and Climate Change Draft Strategy, click here.
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BBC Teach 1 – The Green Planet Live Lesson 1 – The Regenerators – begins on January 12th . The Green Planet is a new five-part series from the BBC Natural History Unit. It follows Sir David Attenborough as he travels from the rainforests of the tropics to the wildernesses of the Arctic to explore the ways in which plants have learnt to survive and thrive in almost every environment. Sir David said: “This is a wonderful opportunity to explore a neglected yet truly remarkable part of the natural world.”
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Speaker Opportunities – Greenpeace is looking for new Greenpeace Youth Speakers (aged 18-25). This is an opportunity to develop new skills, get involved with Greenpeace campaigns and deliver talks to inspire people across the country to take action to protect the planet. If you’re interested see the Greenpeace Youth Speaker role description. You can apply using this application form. The deadline is Monday 31st January.
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Questions and Answers – Curious Kids is a series by The Conversation that gives children the chance to have their questions about the world answered by experts. Questions should be sent to curiouskids@theconversation.com Here’s one example where Jacco van Loon (from Keele University) responds to Paul (from Aberdeen) about the Earth’s spin.
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Embodied Energy – Our World in Data estimates the energy footprint of countries when imports are taken into account. It does this by taking a country’s domestic energy use, subtracting the energy used to produce things that it exports, and adding energy used to produce things it imports. It can make quite a difference.
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There is a Tide – The first Explaining Science Blog of 2022 focuses in depth on the effect of the Moon’s relatively weak gravitational field on the Earth. The most noticeable effect of the moon’s gravity is on the planet’s complex tidal systems.
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Every Little Helps – From this month, two 37-tonne electric heavy freight articulated trucks will transport products for Tesco between Cardiff and Magor. Heavy goods vehicles currently make up around 16% of the UK’s domestic transport emissions. These first two lorries will avoid around 65,000 diesel-fuelled road miles, removing 87.4 tonnes of CO2e per year. More details c/o Climate Action.
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Saving England’s Junipers – Here is an update on Plantlife’s Juniper project which is a restoration project to save juniper from extinction in southern England at its remaining few strongholds on the chalk downs of Wiltshire and Oxfordshire. This shrub has failed to regenerate for the past sixty years, and as bushes reach the end of their lives, whole colonies are dying out being lost from nearly 50% of the plant’s historic range. Should this trend continue, over 100 specialist invertebrates and fungi will disappear as well. This is one of the 12 features in Plantlife’s review of 2021.
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Conservation is a Discipline with a Deadline – EO Wilson died on December 26th aged 92. He discovered the chemical means by which ants communicate, worked out the importance of habitat size and position within the landscape in sustaining animal populations, and was the first to understand the evolutionary basis of both animal and human societies. Here’s an appreciation by Doug Tallamy, Professor of Entomology at the University of Delaware, in The Conversation.
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Black-tailed Godwits – If you’d like to be a learning / engagement officer to work on the WWT’s black-tailed godwit project, delivering workshops and activities to local schools and community groups, the closing date is January 12th.
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BBC Teach 2 – There will be a BBC Teach live discussion on 25th January and a new The Regenerators-themed assembly. If you’re interested in spreading the word about this there is a downloadable social media kit.
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RSPB: Big Garden Bird Watch 2022 – Join the UK’s nation-wide birdwatch from the 28th – 30th January 2022, and be a part of RSPB’s research on bird populations in the country. There are resource packs online, and other suggestions for ways you can make the most of the experience. More detail here.