COP28 News – There will be a Youth, Children, Education and Skills day at COP28. The COP28 Presidency has announced its two-week thematic programme which will be “geared towards real world solutions that close the gaps to 2030 and respond to the Global Stocktake”. As a result, December 8 2023 will be the first time there is a day dedicated to youth, children, education and skills at a COP.
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30 U 30 – NAAEE says meet the EE 31 Under 30 Class of 2023. This year’s awardees range in age from 17 to 30, come from 20 countries, and are engaging with a wide range of audiences to tackle complex sustainability issues in their communities. From teaching about coral reef reproduction in Honduras to generating climate action through hackathons in the United States on to piloting riparian land restoration using bamboo in Kenya, their collective work reaches more than 400,000 people each year, many of whom are on the frontlines of climate crises. The Class of 2023 marks the eighth class of this program and this year’s awardees will join the global EE 30 Under 30 community of inspiring leaders, and will receive ongoing support through networking, peer mentoring, global recognition, and opportunities for professional development and grants. This year, there are 31 of them.
Two of this year’s winners are from the UK: Phoebe Hanson is co-coordinator of the Mock COP, and Michael Bäcklund is President of ClimateScience. Click on their names to find out more about them.
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Climate Ed Podcasts – The OECD Education Podcast brings together experts in education to give insights about education practices worldwide. Each episode focuses on a different issue that’s shaping the landscape of education today; with details about how it’s affecting learners, and how governments should respond. A recent edition has a feature on Gen Z and climate change, and a talk by Lorenzo Fioramonti and Nita Seng on how climate education can get us to net-zero. Just scroll down the OECD page for details.
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Global Learning in Paris – The ANGEL Conference 2023 was hosted by UNESCO in Paris in June. It brought together over 200 academics, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners from more than 60 countries with an interest in research on Global Education & Learning, Education for Sustainability, and Global Citizenship. Videos and pics here.
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Building Peace – The 1974 Recommendation is an international standard-setting instrument that articulates education’s role in building peace, human rights, international understanding, cooperation, fundamental freedoms, global citizenship and sustainable development. It establishes international principles and standards for governing education. To ensure its continued relevance, experts from 112 countries and 50 partner organizations met in Paris to agree on a revised text to be adopted by all UNESCO Member States at the General Conference in November. You can read the full news article here.
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WELNRS – The West of England Local Nature Recovery Strategy will set out priorities for nature’s recovery across the region through actions such as planting more trees, creating bee-friendly grasslands, and restoring healthy rivers. You can share your thoughts, ideas and concerns in the West of England Combined Authority’s new survey to help them to better understand everyone’s different priorities for local nature recovery. Fill in the survey here.
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Picture This – The British Council project is running a climate change photo competition which is open to all, with cash prizes of up to £200. The deadline is 1st November. The project is part of the British Council Season 2023 and aims to raise awareness of sustainability and climate change issues. Entries will form part of an exhibition and the creation of a bank of resources for English language teachers to use in teaching. More information is available here, and photos can be submitted at this link. Next year there might be a climate change education photo competition.
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Bio Blitz – Have you signed up to take part in EuroBioBlitz 2023? You can join the effort to record nature sightings across the whole of Europe on Friday 29th and Saturday 30th September. This year’s BioBlitz is a chance for anyone to contribute to the study of Europe’s wildlife, helping to shape conservation efforts and support scientific research. Why not get your school community involved?
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Flora Incognita – Plantlife and NPMS staff tested 10 popular plant identifying apps in the field and have identified a top 3 to take out on the next wildflower hunt. These are: Flora Incognita, Picture This, and I-Naturalist (Seek). NB, Plantlife strongly advises only using plant ID apps as training tools rather than solely for identification. For example, you could use the app to narrow identification to a genus, then use a guidebook. NB, these apps tend to drain phone charge extremely quickly.
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Hazel Dormice – New research has confirmed that increased precipitation and fluctuating winter temperatures negatively affects hazel dormouse populations. Changing weather patterns appear to make matters worse for populations that are already struggling. The study warns that without mitigating these factors, dormice could disappear from our woodlands altogether. The research was led by Dr Fraser Combe and was supported by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species which spearheads the UK’s hazel dormouse conservation work. It has been published in leading journal Animal Conservation.
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Bird Wizard – It seems that huge numbers of us are already using the Merlin Bird Wizard: all about birds. Just answer three questions about a bird you are trying to identify, and you’ll get a list of possible matches. There is also Sound ID which listens to the birds around you and makes identification suggestions.
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Beavering Away – Focusing on Wildlife has a feature on beavers being reintroduced to the Nene Wetlands nature reserve in Northamptonshire for the first time in 400 years.
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‘ – Tuesday August 15th is International Apostrophe Day, so there’s only a little time left to ensure that you’ve got all the dos and don’ts right in your text. It’s organised by the Apostrophe Protection Society which “has the specific aim of preserving the correct use of this much abused punctuation mark in all forms of text written in the English language”. This is surely vital for environmental education’s future. If you’re doubtful about the apostrophe’s usefulness, compare these poster messages outside an apartment block:
Residents’ refuse to be placed in bins – Residents refuse to be placed in bins