Volunteers Needed by the DfE – The government has allocated £3.9 million to help schools implement the government’s climate change strategy for education – including recruiting and managing a team of expert volunteers to provide advice. An early tender for the ‘sector engagement and support’ contract shows the successful bidder will “identify appropriate experts” to help schools develop their own climate action plans. The government has said that by 2025 every education setting would need to nominate a “sustainability lead” to oversee the plans, in its strategy published last year. The plans are expected to cover decarbonisation and energy efficiency, “adaptation and resilience”, biodiversity and green infrastructure, as well as climate education and green skills and careers. The provider is expected to draw voluntary experts from education, academia and industry and will be contracted for two years from July. They will also be responsible for developing a “co-ordinated approach” to providing advice to sustainability leads in schools, as well as assisting in the development of individual climate action plans. More details at Schools Week.
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Just Climate – The latest edition of Elephant Times Vol 3.3 is now available here. There are articles on climate education, climate justice, greenwashing, and more.
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MP Comms – Teach the Future has launched its new Teach the Future England campaign asks 2023, which it has updated to include its Climate Education Bill and to reflect the publication of the Department for Education’s sustainability and climate change strategy. It wants politicians to back these with actions and for the Government to put them into policy. It asks us to share the ideas with MPs.
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GEEP Country Profiles – You can read three new Global Environmental Education Project country profiles: South Africa, Mozambique, and Liberia. GEEP’s profile collection now includes 67 countries providing a snapshot of environmental education at the national level in each country.
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Earth Day Actions – The Dirt Is Good Project says celebrate Earth Day with it. Click here to access educational resources for primary and secondary schools to create a buzz around sustainability and support your students in seeing that small actions can have a big impact. This year schools can download the free Earth Day assembly pack and use the framework of lesson plans to design and deliver social action projects.
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Strategic Coping – In The Conversation, psychologist Matthew Adams, from the University of Brighton, offers tips for coping with eco-anxiety.
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Tracked Changes – The national curriculum has not been substantively or systematically reviewed for at least eight years and doesn’t look like it will happen anytime soon. Using a tracked changes’ methodology, Teach the Future is showing what a new curriculum for England could look like by suggesting where and how the national curriculum can be amended to include sustainability and climate education. The report shows us exactly why and how climate education can be integrated across all subjects. Academics carrying out the subjects reviews, have so far completed seven subjects at KS3 and KS4 which some teachers have already been using as practical guidance in their teaching. Once we have secured additional funding for the academics, we will commission more subject reviews, to complete all primary subjects. There’s a webinar on May 25th to explore these issues. Details here.
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Ellen MacArthur – The Foundation’s new circular design strategy, From ambition to action: an adaptive strategy for circular design offers six entry points for organisational transformation. These six design leverage points continue the journey initiated by the Foundation’s previous circular design insights and set the direction of travel for organisations wanting to shift to circular business models, highlighting the actions needed to get there. Drawing on the experiences of Circular Design Leaders, from a wide array of sectors and companies, it highlights the crucial role design plays in transitioning to a circular economy. More detail here.
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Fforestydd Glaw Cudd – Plantlife’s Dave Lamacraft visits two of Wales’ hidden rainforests and finds a hidden world of wild plants.
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Moths v. Bees – New research has shown that when it comes to pollinating flowers, moths work at a faster rate than day-flying insects such as bees. Moths have fewer hours during the summer nights to pollinate flowers than those insects that are out during the day, but the study has shown that they are able to pollinate much more efficiently, meaning they are particularly vital for our environment. More detail from Butterfly Conservation.
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The National Plant Monitoring Scheme – The NPMS aims to scientifically survey plant species across different habitats in the UK. Data collected from the survey enables a tracking of the abundance and diversity of plants and help us to understand the health of different habitats. The scheme says that with warmer temperatures and longer days on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to reconnect with the wild plants around us, whilst also contributing to important citizen science data. Why not get your school involved?
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Ozone Layer Update – The recent mailing from Our World in Data has a feature on how the ozone layer plays a vital role in making the planet habitable for us and other species. Its continuing recovery is a continuing good news story. It includes all of Our World in Data’s visualizations, and writing on the ozone layer, its depletion, and its path to recovery.
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Energy Transition – A new post has been published by Ronald Rovers on resource quantity and the energy transition.
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Agricultural R&D – Climate Action reports that three cutting-edge projects will receive a share of £9.13 million in government funding to carry out research and development on proposals to boost agricultural productivity, sustainability and climate resilience. The funding will support projects developing robotic crop harvesting for horticulture, an autonomous system to change cows’ bedding to improve their health, welfare and productivity, and a more environmentally-friendly approach to potato cultivation.