No Plan in Place – A new National Audit Office report on the DfE gives an overview of the approach taken by the Department to environmental sustainability. It covers: the DfE’s approach to delivering and overseeing its sustainability strategy, the progress in the first year of its strategy and in meeting environmental obligations, and its capacity to influence sustainable practices in new and existing schools, as well as its understanding of climate risk and energy efficiency of the school sector more generally. A key conclusion is that “as it stands there is no plan in place for achieving the scale of decarbonisation across the education sector that is needed for DfE to make a proportionate contribution to government’s targets”.
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Sustainability DfE – Meanwhile, the DfE’s latest Department for Education (DfE) Climate in Education Snapshot is available here. It contains features on the National Education Nature Park and Climate Action awards, a webinar for information and funding options, a Festival of Education, next steps for the Youth Engagement Youth Focal Point, and North Yorkshire council’s schools carbon reduction.
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Children’s Drawings – Kate Howlett, from the University of Cambridge writes in The Conversation that children’s drawings tend not to reflect the make-up of the natural world, in that they have a skewed view of it that favours vertebrates. She says that it doesn’t have to be that way, providing practical guidance to schools and parents.
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Flag Day – With only 7 years to go until 2030, we are all invited to join the SDG Flag campaign on Monday, 25th September and so be part of a global movement working #TogetherForTheSDGs. Last year, the Campaign came to the UK for the first time, and over 200 flags were flown to raise awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals. To take part or join the campaign, go to the website here to order a 100% recycled flag and your own communications toolkit to raise awareness in your community.
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The Round View – Dr Joanne Tippett, from the University of Manchester, has been awarded a British Academy Innovation Fellowship with the UK National Commission for UNESCO to help break through confusion and inertia in the face of the overwhelming challenges we face with a novel approach to sustainability learning. The RoundView is a science-based framework for sustainability learning, visioning, and decision-making. The £120,000 funding will focus on working with communities and partners across the UK’s UNESCO-designated sites (including Biospheres, Global Geoparks, World Heritage Sites, and Creative Cities) to engage communities in planning and visioning new ways to move towards sustainability in their local landscapes, neighbourhoods, and organisations. This project will specifically work with communities in Southern Ayrshire and Galloway and Greater Manchester.
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Wildlife Days – Kate on Conservation is a wildlife blog that “gives a voice to the voiceless by highlighting important issues, individuals and organisations in the fight to protect our planet’s wildlife – something that is becoming ever more important in these current climes, as we are faced with both a biodiversity and a climate crisis”. Amongst other things, Kate publishes a Wildlife Days calendar.
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TEESNet – Following establishment of a collaboration between ANGEL and TEESNet to develop a network of researchers on Global Citizenship Education, a colloquium on Global Citizenship and Sustainability Education for ‘Hopeful’ Futures was hosted at the University of Nottingham in June. Presentations and provocations were shared by Professor Dalene Swanson and colleagues based within the School of Education at University of Nottingham, and Professors Doug Bourn (University College London), Karen Pashby (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Momodou Sallah (Leicester De Montfort University).
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People and Nature – The Children’s People and Nature Survey ran in August 2022 and September / October 2022, to understand how children and young people aged 8-to-15 are engaging with the natural environment inside and outside of school in England. An update to the report is here.
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Communicate 2023 – Together for Nature, will take place 14th, 15th & 16th November, offering an online and hybrid programme over 3 days alongside in-person workshop events in Bristol, Manchester and London. Registrations are open. Find ticket options and programme information here.
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Coffee Circles – The Ellen MacArthur Foundation explores coffee and the circular economy here: “Whether you like your coffee strong, smooth, sweet or foamy, the way that the coffee is grown and produced matters as much as how it is brewed. Circular economy strategies can ensure coffee is not only enjoyable but good for nature too.” And presumably good for the people who grow it.
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Support your local River – Rivers in virtually every country face an array of threats. World Rivers Day is on September 24th. This is a celebration of the world’s waterways. It highlights the many values of our rivers, strives to increase public awareness, and encourages the improved stewardship of all rivers around the world.
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Wild Justice – Citizen Zoo reports that Wild Justice has launched a legal challenge against Natural England, claiming that it failed to monitor compliance with GL43, a law which was brought in to provide better protections around nature conservation sites in England from the release of game birds. Each year, an estimated 57m non-native birds, imported from Belgium, France, Spain and Poland, are released into the British countryside for game hunting, with, it is claimed, minimal regulatory oversight. These birds represent almost half of British bird biomass and have wide ranging negative impacts on the environment for native wildlife. Natural England has responded to Wild Justice by saving that it is the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ responsibility to monitor enforcement, whilst Defra have responded by saying they do not monitor compliance of GL43.
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Double Biosphere – The latest Inkcap Journal says that UNESCO has announced that the Galloway and South Ayrshire biosphere is to almost double in size. The area first received the designation in 2012, in recognition of its “world-class environment for people and nature”. This week, a delegation announced that its status would be extended for another ten years, with the boundaries expanded to include more land across southwest Scotland, including Alloway, the birthplace of Robert Burns. There are no new rules associated with the designation, which rather seeks to encourage co-operation to create a “better future for people and nature”. The BBC covered the story.
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Lobsters and Wind – Harry Thatcher, Aberystwyth University, and David Wilcockson, Aberystwyth University write in The Conversation about their new research which shows European lobsters are using the deposits of rocks and boulders at the base of wind turbines as shelter. You can read more here: Offshore windfarms could offer new habitats for lobsters .