Youth Pressure – With the general election fast approaching, SOS UK is ramping up its activities in order to create a wave of youth pressure that it hopes can’t be ignored. Its purpose is to ensure the next government delivers on mandatory, integrated, solutions-centred climate education. There will be youth political workshops, in-person regional events, and a grading of political candidates on climate education report cards.
.
Reducing Big Plastic – Nationwide, 100,000 participants, including nearly 13,000 school classes, are participating in the Big Plastic Count, organised by Greenpeace.
.
Greenfingers – Garden Re-leaf Day took place on March 15th this year. This is an initiative by the Greenfingers Charity to raise funds so that life-limited children and their families who spend time in hospices can benefit from an enriching outdoor space.
.
Study Opportunity – PhD studentships are available from October 2024 at King’s College London, School of Education, Communication & Society. There will be 2 (or 3) PhD studentships in CRESTEM which has a long-term interest in environmental education. Here are the specifics of the studentship call.
.
Bye Bye HMI – According to a recent Ofsted report in response to the Education Select Committee’s report on the impact of school inspections, between November 2021 and November 2023, 42% of school HMIs left Ofsted to join MATs. Details of Ofsted inspections of MATS can be found here.
.
Ugandan EE – CEE-Change Fellow Ritchie Tusabe is looking to bridge the gap between schools, communities, and leadership in promoting environmental education in Ugandan classrooms. He says join him on a journey through his community action project for NAAEE’s CEE-Change Fellowship. There are more details here.
.
HE and Climate – The Education and Training for the Climate (ETC) interdisciplinary research hub at the University of Oxford is hosting a webinar at 2pm on March 28th . Guest speakers will be Professor Liz Price of Manchester Metropolitan University and Professor Nicole Ardoin of Stanford University. They will be discussing higher education institutional responses to climate change. You can find out more about the speakers and register here.
.
Signing the Pledge – Teach the Future is encouraging us to pledge to keep up-to-date and join its upcoming activities as it calls on all political parties to show their commitment to improved, broad climate education across the curriculum. Details here.
.
Green Careers – The next National Education Nature Park webinar is on developing skills for green careers. It’s on Wednesday 27 March 27th at 1615. You can register here, and also catch up on past webinars.
.
Future Pathways – Click here to find details of the Oxford Brookes ESD Future Pathways initiative.
.
Pittsburg PA – NAAEE is looking for compelling proposals for its 53rd Annual Conference (November 6–9) and 21st Research Symposium (November 5–6), that’s taking place in Pittsburgh. The proposals deadline is April 26th . Learn more and submit proposals and / or volunteer to review proposals.
.
Seasons Change – The seasons aren’t what they used to be. Click here to see the latest Imagine newsletter from The Conversion. Its main focus is on how climate changes are affecting natural cycles. You can click here for a free subscription to Imagine.
.
Wild Flower Agency – My Square Metre advocates planting wild flowers to offset carbon emissions. It has developed its environmental and ecological strategy with experts at the University of Lincoln including surveys, develop planting policy and strategically targeting land that will have the most positive impact. Details here.
.
Beagle II – A ship is retracing Darwin’s 19th century expedition on HMS Beagle. It is carrying out research projects and training young conservationists. The Darwin200 project (there are 200 young researchers) left Plymouth in August, and is now moving up the coast of Chile.
.
Renewal Energy Auction – Renewable electricity generation has increased from 7% in 2010 to over 40% now. Climate Action has details of the government’s recent offer to electricity generators to continue to build capacity in wind power. The budget for the sixth Contracts for Difference allocation round is over £1bn. This gives renewable energy projects a guaranteed price for the electricity they generate. Government will be hoping that this round will be more successful than the last one where the price was deemed too low and no companies bid.
.
Caring for Soils – Here’s the latest newsletter from the Soil Care Network.
.
White Spotted Sable – Butterfly Conservation is celebrating the discovery of a new breeding group of rare White-spotted Sable moth near Canterbury. The discovery was made by Butterfly Conservation staff and volunteers during a survey of Clowes Wood in the summer. The team were searching for the moth’s caterpillars in the woodland after extensive woodland management had enabled an important native plant to thrive. The work on the wood had resulted in the growth of Goldenrod, the sole foodplant of the White-spotted Sable moth caterpillars, which needs plenty of natural light to grow.