How and why trees talk to each other

This is a feature article in Yale Environment 360. Ecologist Suzanne Simard has shown how trees use a network of soil fungi to communicate their needs and aid neighboring plants.  Now she’s warning that threats like clear-cutting and climate change could disrupt these critical networks. The article begins … Two decades ago, while researching her…

Up-cycling or?

We are grateful to Max McMurdo for these up-cycling tips: Jam jars – these make great display storage Old lampshades – remove fabric to reveal a beautiful wire structure Coat hangers – these can be used to make amazing lampshades as seen on the latest Channel 4 series of ‘Fill your house for free’ Chipped…

Storms in Mexico kill millions of Monarch butterflies

The Environmental News Network reports that storms have killed millions of Monarch butterflies.  The article begins … While international efforts are under way to help keep dwindling populations of monarch butterflies from disappearing, scientists are raising concerns about how severe weather and a loss of forest habitat at their wintering grounds in Mexico are affecting them.  Every year,…

The Forager Handbook

Miles Irving’s, ‘The Forager Handbook’, begins with a passionate introduction about a revolution in the food industry and a burgeoning communal return to our ancestral roots.  His enthusiasm and knowledge are clear from the start, and the book, without doubt, does offer a wealth of information.  However, I fear the title misleads us in its…

The Sustainable Schools Framework – and those doorways

This article was first published in NAEE‘s Summer 2015 journal Environmental Education (Vol 109), as our ‘President’s Column’.  The views are Bill Scott’s own, not NAEE’s. The Sustainable Schools Framework – and those doorways Much of the work of the Sustainable Schools Alliance [ SSA ] is focused around the Sustainable Schools Framework which was something the Blair government set up. It had 8…

Development Education Research Centre seminars

The Development Education Research Centre (DERC) at UCL in London has announced two autumn seminars: Dr Maureen Ellis will talk on The Critical Global Educator on Tuesday 4thOctober 2016 – 1700 to 1830. Dr Ellis is Senior Research Associate at Development Education Research Centre, University College London – Institute of Education; Associate Lecturer at the Open University; and author of The…