Ministry of Eco Education – Coming up in May are two regional climate teacher gathering events. One is in Bristol on 30th May; the other in London on 31st May. These will bring teachers together to co-create climate education resources. More detail here.
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World-wide – GEEP showcases environmental education efforts in countries around the world. It has a collection of country profiles from around the world, providing a snapshot of environmental education at the national level in each country.
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Highgate CPD – The London Schools Eco Network is organising a day of sustainability CPD. Join sustainability leads from schools across London on June 15th in Highgate. The theme this year is engaging everyone in the school community and will look at how to involve students, parents, staff, operations departments, governors, alumni and local partners in sustainability projects. The format of the event will be discussion and workshop based, with a few brief talks, so there will be lots of opportunities to meet and chat to other sustainability leads. It costs £20. Details here.
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Climate-Ready? – Click here for the latest UNESCO ESD Newsletter. There’s a feature on art, expression and culture as champions of ESD. In June, UNESCO is asking what a climate-proof and climate-ready school look like?
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It’s MAGIC – Do you know where your nearest SSSI is, why it’s an SSSI or what state it’s in? Defra has a website with links to Natural England data that enables you to find it. Look for www.magic.defra.gov.uk It’s not exactly intuitive but with a bit of educated guesswork, you’ll get there. The wild justice website provides guidance on MAGIC’s use. Every school should know where its nearest SSSI is. Mark Avery, in his naturally opinionated blog for British Wildlife says: “If SSSIs are jewels then they are well hidden and are ceasing to sparkle. Their lustre is fading and they are increasingly flawed, chipped and destroyed. We should give them a good polish.”
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Connecting the World – The British Council Schools team says join them as they celebrate international education and continue its mission to support and connect educators around the world. From upcoming events to teaching resources, they have resources to help build an international perspective into the curriculum.
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Big Green Week – The Climate Coalition team has a new campaign film to inspire friends, family and community to get involved this June in the big green week activities.
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Explaining Sustainability – Zeelo has published an education white paper – Get Schooled! [Pioneering Sustainable Practices in the Education Sector] with contributions on the provision of sustainable practices that can aid a school, college or university in meeting and exceeding sustainability goals. There is a particular focus on waste management, construction, transport, and procurement & catering.
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Sammy – The Schools’ Air quality Monitoring for Health and Education project promotes air quality monitoring in UK schools. Joining gets you a monitor that measures CO2, VOCs, PM, and temperature and relative humidity. Teachers and pupils can follow air quality changes over time. Details here.
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Red-tailed Hawks – The CornellLab of Ornithology is a membership institution dedicated to interpreting and conserving the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. Youtube is showing its videos of red-tailed hawk hatchlings.
Prescience – Marc Hudson, from the University of Sussex writes in The Conversation about Canadian physicist Gilbert Plass who, in 1953, made prescient comments about global warming. At a meeting of the American Geophysical Union, Plass said that:
The large increase in industrial activity during the present century is discharging so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that the average temperature is rising at the rate of 1.5 degrees per century.
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Windy Days – The UK’s wind farms generated more electricity in the first quarter of 2023 than from gas. Renewables now provide almost 42% of Britain’s electricity, with 33% coming from gas and coal (the remainder is nuclear and imports). Reuters has more on this story.
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Wildlife Laws – The Wildlife Trusts have commented on the government’s announcement about the selective scrapping of EU laws that have been incorporated into UK law. This is a partial welcome to the announcement and a note of continuing concern. They note: “This is a huge shift from the Government, but we are concerned that some laws are still to be binned, whilst the Bill will continue to allow future Ministers, not Parliament, to revoke important laws at whim, whenever they want to.”