Win us Climate Education – Teach the Future invites us to look at its updated general election webpages. It says, “Help us win climate education this general election.” If you are aged 14 to 26 you can watch its General Election campaign launch on Zoom on Monday May 27th at 1800.
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Climate Action Countdown – If you would also like fun ideas for sustainability activities in your school, check out Let’s Go Zero’s Climate Action Countdown. Teach the Future’s environmental bingo will feature on the 1st of July.
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Carbon Footprint – The UNESCO Office for Climate Education offers a carbon footprint calculator, tailored for students but beneficial for any age. This interactive tool, complete with methodology and engaging animation, demonstrates the impact of individual actions on greenhouse gas emissions.
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Planet Stewards – You can keep up to date with the USA’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA] Planet Stewards resources:
You can sign up to receive NOAA Planet Stewards The Watch e-newsletter and there are archive collections here: past webinars, book club selections, and the newsletter.
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STEM Awards –The 2024 E-STEM (international) Awards, presented by Pratt & Whitney and NAAEE, support promising programmes across the globe as they build environmental literacy, STEM skills, and pathways to environmental careers. They are especially looking to support applicant organizations that engage students in taking action on climate change solutions, sustainable energy, and/or sustainable transportation; work with underrepresented audiences in STEM; and use partnerships to boost their impact. You can learn more here.
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Eurydice Report – A report from the European Education and Culture Executive Agency examines how European countries integrate learning for sustainability in teaching and school life in 39 education systems. It says that education has an important role to play in advancing the green transition and building a sustainable future for Europe’s societies. Details here: Learning for Sustainability in Europe: Building competences and supporting teachers and schools 2024.
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Youth Challenge – GEEP says submit your ideas for the 2024 Youth Innovation Challenge by June 12th. In partnership with the Taiwan Ocean Conservation Administration, GEEP invites you to apply for the 2024 Youth Innovation Challenge: Advancing Marine Conservation. Young people ages 15–30 from around the world are invited to share their ideas to protect our ocean. Winning solutions that are innovative, feasible, and informed by research will receive global recognition, a $1000 USD prize, and the winners will be invited to attend an award ceremony at OCA’s marine debris conference in Taiwan in September 2024. You can learn more here.
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Biodiversity in Parliament – MPs held a debate on biodiversity loss on Wednesday May 15th in Westminster Hall. The debate was led by Caroline Lucas MP. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Rebecca Pow MP, responded on behalf of the Government. Click here to watch the debate and here to read a transcript . Westminster Hall is the second chamber of the House of Commons with debates there giving MPs an opportunity to raise issues and receive a response from a government minister. Such debates do not end in a vote.
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Humans and Nature – Tom Oliver, Professor of Applied Ecology at the University of Reading, says that the meaning of nature has shifted since the word was first used in the 15th century and asks whether changing the dictionary definition to include humans is a good idea. Details here c/o The Conversation.
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Great Stag Hunt – The People’s Trust for Endangered Species – PTES – is calling for volunteers in all corners of Britain to record sightings of stag beetles online, as part of their annual Great Stag Hunt survey. Stag beetles emerge from late May into July, so now’s the time they’re likely to be spotted in urban and suburban gardens, basking on sunlit walls and warm tarmac surfaces, in parks, woodland edges and the wider countryside. Details here. Get your school involved.
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Ne’er Cast a Clout – If you look carefully at a hawthorn you might come across the hawthorn leaf beetle [Lochmaea crataegi] which is dependent on the tree along with some 148 species of invertebrates, including 25 moth species. This illustrates the importance of hawthorn to biodiversity.
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Horticultural Appropriation – Landscape designer Jackie Herald, writing in the recent BBC Gardeners’ World magazine, said “Embedded within cross-cultural borrowing is horticultural appropriation, something that’s all too easy for our nation of gardeners to carry on regardless.” This, she said, represent an era of colonialism and power-grabbing global trade. Herald said always she tries to choose plants that connect to her client’s cultural heritage.
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Uncertainty and Risk – Click here to view Professor Judith Curry talk about her new book: Climate Uncertainty and Risk at the 2024 Annual GWPF Lecture. A pdf of the talk is available here. Curry is Professor Emerita at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she served as Chair of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences for 13 years. Her expertise is in climate dynamics, extreme weather, prediction/predictability, and risk science.
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22.29 Terawatt Hours – Google’s energy consumption continues to increase, reaching 22.29 terawatt hours in 2022, up from 12.7 terawatt hours in 2019. The company has made efforts to make its data centres more efficient through customized high-performance servers, using smart temperature and lighting, advanced cooling techniques, and machine learning. Data c/o Statistica.