Next AGM – NAEE’s 2024 AGM will be on Thursday November 28th [1800 to 1930]. More details later.
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Awards for Excellence – Nominations are now open for NAAEE’s 2024 Awards for Excellence, which sets out to honour those who have made a lasting impact. Is there a mentor whose wisdom and generosity you’d like to celebrate? An innovative thinker who has pushed our collective work forward? NAAEE encourages us to take the opportunity to nominate those extraordinary individuals and organizations who deserve heartfelt recognition. Nominations are due by July 31st and will be celebrated at this year’s conference in November. You need to be a current member of NAAEE to nominate someone, but nominees do not need to be members of NAAEE.
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Become a Changemaker – SOS-UK says why not join Teach the Future and Hope for the Future, for an online programme where you can learn to engage with MPs, make a difference, develop skills and earn a digital badge. Details here.
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Leef – The London Environmental Educators’ Forum (LEEF) was formed in 1989 and became a charity in 2016. Because of continuing funding issues, its trustees are now looking for additional enthusiastic volunteers in the following areas:
- Events – One or two people committed to devising and organising an annual programme of training and networking, drawing on members’ expertise and venues: approx. 8 hours per month
- Updating social media and sending monthly newsletters: approx. 4 hours per month
- Looking after the LEEF email inbox: approx. 4 hours per month
- Joining the Board of Trustees: approx. 4 hours per month
And looking for additional help in…
- Managing membership administration
- Fundraising support
- Hosting events and contributing workshops
If interested, please write to leef@leef.london by August 2nd
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Earth and Space Datasets – The NOAA SOS Explorer has a wide range of Earth and Space datasets. And for more NOAA resources, click here.
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Forging a Pact – Are you going to the official launch of PACTS on Tuesday, 17th September [4-6pm, at Google Academy]? Education and sustainability specialists, parliamentarians, and media will all be there. Will you?
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Our World in Data – The latest update from Our World in Data reports some good, and not so good, news. Here’s a selection:
- Progress on reducing global hunger has stagnated
- Every country has now banned the use of leaded gasoline in cars
- The global malaria death rate increased for the first time in 20 years because of COVID-19
- India now consumes more coal than Europe and North America combined
Umsinsi – The Times reports that botanists have voted to rename more than 200 plants, fungi and algae species whose names included what are now seen as offensive terms. More than 60% of those at the initial nomenclature session of the 20th International Botanical Congress in Madrid voted to change plant names containing the word “caffra”, which originates in slurs used against black people particularly in southern Africa. It will be replaced with “affra” by 2026. An example is Erythrina caffra Thunb. The Commission also voted in favour of giving a special committee power to rule on the ethical naming of new plant names.
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Planet Solutions – Click here to read the latest newsletter of Solutions for the Planet – and here to read one young person’s perspective on the recent UK election.
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August Days – Here are some of the month of August’s Global Days that might inspire fruitful conversations with students:
- Playday – Strong links to SDG 3: Good health and well-being. Resource suggestion: Outdoor Learning Ideas
- International Day of the World’s Indigenous People – Strong links to SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities. Resource suggestion: Native Knowledge 360°
- World Humanitarian Day – Strong links to SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals. Resource suggestion: IRIN Films, humanitarian news and analysis
- International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition – Strong links to SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth. Resource suggestion: Understanding Slavery Initiative
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Bats & Bees – Here’s a link to the latest Inkcap Journal. There are articles on under-fed bats, on damage to bees, and changes to the nutrient neutrality rules. Some other news in brief includes:
- Twenty large-scale nature recovery projects across the UK will receive a share of £150m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund; see the Evening Standard
- Labour MP Mary Creagh, whose election campaign promised a ‘fairer greener future’, has been appointed nature minister; see: ENDS
- The record for the world’s hottest day has been broken twice in one week, according to the European climate change service, Copernicus; see the BBC
- The government’s climate change plan is being challenged at the High Court in a landmark case; see Reuters and the Guardian
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Rural Cliff Edges – The Guardian reports that the NFU is accusing the new government of leaving farmers facing an agriculture budget ‘cliff edge’. The previous government committed to spending £2.4bn a year in England on payments for farmers, mostly linked to environmental improvements made on their land, but the new government is yet to confirm its policy.
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Unesco in the UK – Two new sites in the UK have been inscripted onto the UNESCO World Heritage List. The inscription of the Flow Country and Moravian Church Settlements (Gracehill) took place at the 46th Session of the World Heritage Committee in New Delhi, India.
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Cheers – Ufuk Alpsahin Cullen, Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Research Fellow, Edge Hill University, argues in The Conversation, that craft cider is an example of the circular economy in action.