DfE Snapshot – The next issue of the DfE’s Climate in Education Snapshot is now available. It includes:
- A reminder about Outdoor Classroom Day coming up on 18th May
- A form to sign-up to our first stakeholder good practice session
- An update on the SCCU Stakeholder User Group
- Jon’s visit to the Bristol Education Partnership
- Sharing the good practice from Ickworth Park Primary School’s ‘Tranquillity Garden’
- And more useful information.
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Youth climate anxiety – A think piece for Earth Day asks can talking about climate change at home make a difference? It explores the growing concern over young people’s climate anxiety. You can read more here. Thanks to SEEd News for highlighting this.
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Change Now – The Avon Schools Eco-Network has been busy with various activities such as helping run a local youth summit, organising a trip for the upcoming Change Now conference in Paris in May, and building links with a partner organisation in Uganda. To find out more about joining the network email Avon@ukssn.org.uk
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Children’s Rights – Amy Hanna, from the University of Strathclyde, writes in The Conversation about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which provides useful insights into children’s right to peaceful protest. There are five rights in the convention that are particularly relevant. These are the right to non-discrimination (article 2), the right to be consulted on matters that affect them (article 12), the right to peaceful assembly (article 15), the right to safety (article 19) and the right to school discipline that is administered in a manner consistent with children’s human dignity (article 28.2).
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Education and Development – In November 2022, UKFIET (the Education and Development Forum) hosted a Conversations for Change one-day conference where participants co-created visions for education that advances global climate justice. Subsequently a Call for Action on education for global climate justice was issued to coincide with COP27. A network for those advancing the work of Education for Climate Justice is now being developed. Some activities of this network will be to co-produce narratives and asks for policy makers, to develop mechanisms or a platform for collaboration, to map existing initiatives with the view to link up resonant activities, to profile key areas of work that network partners are doing through a blog series and to host a follow-on event in May 2023. Details here.
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Learning for Sustainability – A new report, Learning for Sustainability: young people and practitioner perspectives, commissioned by the Scottish Government, looks at the understanding and implementation of Learning for Sustainability amongst young people aged 14+ in school and community learning and development settings and the practitioners responsible for their education. Its findings are being used to help shape the revised national Learning for Sustainability Action Plan, which will be published in April. Click here to view the existing Action Plan.
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Global Goal 4 – Play Verto asked 37,000 students from 150 countries their thoughts on education and what they would like to see change. Its Transforming Education Report shares their views. You can explore the report to find out how including young people in conversations about education can help to achieve Global Goal 4 and prepare this generation of learners for their future.
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Branching Out – “I was sitting outside when I heard some blackbirds going mental in the woodland next to my house. I knew that meant there was a tawny owl out and about. Whilst searching for this elusive owl, I heard a high-pitched squeak. My heart leapt as I knew that this meant that somewhere nearby was a tawny owlet. A fter 10 minutes or so, I had got closer to the owlet but still hadn’t spotted it. Then I caught a white ball of fluff in the corner of my eye. I manoeuvred myself into a better position so that I had a nicer background and started taking shots.” So writes photographer Billy Evans-Freke, RSPB Young British Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023 and 15-17 years winner.
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Book reviews – UKSSN students and staff were invited to review Peter Sutoris’ new book, Educating for the Anthropocene: Schooling and Activism in the Face of Slow Violence. Click here to read the full review.
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Learning to Thrive – This is a new animation with supporting materials and professional learning opportunities produced byBOLD and Positive Negatives in collaboration with Lifeworlds. There is a launch to introduce the animation on Tuesday 18th April 1930 to 2030. This will provide an opportunity to meet some of those involved in its production, and to talk through any issues or opportunities it raises.
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Dragon Flies – The British Dragonfly Society’s YouTube channel has a range of videos including talks from its Spring Meeting 2023. The society’s Scotland Conference 2023 has now been announced which will be a hybrid event.
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#Ahoy2050 – Big ships have huge engines that currently burn a dirty fuel known as bunker oil and they carry 90% of traded goods (OECD data). All told, there are around 63,000 of such vessels and they account for around 3% of global carbon emissions (EU data). This trade is on track to triple by 2050. So how can emissions be kept in check? The German engineering company, MAN Energy Solutions is at the forefront of green shipping and you can read more about their ideas here.
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Ealing Beavers – Beavers, one of the most impactful, native ecosystem engineers, will be returning to London for the first time in over 400 years. A project will give public access to a rewilded landscape with breavers. The project is a collaboration between Citizen Zoo, Ealing Wildlife Group, Friends of Horsenden Hill and Ealing Council with support from the Beaver Trust.
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Which Milk – Our World in Data has been exploring whether plant-based milks are really better for the environment than animal milks, and either way which is best. Milks were compared across a number of metrics: land use, greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and eutrophication (the pollution of ecosystems with excess nutrients). The study found that if you want to reduce the environmental footprint of your diet, switching to plant-based alternatives is a good option. But which? Almond milk has lower greenhouse gas emissions and uses less land than soy, but requires more water and results in higher eutrophication. There was no clear winner across all metrics. The study is here.