Race to Zero – This is a global campaign to rally leadership and action in the education sector. The campaign is run in partnership with EAUC, Second Nature and the UN Environment Programme. EAUC is the secretariat. This campaign replaces the Global Climate Letter for Universities and Colleges. You can get involved with the Race to Zero here.
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Festival of Nature 2024 – The UK’s largest celebration of the natural world will take place on 1st – 9th June 2024 with a programme of nature walks and talks, wildlife workshops, screenings and performances, local community-led and digital events, family activities and more. So keep your eye on the newsletter, website and social media to be the first to hear news.
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The State of Education – The Education Policy Institute (EPI) has published the first instalment of its Annual Report on the state of education in England, focusing on the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers up to the end of secondary school. Nationally, the gap between poorer pupils and their peers continued to widen in 2022, but EPI finds new trends affecting the youngest children and those with special educational needs.
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Communication or Education? – On November 9th [@1830] Prof Alison Anderson will give a talk on: How Communication is Key to Fighting the Climate Crisis. The abstract says: “Tackling the climate crisis is now as much a communication challenge as it is a scientific or technological problem. We are living in a time of multiple crises, including the climate emergency, declining biodiversity, and the after-shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic: together these provide the perfect conditions for misinformation and disinformation to thrive. This talk discusses adults’ and young people’s perceptions about climate change and the role the media and schools play in influencing climate literacy.” You can sign up via this pre-registration link.
Alison has written about this on the Academy of Social Sciences.
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Dig for Sustainability – Students Organising for Sustainability is supporting gardening on campuses with a new funding opportunity. Any university/college/SU staff, officers or students that are interested in growing food on their campus are invited to apply for up to £1500 to help them work on their site. To apply, complete this form by 12th November. You can learn about SOS-UK’s Food and Farming programmes and campaigns here.
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OECD Green Transitions – An international peer learning workshop is being organised by the OECD Higher Education Policy Team in collaboration with Ireland’s National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. The focus is Connecting higher education, teacher education and schools to advance education for the digital and green transitions. It is in London on Nov 22nd at 1300. The detail is here.
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An online open access course by UCL’s Institute of Education explores the global challenges facing sustainable development worldwide and how to introduce them to students in schools and HE institutions.
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Megan & Chris – 8 Out of 10 Bats, is being streamed on YouTube for the next two weeks, presented by Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin. They stress that the programme is not governed by the BBC impartiality rules.
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Bison bison – In The Economist, Ken Burns chronicles the sad fate of the American buffalo / bison. He says that the animals near-extermination had a devastating effect on Native American people. There’s a video to view on PBS in North America.
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Bird Seed – The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts operate as an umbrella body for the 46 individual UK Wildlife Trusts, where they help to co-ordinate the Trusts’ activities and campaigning for wildlife at a UK level. The Wildlife Trusts and Vine House Farm have enjoyed a mutually beneficial partnership since 2008 with over £2.4m raised for The Wildlife Trusts whilst thousands of people have been encouraged to feed birds at home and in schools. Now, the national partnership has run its course, but VHF and individual Wildlife Trusts are looking to continue relationships locally.
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Castor Fiber Angst – A wild story from Germany about beavers bringing the mighty Deutsche Bahn to a halt by undermining rails through their incessant tunnelling. DB has had a lot of problems of late because of a lack of investment, but never expected to have the opportunity to blame beavers. Dutch railways have had similar problems with badgers.
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Sid Transit Gloria – The Economist has a feature exploring why switching off the gas grid in our plans to get to net zero will be both difficult and expensive. It says: “Few politicians have so far grappled with this issue; no money has been set aside for decommissioning. Ignoring the problem is likely to increase costs in the long run, says Richard Lowes of the Regulatory Assistance Project, a think-tank. Later this month the National Infrastructure Commission, an agency that advises ministers, will publish its first report on the subject. It is likely to estimate the cost at around £65bn, around £2,300 for each current customer.”
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Amazon Drought – The Times reports that the ongoing extreme drought in the Amazon is set to continue, bringing further disruption to transport links, increasing the likelihood of forest fires and endangering public health. The region’s rainy season usually starts in late September but climate change and El Niño have caused dwindling precipitation and scorching heatwaves. The drought has also led to some surprising discoveries, including dozens of ancient rock engravings that are usually submerged by the Negro River in the northern Amazon, which is flowing at its lowest level for more than 120 years.
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Farewell Bachman’s Warbler – The US Fish and Wildlife Service has removed 21 species from its list of threatened and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act because of extinction. The species include eight of Hawaiʻi’s honeycreepers, the bridled white-eye and little Mariana fruit bat of Guam, a Texas fish, nine south-eastern mussels and the Bachman’s warbler. They join the list of 650 U.S. species that have likely been lost to extinction says Focusing on Wildlife.
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Finally – A reminder for members that our AGM is on November 18th by Zoom. In this, Rob Hopkins, the co-founder of Transition Network and of Transition Town Totnes, and author of several books includingFrom What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want’, will explore why, as activists campaigning for a future in which people and the natural world can thrive, we need to become much better at speaking to people’s imaginations, at the cultivation of longing. All members welcome. Please email info@naee.org.uk to book a place.