Light a Fire in Children’s Hearts – Japan’s Ministry of the Environment has made a series of videos of talks with prominent Japanese environmental educators. The first season will have 10 stories ranging from young local activist sisters to a University professor with over 50 years experience. The videos are in Japanese with English sub-titles. There is more detail of the project here including a link to the first few videos.
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78% by 2035 – In its 6th carbon budget, the UK government says that it will set the world’s most ambitious climate change target into law to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels. For the first time, this will incorporate the UK’s share of international aviation and shipping emissions. Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “The UK is leading the world in tackling climate change and today’s announcement means our low carbon future is now in sight. The targets we’ve set ourselves in the sixth Carbon Budget will see us go further and faster than any other major economy to achieve a completely carbon neutral future.” It seems fair to say, however, that not everyone is convinced that the government knows [i] how this is going to be achieved, [ii] whether it can be achieved, [iii] how much it will cost or [iv] whether the public will want to go along with it. Young people are understandably interested in such questions. Although the UK government isn’t particularly interested in schools encouraging their consideration, that’s no reason why school leaders should not work with young people to help them learn about how such transitions are to be achieved.
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Climate Change Club – Young Climate Warriors is a UK charity with members in over 200 schools. It provides schools and families with free resources that are ready-to-use, including fun weekly challenges to help children learn about climate change and discover new ways in which we can all live sustainably. To coincide with Earth Day, it launched ‘Climate Change Club in a Box’ – a series of 10 off-the-shelf sessions for school clubs or eco-councils. All resources come with teachers’ notes, explanations and pointers for discussion. For more information – including photos and quotes from teachers and pupils who’ve taken part in Young Climate Warriors. See this.
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Will it mention the Environment? – The Foundation for Education Development – FED – was set up in December 2019 and has spent the past 14 months consulting on the need for a long-term vision and plan for education in England, providing a “neutral space for stakeholders from across education, business, politics and beyond to work together to help shape the future”. The consultation report is launched on April 26th. Details here.
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Only 2.8% of the Planet – Studies conducted over the past decade (and reported in The Conversation) have tried to map using satellite imagery how intact ecosystems are on a global scale. These estimates suggest that between 20% and 40% of the planet’s land surface could be considered ecologically intact. However, a new study considers whether all species known to have occurred in an area are still present and whether they’re sufficiently abundant to play their ecological roles, such as top predators or seed dispersers. The new study says that only 2.8% of the planet’s land surface fits this description. These patches, each 10,000 square kilometres or larger, are scattered in various places around the world and include the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in the Congo, the Serengeti-Ngorongoro in Tanzania, the Alto Rio Negro indigenous territory in the Amazon forest, the Great Siberian Polynya in northern Russia, and Kawésqar National Park in southern Chile. Only 11% of these fall within a protected area.
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Adaptation of Climate Change – Emilie Beauchamp’s blog for IIED provides insights into the preparatory work that the UN’s Adaptation Committee has been carrying out – in preparation for COP26. The core of the committee’s mandate is to provide technical advice to Parties in its annual report and external publications. Yet how much of its work is accessed by Parties ahead of negotiations remains questionable, Beauchamp says; although most of the committee’s work is available online as part of their scheduled agendas, these complex materials can be difficult to digest for external and new stakeholders. This is a useful insight into the complexity of the COP process.
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A History of Ideas – Click here to register for the I-SEE Zoom webinar on Tuesday 27 April when our Chair of Trustees, Bill Scott, & Paul Vare will be discussing their latest book ‘Learning, Environment and Sustainable Development: a history of ideas’. As the title suggests, the book provides an introduction to the long history of human learning, the environment and sustainable development – about our struggles with the natural world: first for survival, then for dominance, currently for self-preservation, and in future perhaps, even for long-term, mutually beneficial co-existence. “It charts the long arc of human–environment relationships through the specific lens of human learning, putting on record many of the people, ideas and events that have contributed, often unwittingly, to the global movement for sustainable development.”
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Star-Crossed Lovers – Although it costs around £1 million a year, Edinburgh Zoo looks set to continue to lease its two giant pandas – Tian Tian and Yang Guang – from the Chinese government. When they arrived in 2021, the zoo had plans to breed from the star-crossed pair, but it has come to nought despite Tian Tian being artificially inseminated eight times. Yang Guang is now infertile after treatment for testicular cancer. This proposal is controversial. For example, Peta is quoted in The Scotsman as saying: “Pandas are not breeding machines but individuals, and they should not be sexually assaulted to produce babies for human amusement and display. Young animals are destined to spend the rest of their miserable lives imprisoned between four walls — all so zoos can turn a profit. The only real hope for pandas lies in protecting their rapidly disappearing natural [world].” Whatever you think of the zoo’s policy, and this criticism, one thing is certain: it is a great example of a conservation-focused topic suitable for school investigation and debate.
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As Useful as Old Boots – The New Urban Jungle is a stop-frame animation commissioned by Arc Ways for last month’s Wild Glades Festival in Bromley. Lauren Cook says, Learn how to support urban wildlife with simple tips for your home, garden, window box or old boot. On the Verge – You can read the latest on Plantlife’s Roadside flowers campaign here. It also includes news that the Canal and River Trust is going to be trialling a fresh approach to grass verge management along around 600km of canal towpath across England and Wales.
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Sing Fly Soar – World Migratory Bird Day is a bi-annual celebration of the endurance of migratory birds as they travel between their wintering and breeding grounds. The theme for WMBD 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar – Like a Bird!” You can also see what our BirdLife partners around the world are doing to celebrate this day by visiting their events page.
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From Senegal to Scotland – The 2021 Ashden Awards longlists are now public: featuring 38 organisations from Senegal to Scotland. You can browse them here: UK and International. This year’s awards include a new focus on green skills, and awards in community climate action and regenerative agriculture.
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A Day for Outdoor Learning – Outdoor Classroom Day is May 20th this year. This is a global movement to make time outdoors part of every child’s day. On two days of action each year, teachers are urged to take children outdoors to play and learn.
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