Action through Learning – From 16-18 November, Learning for Sustainability Scotland (LfSS) will be hosting the 12th Global RCE Conference. LfSS is part of an international network of UNU-recognised Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) on Education for Sustainable Development and this prestigious virtual event will bring together 180 similar Centres from across 62 countries. The Conference theme is ‘Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: action through learning in a time of global crises’, and delegates will share, explore and build on the knowledge, skills and values within the network to support the capacities and actions needed to achieve the SDGs. The outcomes and outputs of COP26 and COP15 will also be a key part of discussions. You can find out more here.
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Chrldren’s Rights – A reminder of the plan for 100,000 children’s voices to be heard at COP26 in relation to whether climate change will affect children’s rights. Resources are ready to send out to those who have signed up so don’t delay say the organisers. During September, children will be debating and voting, and leaving their comments with resources available through to the end of the conference. In October, a data report for COP26 will be created and circulated for comment. You can sign up here.
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Comparative Env Ed – The Japanese Society for Environmental Education (JSFEE) is calling for international collaborative research proposals on environmental education. The purpose is to increase a body of knowledge through comparisons of environmental education conducted in each of the researchers’ different countries, or to discover new outlooks by having researchers from different countries participate in observation and analysis of the environmental education being conducted in one country. All researchers will be eligible to submit research findings to the special feature on “Environmental Education in Asia, Vol. 4” of the academic society journal Japanese Journal of Environmental Education. The deadline for proposals is October 15th. More details here c/o NAAEE.
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Great and Green – Are you involved in the Great Big Green Week? From the 18th to the 26th of September communities across the country are urged to join together for the Great Big Green Week: the biggest event for climate ever in the UK. Everyone’s invited. More detail here.
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Going Bananas – A game based on Mike Berners -Lee’s book, How Bad are Bananas is to be launched in the autumn by The Future we Want. Click here if you want to get involved in its development.
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Young Rewilders – July’s Rewilding News Bite has announced the launch of the European Young Rewilders Network whose goal is to engage and empower young rewilders to create a wilder Europe. Although the network is called the Young Rewilders, board member Aleksandrina Mitseva emphasises that the community is also open to anyone who is simply “young” in their rewilding journey. There’s a video of the launch event here.
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Twenty Years Away – The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the USA has announced details of what it says is yet another breakthrough in the quest for a fusion power reactor. “The experiment was enabled by focusing laser light … generating more than 10 quadrillion watts of fusion power for 100 trillionths of a second.” More details here. An article in The Conversation put it into its historical perspective where fusion power has been twenty years away for at least 60 years.
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Down on the Farm – The Country Trust has produced a Climate Action Farm in a Box resource designed for KS2 children. Activities are supported with guidance and learning objectives for subjects; PSHE, maths, science, English, and topics related to farming, the environment, climate, geography and food. Activities can be delivered outdoors and have been designed to support wellbeing. The resource explores: weather and climate, plant growth and CO2, soil and biodiversity, how farms are responding to climate change, and how producing the food we eat contributes to greenhouse gases. More detail here.
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Beavering Away – Shrewsbury Town Council and Shropshire Wildlife Trust have raised £139,000 to fund the reintroduction of beavers to the county in 2022. The beavers will be the first in Shropshire for over four hundred years ago. An application for a license will shortly be submitted to Natural England. There’s more detail here.
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Bike round the Cairngorms – A range of projects to preserve the Cairngorms landscape have won £12.5m of National Lottery funding. The money will help fund more than 20 schemes in The Cairngorms National Park including planting thousands of trees, restoring 3,500 hectares of peatland and a new nature-based dementia centre. The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) also plans to develop an electric bike network around the park. It is hoped the 23 projects can be completed by the end of the decade. The money will go towards a series of projects aimed at tackling the climate emergency and delivering a “wellbeing economy”. The BBC has more detail here.
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Prep for COP – Communicate says join it on September 14th and 15th for an event focusing on supporting organisations preparing themselves for COP, as well as urgent and ongoing work engaging people with the environment. The September event has practical skills-based workshops, targeted briefing sessions to bring you quickly up to speed with new developments in the field, deep-dive workshops, and panels debating the latest thorny issues in the sector. The draft programme is now online.
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Trust to Nature – The Woodland Trust and the National Trust have received a grant from the Green Recovery Challenge Fund – whose focus is on nature restoration, nature-based solutions and connecting people with nature, while creating and keeping jobs – to improve the condition of ancient woods and veteran trees across their land, working also with private landowners. The £4.6 million programme is 15 months long, ending in March 2022. More details here.
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Herbal Leys – Climate Action reports that Tesco and WWF have launched a new trial to offer UK dairy farmers subsidies that encourage growing feed more sustainably for their livestock. The scheme provides 15 farmers in Tesco’s Sustainable Dairy Group (TSDG) with an 80% seed subsidy to plant herbal leys, a soil-enriching grass mix used to feed dairy cows. The soil mix consists of different plant species, which can help to increase on-farm biodiversity by attracting a range of other species like insects. Furthermore, the mix can reduce carbon footprint due to a curtailed need for artificial fertiliser. Other benefits of the soil mix include an improvement in soil health, water quality, and animal health.
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School Grounds – A reminder of the the International School Grounds Alliance conference in Stirling and online on 23 & 24 September. The organisers say it’s ideal for teachers, educators and design professionals as this year’s conference will unite outdoor learning and school grounds experts from around the world to discuss ‘Challenges and Solutions’. More detail here.