Practical Action and Project Dirt
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Storms in Mexico kill millions of Monarch butterflies
The Environmental News Network reports that storms have killed millions of Monarch butterflies. The article begins … While international efforts are under way to help keep dwindling populations of monarch butterflies from disappearing, scientists are raising concerns about how severe weather and a loss of forest habitat at their wintering grounds in Mexico are affecting them. Every year,…
Gut feelings about outdoor activities
The Children & Nature Network reports an Australian study (by ABC’s Layla Tucak) which says that gut health, mental wellbeing and immunity are linked to outdoor play. This begins: Playing in nature used to be a part of everyone’s childhood but researchers say it has become an increasingly foreign concept in Western countries with changes to…
The Forager Handbook
Miles Irving’s, ‘The Forager Handbook’, begins with a passionate introduction about a revolution in the food industry and a burgeoning communal return to our ancestral roots. His enthusiasm and knowledge are clear from the start, and the book, without doubt, does offer a wealth of information. However, I fear the title misleads us in its…
The Sustainable Schools Framework – and those doorways
This article was first published in NAEE‘s Summer 2015 journal Environmental Education (Vol 109), as our ‘President’s Column’. The views are Bill Scott’s own, not NAEE’s. The Sustainable Schools Framework – and those doorways Much of the work of the Sustainable Schools Alliance [ SSA ] is focused around the Sustainable Schools Framework which was something the Blair government set up. It had 8…
Development Education Research Centre seminars
The Development Education Research Centre (DERC) at UCL in London has announced two autumn seminars: Dr Maureen Ellis will talk on The Critical Global Educator on Tuesday 4thOctober 2016 – 1700 to 1830. Dr Ellis is Senior Research Associate at Development Education Research Centre, University College London – Institute of Education; Associate Lecturer at the Open University; and author of The…
Countryside Classroom Annual Survey
There are only a few more days to take the Countryside Classroom Annual Survey. All participants who complete the survey will be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 cash prize. Countryside Classroom says that the survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete. It has 4 sections: – Using the site…
Marazion School joins the Great Eggcase Hunt
Cat Gordon, Conservation Officer at the Shark Trust relates Marazion School’s work in a citizen science recording project On the 19th June 2015, Marazion School joined the Shark Trust in search of mermaids’ purses as part of the citizen science recording project, the Great Eggcase Hunt. The school group gathered on the local beach where they…
There’s gloom in the data, but hope as well
We’ve copied this from our President’s blog: I was scribbling about global warming and went to the NASA website. As well as some fine pictures – they do have some of the world’s best camera angles – the screen shows some key climate change / global warming stats. They are hard not to keep looking at: carbon…
Drawing trees at Kew
Kew has a new day course on an introduction to drawing trees, which covers composition, scale, experimentation, and texture. After an outdoor ice-breaker exercise using sketchbooks/paper on board, the morning continues with composition studies using viewfinders. This focuses on how the structure of branches and negative space can bring balance to a composition. The day also includes sessions…