Margaret Bates, professor of sustainable waste management at the University of Northampton, allowed the BBC go through her rubbish, weigh it out and chart its journeys from her home to various points near and very far. The results are revealing. After it is collected, Margaret Bates’ waste is sent to firms which specialise in different…
Spring has arrived, if you are a weather forecaster, as it starts on March 1st, whether or nor the sun is hot or snow is thick on the ground. This always comes ahead of the spring (vernal) equinox, which is popularly said to be the 21st March – next week. This is when we (non-weather…
Planet Earth is a free magazine aimed at the public with an interest in the environmental sciences. It’s available on-line here, and requests for a print version (available for UK subscribers) can be made here. It is a rich source of up to date information and ideas, and the pictures are wonderful. Every school should have this in their…
Here’s a lively, if a little breathless, video from Barts hospital in London about their successful attempts to be more sustainable; that is, to save money and work more effectively for patient health. The numbers are impressive. Barts have made savings of £9.2m and 48,511 tonnes of CO2. The video blurb says that sustainability in the NHS is…
The 2nd Interdisciplinary Conference: “Getting Connected to Nature” will be held at the University of Derby, on 15 June. Submissions are invited around the core themes of the conference: • Improving links between research, policy and practice in this area • Latest research and perspectives on: – the benefits of a connection with nature –…
The Geographical Association, and SSAT, are offering professional development in critical thinking and problem solving, through the new British Council Connecting Classrooms programme. This ‘Teaching the core skills’ training package gives primary and secondary teachers of geography or history the knowledge and approaches they need to effectively integrate the teaching of core skills in their…
Environmental Education Research [EER] has published a paper from the USA on practitioners’ perspectives on the purpose of environmental education. You can download it here. The Abstract says: Since the 1980s, scholars have suggested that environmental education (EE) has a ‘definitional problem’ represented by a multiplicity of perspectives that have critically impacted its discourse, practices,…
We recently carried a guest posting from Geoff Guy about the enclosure of land and the benefits to environmental and outdoor education arising from more recent legislation open it up again through the ‘right to roam’. If you are interested in the enclosures, then you might like A Short History of Enclosure in Britain by Simon Fairlie which is published in the Land…
You can read the latest Learning Away newsletter here. You will remember that Learning Away was a Paul Hamlyn Foundation [ PHF ] special initiative, and due to finish at the end of this month. However, in December, the PHF trustees agreed to provide a further two years of Learning Away ‘legacy’ funding to help ensure that…
Here’s a 3-minute YouTube video from Arjen Wals explaining his views on how schools need to change in order better to prepare young people for their [sustainable] futures. But to what extent can young people “change things” in the way described? Or, to what degree can schools prepare young people to change things once they have…
Today’s guest blog is by Geoffrey Guy who lectures at Reaseheath College. Geoff is the Director of Education for Bushcraft Education Ltd, and the founder of the Bushcraft Education blog. The clash between game keepers and ramblers from Manchester and Sheffield on Kinder Scout on the 24th April 1932 and other ‘mass trespasses’ which followed helped pave the way…
Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril is a new book from Trinity University Press. It contains eighty essays from theologians, naturalists, scientists, politicians, business leaders, activists, and writers each of which examines why it’s wrong “to wreck the world.” The publishers say: In the face of environmental degradation, species extinction, and climate…