The Economics of Biodiversity – The Dasgupta Review was published last week and is available to download. The final Review comprises the Full Report, an Abridged Version and Headline Messages. It calls for changes in how we think, act and measure economic success in order to protect and enhance both our prosperity and the natural world. The…
An unwelcome CO2 milestone – The Met Office is predicting that the annual average CO2 concentration will be 416.3 parts per million (ppm) between April and June 2021. This will be 50% higher than 278 ppm that existed in the late 18th century when the industrial revolution began. The Met Office says that It took more than 200…
Dirt is Good – Global Action Plan has partnered with Unilever/Persil UK on their Dirt is Good project and is launching a piece of research on Feb 2nd ahead of the roll out of a brand new schools programme. The research investigates the ‘Values-Perception Gap’ problem, looking at when it starts to show-up, its implications for young people…
Teach the Future – Anna Brown argues that it’s been a great year for the Teach the Future campaign, especially for our new nations and international groups. For example: “Teach the Future has become a major stakeholder in the Fridays for Future Europe climate education forum. It sends 8 representatives to work on campaigns and demand…
Student’s views on sustainability – A report from Students Organising for Sustainability details their 2019-20 research into Higher and Further Education student’s views on sustainability in their education settings. Only 36% of respondents say that understanding how human activity is affecting nature has been covered during their time in higher education so far, but 70% agree that…
Goodbye to 2020 – Last year is perhaps not one that we shall want to recall with much fondness, but it’s worth remembering that not all the news was gloomy. Future Crunch has set out a collection of global good news stories including these: – [i] all six major US banks have now ruled out…
Only 70 national leaders attended a virtual “Climate Ambition” summit on December 12th, five years to the day after the adoption of the Paris agreement. The agreement has a ratchet mechanism which requires that countries come forward at five-year intervals with increased national climate goals, reflecting technological, economic and social progress in the previous five…
Reasons to be Cheerful: A review of what are the Environmental Success Stories of 2020, takes place on 16 December at 1900. This is the seventh in a series of informal meet ups that Creative Carbon Scotland organised following COVID-19 physical distancing measures as a way for ecological and artistic minded people of all kinds…
After the voting finished in the final Mock COP26 caucus the treaty and letter to world leaders were published. The press release is here. Don’t forget the MC26 YouTube channel which captures some of the activities that took place at the Mock COP. . Karine Polwart, Edinburgh street band Oi Musica, and the Soundhouse Choir produced Enough is Enough to mark the…
Two resources were published last week aimed at helping school governing boards to adopt environmental sustainability as a core value and make it a key element of strategy development. These arise from a collaboration over the Summer between NAEE and the National Governance Association [NGA]. One resource is the NGA’s own guidance on sustainability for governing boards: Developing…