NAEE is contributing to the ESD strand of the 2019 ASE conference in Birmingham on January 10th. Our two sessions at 1000 and 1500 will explore how STEM subjects can enable students to learn about the key environmental issues that we face.
The full programme is here.
There is a UNESCO global education meeting on 4th December and part of it will be live streamed. There will be talks and debates on: the 2030 agenda focusing on the link between education and development; inclusiveness and gender equality; migration, forced displacement and education.
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CEE – the UK’s Council for Environmental Education – would have been 50 years old this year, had it survived. In a recent blog, Bill Scott looks back to CEE in 1993 when it celebrated its 25 year anniversary. At this time, CEE’s income was £366,532 – over £700,000 in today’s money – with about a third of this coming from a grant from the Department of the Environment, and around another third from project funding. On the expenditure side, alongside payments to a significant number of staff, £10,000 was spent on postage.
The Wider Earth show at London’s Natural History Museum has been extended until February 24th. You can join Charles Darwin on HMS Beagle’s voyage to the far side of the world, and discover the story behind one of the most important discoveries in history. The play by David Morton features puppetry by the Dead Puppet Society, cinematic animations and an ensemble cast.
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The Soil Association has used FoI requests to enquire into the quality of school food provided through a £40m government school fruit and veg scheme. It found that only 13% of apples and 5% of pears served under the scheme were grown in the UK. The association also said that the produce supplied contained higher pesticide residues than food sold by supermarkets. Teachers’ comments included:
“Pears are under-ripe and hard, carrots have been sweating in bags for days. Generally, the produce is not as fresh as we would hope and this means children don’t eat it.”
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Did you see the reports of protests by Australian school students last week. They skipped school in their thousands to protest at the government’s climate change policies (that is, non-policies). They were very vocal about the inadequacies of the prime minister. Here’s a sample of the reporting:
“Incredible scenes are unfolding in Australia’s capital cities where thousands of students have skipped school in protest against the Morrison Government’s lack of action on climate change. In Sydney and in Melbourne, huge crowds of students filled public spaces shouting at the top of their lungs. They brought banners and signs reading “I’ve seen smarter cabinets at Ikea”, “I’m sure the dinosaurs thought they had time too”, “There’s no Planet B” … .”
You can listen to 14 year old Jean Hinchcliffe here, who, provoked beyond endurance by the prime minister saying that there should be less activism in schools and more learning (about coal and mining), said: “As our Prime Minister chooses to ignore the ever increasing problem of climate change, our generation has decided to step up and fill the void.”
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Meanwhile, in a recent public consultation on climate change people said that they’d do more about climate change if the government did. Currently there is an online petition from pupils at a York school bring forward the target date for the UK Climate Change Act to 2035. You can still sign it.
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Collins Dictionary has named single-use as its 2018 word of the year. Collins says: “Images of plastic adrift in the most distant oceans, such as straws, bottles and bags, have led to a global campaign to reduce their use.” You can read more on this issue here. NAEE’s new project with Rotary GB and Ireland has reducing plastic use as its theme.
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The SWLSC has a new website and a revised format newsletter. The following is an extract from this: Wicked Weather Watch (WWW) provides resources for children and young people about climate change and global warming. It stresses its information is unbiased and hopes to bring the important issues to life for both children and their teachers.
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The GA says that you book early for the 2019 Annual Conference and save £10 a day on registration fees. The Conference will be held from Tuesday 9 to Thursday 11 April at University of Manchester. You can book here.
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Do you worry that chlorinated chicken may be coming your way soon when there’s a post-Brexit trade deal with the USA? Does the idea of chlorinated food scare you, even though you’re happy to drink chlorinated water every day and float in it in hot tubs and pools? If so, the Economist has an article that might (or not) reassure you. It offers the lowdown on the pathogen reduction treatment (PRT) – ie, chlorination – that chickens get. Vegans need not read this.