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 taking action on sustainability issues and what might be achieved if we’re able to close it. The study found that almost all the young people surveyed said that caring for nature and other people is important to them but they don’t think others share their compassionate values. Fears about not fitting in and being labelled with unhelpful stereotypes prevent them from expressing their true values to their peers. For more information and links to how to register for the event, please see here. To download the full paper and/or the exec summary (hot off the press) please click this.
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Global Goals Teach In – SOS-UK has launched its fourth annual Teach in on the Global (sustainable development) Goals. This will will run from the 22nd of February to the 5th of March 2021. The annual campaign calls on secondary and tertiary educators to pledge to include the Goals in their teaching and learning throughout the two weeks.
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Elephant Times – Issue 3 of the ~Tide magazine is now available. Tide~ global learning is the teachers’ network for those working on teaching involving global perspectives, human rights, sustainability and development issues. This issue has features on anti-racist education and BLM.
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COP 26 – Applications for volunteering at COP26 are now open and being taken by Glasgow City Council. You can find out more here. The COP26 Unit has launched an expression of interest process for businesses, civil society, academia, trade unions, indigenous groups, young people and others to apply to get involved in UK Government managed spaces at the Summit in Glasgow 2021. This includes opportunities such as hosting of events, creative installations, and exhibition space – across both the Blue Zone and Green Zone. We will also be working with the High Level Champions team to share relevant content to support the Climate Action Zone. Organisations are encouraged to come together with collaborative proposals with a focus on profiling the voices of those most impacted by climate change by using the COP26 LinkedIn platform. Expression of Interest process closes at 1700 on Friday 5 March.
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Generation Wild – WWT is looking for an enthusiastic project manager to work at Slimbridge on its new project, Generation Wild, which aims to engage disadvantaged children and their families with nature. The project will offer free visits to wetland centres for children attending schools in disadvantaged areas with follow-up work with these children’s families and teachers, helping and empowering them to offer further nature-based experiences back in their local community. Full details here.
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A Bionic Chandelier – The V&A’s first Engineer in Residence, Julian Melchiorri, was interested in exploring how the latest advances in biotechnology and engineering could be applied to everyday objects to improve the quality of our lives. Taking inspiration from the Museum’s Art Nouveau and Islamic art collections, Melchiorri created Exhale, the world’s first bionic chandelier, which now sits in the new Members’ Reception of the V&A. Formed of modular leaves containing microorganisms, this living and breathing chandelier removes carbon dioxide from the air and releases oxygen. You can hear Julian talking about the initiative here, and see the green chandelier in action.
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Bramble or Clover Honey? – Researchers have identified plants that bees visit most often by looking at pollen grain DNA found in honey from across the country. Results were compared with those from 1952. The prime nectar source is now brambles a shift from the widespread availability of clovers in the 1950s. In 1952 white clover was found in 93% of samples (a major source in 74 % of these). In the second analysis it was found in 62 % of samples (a major source in 31%). Himalayan balsam was found in 15% of honey samples in the latest analysis. The study was published in Communications Biology and illustrates how intense farming resulted in the disappearance of species-rich grasslands.
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Thiamethoxam – A pesticide believed to harm bees has been authorised for emergency use in England, despite an earlier ban. In 2018, an almost total ban was put in place by the EU and UK because of the serious damage it could cause to bees. Defra says its use will be limited to this year only because a virus is threatening sugar beet seeds. More detail here. This is a good example of the sort of wicked problem we face when solutions cause problems and doing nothing doesn’t seem an option. Wicked problems are not always easy for society to cope with but they usually offer good scope for environmental educators to explore.
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Hydrogen – Climate Action has a feature on hydrogen which argues that the UK could be a leader in clean hydrogen technology. There are a couple of types of clean hydrogen or ‘colours’, as they are called. Green hydrogen refers to hydrogen produced via the electrolysis of water, with the electricity used in the process coming from renewable sources like wind and solar. Blue hydrogen is generated from natural gas, and although CO₂is produced in the process, it is captured and safely stored in geological features. In the North Sea between the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia, you can put CO₂ back into the exact same geological structures that oil and gas have come from for five decades, and it will stay there permanently. There’s more detail here.
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Microplastic News – ENN reports that the Ganges River – with the combined flows of the Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers – could be responsible for up to 3 billion microplastic particles entering the Bay of Bengal every day. The study represents the first investigation of microplastic abundance, characteristics and seasonal variation along the river and was conducted using samples collected by an international team of scientists as part of the National Geographic Society’s Sea to Source: Ganges expedition. 120 samples (60 each in pre- and post-monsoon conditions) were gathered at 10 sites. The samples were then analysed in laboratories at the University of Plymouth. You can read more here.
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I I E D – The latest International Institute for Environment and development [IIED] newsletter is here. It examines locally led adaptation, land rights in Nepal and Tanzania, promoting women’s influence in their food systems, biodiversity mainstreaming, and intersectionality in its research.
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Aldo Leopold – In our latest blog, Richard Jurin quotes from conservation philosopher Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac: “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. … All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants and animals, or collectively the land.” In his post, Richard argues that Leopold’s visionary thinking still guides today’s environmental stewards. “It is not only boundaries that disappear, but also the thought of being bounded.” He ends with this thought: As we consider local and global boundaries, the deeper question of our place in the world becomes crucial as we ponder the future of humanity.