The Environmental News Network reports that global carbon emissions reached a record high in 2018. ENN says that a Columbia Engineering study, published in Nature, confirms the urgency to tackle climate change.
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While it’s known that extreme weather events can affect the year-to-year variability in carbon uptake, and some researchers have suggested that there may be longer-term effects, this new study is the first to actually quantify the effects through the 21st century and demonstrates that wetter-than-normal years do not compensate for losses in carbon uptake during dryer-than-normal years, caused by events such as droughts or heatwaves. Anthropogenic emissions of CO2 are increasing its concentration in the atmosphere and producing unnatural changes to the planet’s climate system. The effects of these emissions on global warming are only being partially abated by the land and ocean. Currently, the ocean and terrestrial biosphere (forests, savannas, etc.) are absorbing about 50% of these releases — explaining the bleaching of coral reefs and acidification of the ocean, as well as the increase of carbon storage in our forests.
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This week’s NAEE blog is a report by Juliette Green on the day we spent at the ASE conference in Birmingham in early January. We made two presentations and took part in a Teachmeet.
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2018 marked the seventeenth year of Sea Watch Foundation’s National Whale and Dolphin Watch event, a citizen science project which has gained tremendous popularity over the years. A copy of the report is available here, and details of the 2019 event are here.
Sea Watch says that last year’s event, which took place from 28th July to 5th August, revealed striking biodiversity with an impressive thirteen species of cetaceans seen around the British Isles in just those few days, a number which was only been recorded once before. The total number of sightings collected was larger than 2017, and the highest reported so far.
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There was a new ENSI bulletin in January. This included the SDGs in focus (Climate Change): The State of The Art Teaching and Learning for climate consciousness and Action for Climate Empowerment . You can subscribe to future ENSI mailings here.
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The Children and Nature Network has a report on outdoor learning in Italy and one on Scotland’s Pledge to provide Healthy Meals and Outdoor Play for Pre-school Children.
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SEEd has designed a survey to capture young people’s attitudes to sustainability and would like teachers to share it with the young people that they work with. There are two versions of the survey; one is for those aged 12 – 25, and one is for primary school children aged 6 – 11. The primary one is here, and will take ~15 minutes. The older version is here and will take ~12 minutes.
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Routes to Resilience is an initiative that has been incubated by the Impact Trust over the past few years and has grown to reach students and educators from over 20 countries. It says “Take a moment to browse our blog, read the Leadership Lab conversation with Gary Kendall, sign up for the certificated Sygnature Programme starting in March in South Africa and September in the UK, or register for one of our two Learning Journeys at Sasaab Luxury Lodge in Kenya in April and at Grootbos Private Nature Reserve, South Africa, in August.
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Nottingham Trent University has developed a way to embed miniaturised solar cells into yarn that can then be knitted and woven into textiles. Clothing embedded with tiny solar cells the size of a flea can allow wearers to generate electricity on the move and charge items like mobile phones and smartwatches. The technology has been tested and proven to charge a mobile phone and a Fitbit. The cells are encapsulated in a resin which allows the textile fabric to be washed and worn like any other form of clothing. More detail here.
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The new Ofsted inspection can be read here and you can respond to what is proposed via the website. Is there enough encouragement of Environment Education do you think?
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The 10th World Environment Education Congress is in Thailand from November 3-7 with the theme: Local Knowledge, Communication and Global Connectivity. The conference details are here with a preliminary call for papers here. Going there is likely to blow a hole in your carbon budget.