Happy New Year from everyone at NAEE.
UKSCN sent out a New Year reflection to its supporters that looked back at 2019 and forward to 2020. Inspired by Greta Thunberg and the international Fridays For Future movement, the Network coordinated the first strike on 15th February 2019. Tens of thousands of students walked out of school to protest about what they saw as government inaction on the climate crisis. Since then, there have been strikes nearly every month up to the most recent global strike on 29th November. Alongside activism in Scotland and Northern Ireland, this has resulted in over 920 demonstrations across the UK. The next two strikes will be on 14th February and 13th March and advice, about funding, promotional support, etc is available. UKSCN is looking to COP26 in Glasgow in December as an opportunity to further encourage UK climate action. ∫∫∫
.
This week, BBC Radio 4 starts a series of profiles of green pioneers. It begins today with Rachel Carson, with Joe Farnham, Petra Kelly, Wangari Maathai, and Judith Wright featured on the following days. The series ends on Friday January 24th. ∫∫∫
.
Here’s a link to a 2019 report on electric vehicles from the IEA. This is an annual publication that identifies and discusses recent developments in electric mobility across the globe. It combines historical analysis with projections to 2030, and examines key areas of interest such as electric vehicle and charging infrastructure deployment, ownership cost, energy use, carbon dioxide emissions and battery material demand. A key observation is that, despite the comparative advantage of electric vehicles in terms of emissions, the benefits of transport electrification will be greater if deployment takes place in parallel with the decarbonisation of power systems.
The report says that in 2018, electric cars saved some 40 million tons of CO2 worldwide. According to the IPCC, this is equivalent to reducing global temperatures by about 0.00002°C. ∫∫∫
.
Learning Through Landscapes is supporting the #weevoicesbigactions movement about empowering children to experience their own local environment and then to engage in activism. LTL says that it believes that in having first-hand experiences children have a broader view of the world. However, it adds, “we cannot assume our children all have the same experiences, and therefore it is vital that we do get children out into their environment to ensure equity or experience.” Click here for details. ∫∫∫
.
The New York Times climate team emails readers once a week with stories and insights about climate change. You can sign up here to receive them. The website version of the most recent letter is here ∫∫∫
.
Working with Edible Playgrounds, Trees for Cities is offering free resources for schools. These include curriculum guides and lesson plans to help support teachers in using their food growing space as an outdoor learning environment. ∫∫∫
.
This is a link to the latest IUCN newsletter which begins: “Across both IUCN Save Our Species and the Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHCP), our grantees have achieved some magnificent results. We are incredibly proud to support conservation actions that are making a difference across the globe. We can only save species if we collaborate.” It then lists some of the highlights. ∫∫∫
.
The LEEF National Urban Environmental Education Conference is taking place on the 10th of February 2020 in London. Tickets are available here. ∫∫∫
.
The next DERC Seminar is Accepting responsibility for global environmental challenges: the role of education. It’s presented by Rob Amos (Kent University) whose research interests lie in international environmental law, environmental justice and ecological legal theory. His new book, International Conservation Law: The Protection of Plants in Theory and Practice, is due to be published by Routledge in 2020.
The seminar is Tuesday, 4 February 1700 – 1830 [ Add to Calendar ] in Room 731, UCL Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL View Map ∫∫∫
.
A final word on our past-President David Bellamy whose death we noted just before Christmas. His was a much-imitated voice, and he was driving along one day when he heard a Radio Lincolnshire announcement for a Who can do the best imitation of David Bellamy? competition. So he stopped by a phone box, called the programme, and made his contribution giving a false name.
He came 3rd. ∫∫∫