The Election – NAEE has looked at what the party manifestoes have to say about education and environmental education. You’ll find them here: Lib Dems – Labour – Conservative – Green – Reform UK – SNP – Scottish Labour – Plaid Cymru – Scottish Greens.
Teach the Future has analysed some of the party manifestoes to see where they stand on climate education and the need to rebuild and retrofit schools. You can visit their Instagram page for posts on each party, showing what they have promised and what Teach the Future thinks that they have missed.
The latest Inkcap journal has a special focus on what the party manifestos have to say about nature and the environment. You can always subscribe now to receive a digest every week.
BBC Radio 4’s Rare Earth programme last Friday explored what the manifestoes had to say about the environment. It’s here on BBC Sounds.
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Clean Air Day – Although this was last week on June 20th you will still find useful what Global Action Plan says about getting students involved in the campaign through action-focused lesson plans that have been teacher tested and reviewed on:
- Active travel – learn about student travel methods and how you can encourage others to participate in active travel
- Anti idling – learn about idling and how to run a campaign to encourage people not to idle their vehicles
- Low pollution maps – think about lower pollution routes in your community and raise awareness through creating low pollution maps
- Clean Air visions – design your vision of a clean air school or wider community
- Run a Clean Air Day event- download the events pack
Every day should have clean air. You can share your plans at cleanerair@globalactionplan.org.uk
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Biomimicry BioLearn – Richard Dawson, Director of Wild Awake, invites us to a biomimicry educator conference on October 2nd hosted by the BioLearn collective of six biomimicry leaders across the UK and Europe. Just go to Eventbrite to register.
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Foundational Level Award – You could start your British Council International School Award journey with just one classroom activity for the Foundation level award. Click here to get free expert support to help you develop international activities and school partnerships as you progress through the award levels.
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The FED Says – Join Sir Anthony Seldon in Brighton on Wednesday July 3rd to hear about his experiences in putting wellbeing at the heart of school communities. He will provide practical guidance in the form of tools and strategies to support you in prioritising mental and emotional wellbeing for yourself, your colleagues and students. To reserve your free place click here.
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Greening Schools – This month, UNESCO unveiled new tools for greening schools and curricula, highlighting the need to empower young people to play a concrete role in tackling the climate crisis. You can explore the tools here.
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eePRO Update – You can catch up on the latest stories from eePRO. For example: Environmental Leadership Model for a Just and Sustainable Future by Mandela Washington Fellow Bashiru Koroma, and Looking at Earth Through the Eyes of Satellites by Anna Karahan and Anna Losiak of Europejska Fundacja Kosmiczna.
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Kleptoparasitism – Citizen Zoo reports a recent study by Forestry England which it says has allayed fears that white-tailed Eagles might predate on livestock such as lamb, and confirmed that the apex predators reintroduced to the Isle of Wight in 2019, predominantly feed on wild species including rabbits, hares, cuttlefish, and grey mullet, along with scavenging on carrion and kleptoparasitism – taking food from other animals, notably smaller birds of prey. The 29 individuals released on the island have been closely monitored using high-resolution GPS data to track their regular foraging areas and roosting spots, and extensive fieldwork has been carried out by scientists and volunteers, involving over 600 feeding observations. There’s more here.
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Climate Infographics – The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit [ECIU] has an “IPCC Explainer” about the 6thassessment report cycle. This is the latest in a series of infographics presentations.
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Passerina cyanea – A small rare bird, the ingigo bunting, has settled in Sunderland. The bright blue bunting is a resident on the American Atlantic coast and it’s likely that it rode the winder storms to get here.
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SDG Action – The UN SDG Action Campaign has launched a call for applications for the 2024 UN SDG Action Awards, which celebrate work being done to create a world where justice and rights prevail for people and planet. Details here.
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HCFCs, Growing Greenery and Advertising – The last ozone-layer damaging chemicals to be phased out are finally falling in the atmosphere says Luke Western of the University of Bristol in a The Conservation article. These HCFCs were a temporary replacement for CFCs, the initial target of the 1987 Montreal protocol.
Whitney Fleming from Bangor University says that simply looking at greenery can boost mental health.
Several governments are considering bans on adverts for high-emission products and services says Jack Marley. Quoting Peter Dietsch, a professor of philosophy at the University of Victoria, Marley says: “Advertising encourages the public to use a particular product or service. Laws have prevented tobacco companies from doing this in the UK and elsewhere for several decades after the medical case against smoking hardened. The same restrictions must now apply to fossil fuels, the overwhelming cause of climate change.” This sounds like a good topic for a school’s eco-club to consider.