The Science Geek has all the detail you’re likely to need about next week’s solstice, including maps, charts and pictures (mostly of Stonehenge).
Tuesday June 5th was World Environment Day, which the UN promotes. Click here to see what’s happening. This year, we’re invited to beat plastic pollution. The UN has a new strap line: “If you can’t reuse it, refuse it”. Although this is meant as a moral instruction, it clearly has pedagogic value and would be a useful starting point for classroom (and other) discussions about what this might mean for our lives today.
A consultation has started on the focus of a Environmental Principles and Governance Bill, which “will establish a world-leading body to hold government to account for environmental outcomes”. Government says that it will support its commitment to be the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than before, and “will provide scrutiny and advice as we protect and enhance our precious landscapes, wildlife and natural assets and would be able to hold government to account on environmental legislation”. Subject to consultation, the new body could specifically be responsible for:
- providing independent scrutiny and advice on existing and future government environmental law and policy;
- responding to complaints about government’s delivery of environmental law; and
- holding government to account publicly over its delivery of environmental law and exercising enforcement powers where necessary.
NAEE hopes it will have enough teeth to do what’s needed.
The University of Gloucestershire is running a Learning Innovation for Tomorrow: LIFT LAB event on Thursday 14th June in Cheltenham. Activities include:
- Learning projects on blockchain, performing arts, social enterprise, and an immersive family festival pop-up on the UN Global Goals, to name just a few
- Headline input from international expert and UNESCO adviser Professor Stephen Sterling to help develop your practice and ideas on education and sustainability
- 4 practical workshops on sustainability education essentials, assessment, student experiences, and change skills for academics, with input from National Teaching Fellows
Details from: brainbow@glos.ac.uk
BT is supporting a Kickstarter campaign for a sustainability card game called Footprint. The game is said to be easy and quick to play, with games taking between 15-45 minutes. An ‘educator’ version of the game is also available, which includes school worksheets on sustainability. This link provides more details and there’s a video explanation here.
The University of Southampton is celebrating the winners of its Green Stories competition on 21st June at October Books. Philip Hoare will be presenting the prizes and we will read out extracts from the winning entries and runners up. And, there will be drinks and nibbles and a chance to mingle and find out future plans for the competition.
You can register here – it’s free. See, also, Facebook and @GreenstoriesUk
The BCF Curriculum Investigation Grant scheme sets out to support research led by schools and colleges with a focus on curriculum inquiry and investigation. Applications must make clear how the grant will enable applicants to do the following:
- Identify an issue impacting on the development of an aspect of the curriculum in their school/college;
- Design, implement and evaluate a response to the issue identified;
- Disseminate the processes and outcomes of the inquiry/investigation within the school/college;
- Develop a strategy to sustain curriculum investigation/inquiry within the school/college;
- Contribute to research and scholarship in the study of the curriculum;
It’s worth £5000. Details here.
You can see the latest from Think Global here. This includes details of
- Refugee Week [18-24 June] with two new books: The Immigrant Cookbook and Escaping War and Waves to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the arrival of Empire Windrush in the UK
- A new British Red Cross resources on refugees for for 7–14-year-olds
- An advocacy update News on World Ocean’s Day Details of new blogs
On May 16th, at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, some of the biggest names in fashion joined forces to shift their industry to work on the principles of a circular economy. Make Fashion Circular builds on the 2017 report A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning fashion’s future.
NAAEE and the Children and Nature Network have produced a video to introduce you to environmental education research. Just click here.