DfE Strategy launch – The DfE is launching its Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy on Thursday April 21st at London’s Natural History Museum 7 to 9pm. There will be a keynote speech by the Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Nadhim Zahawi MP.
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Another Launch – Unlike the DfE’s event, we are all invited to the launch of UCL’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education [CSSSE] whose mission is to transform the UK’s approach to teaching climate change and sustainability in schools. The first of its kind in the UK, it will conduct high quality research into climate change and sustainability education and use this to shape outstanding, free professional development for all teachers and school leaders. At the event on Tuesday 26 April (4.30pm to 5.45pm) we’ll hear from national and international experts on the urgent need to equip teachers with the skills needed to prepare young people for a climate altered future. We can register here. For further information, email ovpa.events@ucl.ac.uk – and a reminder that April 28th sees the launch of NAEE’s manifesto. Full details next week.
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Research Opportunity – CSSSE at University College London is appointing a Research Fellow to assist in the development of research proposals, contributing to and leading writing projects and contributing to a vibrant programme of stakeholder engagement and impact activities. The post is available from April 2022 and is initially funded for 12 months. The closing date is April 5th
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Career Videos – Satchel Classes is a platform to supporting 11-18 yr olds in the UK by means of short burst videos covering curriculum support, life skills and careers guidance. It is looking for people from a wide range of careers to record short videos via Zoom providing insight into their industry, their role or their personal career journey. If you have 30 minutes to spare they’d love to hear from you – it’s a simple process; flexible and streamlined. Careers videos are available for free to all students and parents to help support young people’s education and development after a rocky few years. If you are interested or anyone you know may be interested, please get in touch with adam@teamsatchel.com
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Local School Nature Grants – Schools and early years settings in England, Scotland and Wales can now apply for £500 of outdoor learning equipment and free staff training from Learning through Landscapes. Application details here
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Climate and Gender – An Economist newsletter has a feature on whether climate change is a gendered issue. It concludes that it is. Earlier this month it invited Malala Yousafzai, winner of the Nobel peace prize in 2014, to guest-edit a series of essays on girls’ education. Malala commissioned Vanessa Nakate, a Ugandan climate activist, to write about why climate change risks keeping girls out of school and why resisting this and promoting their education can help foster more climate-resilient societies. Here is Vanessa’s article
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New Book – Sustainability Education: A Classroom Guide is a new book (published in April) that considers both the theory and practice of sustainability education with a special focus on the 3-14 age range. There are discussion questions throughout the text and nearly 200 teaching ideas from contributing authors from many different countries together with a supporting companion website. The conceptual framework draws together different disciplines and focuses on progression – something which is often problematic. It aim is to help teachers, tutors and students deepen their thinking and ideas around sustainability education and encourage them to deliver it in the classroom. A 20% discount is available in the UK with this code: GLR A6AUK We shall be reviewing this in the coming weeks.
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Innovation Prize – The Richard Louv Prize for Innovation in Nature Connection is open to anyone doing exemplary work to advance equitable access to nature in their community or region. The Prize recognizes innovative strategies for creating regular access to the benefits of nature everywhere children live, learn and play. You’ll find the award criteria and application details here
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Slugs ‘n’ Snails – The RHS is carrying out a scheme of research on gastropod control methods to improve the advice it can give to home (and school) gardeners. There are 44 species of slug in the UK, not all of which cause damage to plants. Many feed on dead plant matter. The RSH has decided to stop referring to them as “pests”. Whether gardeners ever do, only time will tell.
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Cutting Energy Use – Alison Smith, a researcher in nature-based solutions at the University of Oxford writes in The Conversation about how we can all help Ukraine through individual and family climate action to cut resource demand through behaviour change which is a neglected yet instant solution that will usually save money and does not require capital investment. Although schools are not mentioned, what it written is certainly relevant to them.
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Circular Buildings – Arup and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation have launched a practical toolkit designed to bring a circular economy for buildings into the mainstream. The built environment sector is a major consumer of natural resources and is currently responsible for almost 50% of the consumption of raw materials, and around 40% of global CO2 emissions. To date, the building industry has been almost solely focused on energy efficiency, but the energy transition is only part of the challenge it faces as almost half of global greenhouse gas emissions come from embodied carbon emitted through the production and operational processes. This has particular relevance to the school estate. More details here.
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Rewilding hearts and Minds – A new report explores the social and cultural barriers to nature recovery in Scotland. It concludes that more needs to be done to help different groups navigate the changes rewilding could bring, and recognise the opportunities relevant to their interests, if it is to gain wider support. It concludes that resistance to rewilding results from uncertain outcomes. Hearts & Minds can be downloaded here.
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Coping with Temperature Change (again) – The Conversation has a feature article on what it terms the original climate crisis: how the little ice age devastated early modern Europe. The authors note: “Starting in the early 14th century, average temperatures in the British Isles cooled by 2°C, with similar anomalies recorded across continental Europe. Much colder winters ensued. Rivers and coastal seas froze, bringing trade and communications to a halt. Crops and livestock withered while downpours spoiled harvests, unleashing widespread hunger and hardship. …” They go on to relate this to the warnings in the IPCC’s latest report.
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Future Fuel? – Is hydrogen the fuel of the future? If so, in which sectors? In an I-SEE seminar on Tuesday April 5th, Prof Tim Mays will explore the fuels’ potential. It is already in the UK government’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution and is acknowledged by the Climate Change Committee as an important ingredient in meeting the country’s ambitious 2050 Net Zero Carbon target. The seminar will cover the main technology and environment aspects of hydrogen energy from production via storage and transmission to end use. It will also include important economic and social impacts of these technologies. Registration here.