Boycotting Carbon Capture – The UK Student Climate Network is urging a boycott the London Science Museum’s new climate exhibition: Our Future Planet, which is opening later this month because Shell is a sponsor. The UKSCN argument is that “it is appalling that Shell, a company causing mass environmental degradation, is sponsoring an exhibition on climate solutions.” The student group has signed petitions and sent open letters calling on the Museum to drop its deal with Shell, but so far there’s been no reaction; hence the call for a boycott. The boycott pledge is here. The exhibition “will showcase the cutting-edge technology and nature-based solutions being developed to trap carbon dioxide released by human activity, notably burning fossil fuels, from conserving ancient woodlands, to installing processes that prevent carbon dioxide leaving power stations and factories.” Potentially, there is much to learn here which poses a dilemma for the interested student.
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No Change without Learning – A new Forum, The Pedagogy of Transition, explores how to align education with emerging social and ecological imperatives. The Forum has two panels that focus on Frameworks and Practices. The first appraises the state of education today, the factors maintaining its deficiencies, and strategies for its reformation. The second reports on the kinds of innovations already in the classroom (and beyond) that point the way forward. You can find details here. The opening essay in section 1 is by Stephen Sterling. This begins: “Our ability to achieve a livable future for all depends on whether we can foster an unprecedented degree of social learning. There is no change without learning, and no learning without change. But with the stakes higher than ever before, time is worryingly short. How, under such urgency, do we effect such a large-scale paradigm shift?”
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Ubuntu – The sixth issue of The Elephant Times is now available. It explores the use of the South African concept of Ubuntu to reflect on post-Covid education. The Elephant Times if published by Tide~ Global Learning and offers of contributions are very welcome.
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Nul Points – By now we know that it was nul points again for the UK entry in the Eurovision Song Contest. WWF joined forces with the Contest to “give a voice to the planet and all those who depend on and care about our shared home”. WWF asks us to “use this moment to harness the collective power of our united voices – and add our #VoiceForThePlanet now”.
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For Peat’s Sake – This weeks Inkcap Journal includes articles on a species reintroductions task force from Natural England, a campaign by the Environment Agency encouraging anglers to see fishing as a way to connect with nature, and a Peat Action Plan from government which includes a £50m grant scheme for the restoration of 35,000 hectares of degraded peatlands. You can subscribe to Inkcap here.
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Rare Earth Recycling – Electric cars use powerful magnets made from rare-earth metals. As the Economist notes, not all rare earths are actually that rare. Neodymium, for instance, is about as abundant as tin. But good, workable deposits are scarce, and many are in China, which has, in the past, imposed export quotas. This, combined with an absence of substitutes, make rare earths pricey enough to constitute more than half of such a motor’s cost. Yet virtually none is recycled – a deficiency that extends also to the motors in computer hard drives, cordless tools and domestic appliances, and to the generators (essentially, electric motors in reverse) in wind turbines. The Economist article explores research using hydrogen as a means of separating the mix of metals in the magnets. It also has an article on the recycling of electric cars more generally. Both features should prove of interest to sixth-form science students.
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Taxing Carbon – A recent poll for The Times showed that 11% of voters say that they would be willing to see their electricity and heating bills rise to combat climate change. 77% would not. The figures for increases in the cost of motoring are 36 – 54 % and for increases in tax is 26 – 59 %. All these data are broken down by age, political affiliation, sex, class, and regional location. While the data on people’s understanding of the seriousness of climate change are high (and hence reassuring), it seems that a lot of people would rather someone else bore the cost. There is much in here for schools to use in an exploration with students about what we might or should do in relation to climate change.
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Closing the Gap – Climate Action has an interview with Torsten Kallweit, Head of Bosch’s Corporate Office Health, Safety, Environmental and Fire Protection, on how the company has “closed the gap between ambition and action to become carbon neutral”. Sceptics about such statements might have a point. However, Business Studies (and maybe other) students would likely find the detail provided here of interest. This weeks Economist, co-incidently, has an article on greenwashing in the finance sector.
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Tipping Point? – The Guardian has a report about the melting of the Greenland Icesheet. It begins in a gloomy way: “A significant part of the Greenland ice sheet is on the brink of a tipping point, after which accelerated melting would become inevitable even if global heating was halted … Rising temperatures caused by the climate crisis have already seen trillions of tonnes of Greenland’s ice pour into the ocean. Melting its ice sheet completely would eventually raise global sea level by 7 metres.” Later on, it is less apocalyptic: “Uncertainties in the research meant it might already be at the point of no return, or be about to cross it in the coming decades, the scientists said. However, even if the tipping point was crossed, it did not mean that the entire ice sheet was doomed, they said, because there might be a stable state for a smaller ice sheet.”
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Charismatic Megaflora – As we know, large and distinctive animals tend to get a lot of attention of both scientists and the public, and NGOs use them as a means of attracting members and funding. But it seems that this bias can apply to plants as well. A study in Nature Plants suggests that botanists prefer studying plants with large flowers that are blue (or white, red and pink). Aesthetic bias, it seems, exists towards plants as well as animals. But is this true of the public more generally? Does it, for example, explain the usual May rush to look at rhododendrons and their blousy displays?
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Greening the Earth – Tristram Hales, Benoit Goossens, and Mike Bruford from Cardiff argue in The Conversation that while planting trees can sometimes be a carbon-offset box-ticking exercise, reforestation is a long-term commitment that supports communities, promotes biodiversity and tackles the climate emergency. Their article is here: we can’t just plant trees, we have to restore forests. In another Conversation feature, David Bek and Margi Lennartsson Turner from Coventry University ask what can gardeners use that isn’t so bad for the climate. This is their response: Peat compost to be banned – luckily, green alternatives are just as good for your garden.
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Burn that Mink – The Danes are burning their minks, but not in the ways that animal rights campaigners usually hope. It’s not fur coats, hats, stoles, mules and muffs that are being incinerated but some of the 14 million mink that were culled last year when Covid-19 infected mink farms across the country. Although the cull was declared illegal by the courts it was too late for the mink and for the Minister of Agriculture who resigned. So far, 30 tonnes of mink have been mixed with a power plant’s usual feedstock of household waste adding a new dimension to the concept of biomass.
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Clean Air Day – is taking place this year on June 17th. Details here. Saturday May 29th, meanwhile, is National Biscuit Day. Please enjoy responsibly.