NAEE is collaborating with COBIS, the Council of British International Schools, on an Eco Film Award. This is a film-making competition that aims to develop COBIS students’ environmental awareness and empower them to take action.
Students have been invited to produce a short film showcasing a project they have carried out to improve the environmental sustainability of their school. Through this competition, COBIS aims to inspire students to take green action and recognise the environmental achievements of their schools. NAEE will be judging the entries next Spring.
Students will be producing a short film about an environmental project they have carried out in their school. The film should be no longer than 2.5 minutes and include details of:
- The environmental issue
- Strategies us ed to overcome the issue
- The outcome
- Who was involved
- What the students learned through being involved
There’s more detail here. ∫∫∫
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Starting next September, Italy is set to become the first country to make it compulsory for schoolchildren to study climate change and sustainable development. Reuters reports that all state schools will dedicate 33 hours per year to climate change issues, with many traditional subjects, such as geography, mathematics and physics being studied from the perspective of sustainable development.
The Italian Education minister said: “The entire ministry is being changed to make sustainability and climate the centre of the education model.”
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GEEP asks if you have any recently published resources, innovative programs, upcoming opportunities, or other updates you want to share with the network via the next issue of GEEP News coming out in mid-December. Please send submissions to info@thegeep.org no later than November 31, 2019. ∫∫∫
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On November 21st (1630 to 1800), the University of Bath’s I-SEE seminar programme features Professor Dieter Helm, Fellow in Economics, New College, Oxford. His seminar title is: Net zero – what it really means. You can read his Abstract and register here. ∫∫∫
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The latest edition of the TRAFFIC Bulletin is now available. This issue’s topics range from a comprehensive overview of the 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP18), the challenges of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, the voluntary certification of wild plant trade, and the online trade in Sun Bears. You can download the issue here. ∫∫∫
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The World Economic Forum has a feature on the growing of pumpkins for Halloween, asking whether they are a problem for the planet. very year, some 10 million pumpkins are grown in the UK with 95% used at Halloween and then thrown away creating 18,000 tonnes of waste. Some of this will be composted and recycled, but how much? Hubbub explores the issues with an article on pumpkin rescue. ∫∫∫
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The THE published an open letter with over 1000 signatures to the leaders of the UK higher education sector. It begins:
“Humanity stands at the brink of a precipice. If we do not urgently address climate breakdown and the ecological crisis, the very future of life on earth is in question. David Attenborough has said “We cannot be radical enough” in tackling the climate crisis, and the people are listening. Universities are the bastions of wisdom and knowledge that are urgently needed to combat the climate crisis. Now is the time to increase our efforts. …”
This is how it ends:
“We ask you to support scientists, academics and students to help address the climate emergency through a series of new programmes, fellowships, sabbaticals and voluntary placements to help the critical efforts needed to save all life on our planet. These will be hosted by a large partnership between universities, companies and NGOs working on solutions.
We need to be leaders. We need to transform our universities into action-oriented institutions. Please help us make this possible.” ∫∫∫
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The SDG Academy has a range of expert-produced teaching resources about the Goals. You can find them here. ∫∫∫
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The Geography Teacher Educators’ Conference brings together geography ITE trainers from across the UK and further afield, to exchange ideas, discuss research and debate current issues within geography education. The next conference will be in London from 24 – 26 January 2020. You can find out more here.
And the 2020 GA Conference will be at University of Surrey from Thursday 16 April – Saturday 18 April, with field visits, workshops and lectures by the leading experts on geographical themes and teaching theory. More details are available including info about the early bird discount. ∫∫∫
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The Environmental News Network reports on a Rice University study which transformed laser-induced graphene (LIG) into self-sterilizing filters that grab pathogens out of the air and kill them with small pulses of electricity. ∫∫∫