Young Reporters – The winners of the 2021 Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) International Competition have now been decided by the International Jury. Over 454,000 students participated in the programme, and produced over 19,000 pieces of environmental journalism for national YRE competitions. More detailhere.
.
Youth Zoo – The Chester Zoo Youth Board is hosting a symposium for young people aged 16 – 30 years on 13th & 14th November and is looking for inspiring young speakers to share their expertise and enthusiasm via presentations and workshops as part of the event. All the information about the event is here.
.
Aiming Hi – The Eden Project is hosting a new climate education event; it’s an interactive online course, delivered from the rainforest domes of the Project, featuring guests including Clean Bandit’s Love Ssega, Nick Mulvey, Jessie Mei Li, Melati Wijsen and YOUTHTOPIA’s Circle of Youth and Olympic champions like Hannah Mills. It will cover climate, nature, communications and solutions in a “super-accessible and relatable way” to activate and empower people – directly combating the climate and nature crisis. There is more detail here.
.
People – Nature – Climate – Here is the final programme for the 2021 Communicate “on the road to the COPs” conference which runs on September 14th and 15th.
.
Going Nuts over Beef – Food production is responsible for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. So, if you want to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet, what’s the best way to do it? Our World in Data says that eating locally would only have a significant impact if transport were responsible for a large share of food’s final carbon footprint, but for most foods, this is not the case. In fact, emissions from transportation make up a very small amount of the emissions from food and what you eat is far more important than where your food traveled from. The data are here. and provide useful starting points for class discussion.
.
Landscape Review – In 2018 the government asked for an independent review into whether the protections for National Parks and AONBs are still fit for purpose. In particular, what might be done better, what changes will help and whether the definitions and systems in place are still valid. The review report was published in September 2019. You can see the detail here. What is not clear, however, is what has been done about any of the report’s recommendations.
.
Feelings and Sensations – The UK parliament is debating an animal welfare (sentience) bill. If passed, the bill would formally recognise animals as sentient beings, meaning they are able to experience feelings and sensations. The Economist Educational Foundation has a number of resources about the sentience of animals which explore what this means for how we treat them.
.
New Carboniferous Rock – The first factory to take carbon dioxide out of the air, pump it underground (and turn it into rock) has begun operation in Iceland. Renewable energy operates fans in boxes as large as shipping containers to push air through filters which absorb the CO2. These will extract some 4,000 tonnes of the gas from the atmosphere each year. There’s more detail here.
.
Nature is Circular – The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has launched its first biodiversity study The Nature Imperative: How the circular economy can tackle biodiversity loss. It says that a circular economy is a nature positive economy, and by eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials, and regenerating nature, biodiversity can thrive.
.
Necrobiomes – The Environment Agency has finalised a new nature corridor to support native pollinators and other wildlife along the River Great Ouse by planting wildflowers, installing bird boxes, bee hives, bee hotels and shrubbery. The work supports the agency’s long-term goal of creating resilience in the UK towards climate change whilst also improving air, land and water quality for a more a sustainable future. There’s more detail here c/o Rewilding Monthly Bite from Citizen zoo where you will also find features on beavers, ospreys, wildcats, eagles and necrobiomes.
.
Climate Justice – A new resource Exploring Climate Justice: A human rights-based approach has been developed by WOSDEC, the ThirdGeneration Project, the Royal Society of Chemistry, ScotDEC, and Eco Active Learning, with the assistance of Oxfam.
.
Crispr Toast – The UK is to grow a new strain of wheat in an effort to make healthy toast. The trials will be the first in Europe for a wheat that has been created using the Crispr technology. The grain has been gene-edited to reduce levels of asparagine, a naturally occurring amino acid. When wheat bread is toasted, asparagine turns into acrylamide, a carcinogen. Professor Nigel Halford, who leads the project, said in The Times that the aim was to produce healthier non-GM wheat without changing the taste.
.
World Rivers Day – This year, WRD falls on Sunday, September 26th. It is a celebration of the world’s waterways, and highlights the many values of rivers and aims to increase public awareness and encourages the improved stewardship of rivers around the world. The weeks leading up to this give a chance for schools to investigate their local waterways.
.
A WEEC in Prague – The 11th World EE Congress takes place on March 14-18, 2022 in Prague. There are a whopping 13 themes ranging from Arts, ethics, and EE to Transformative, Transgressive learning in communities to Action competence and key competences for sustainability. Much more detail here.