A UK citizens climate assembly on the climate issue and net zero emissions by 2050 has just ended. After meeting for six weekends with climate experts and energy specialists, and discussing the issues, the assembly report emerged a couple of weeks ago. Many of its proposals were largely uncontroversial and many were already national policy. The assembly also proposed direct measures such as taxing frequent flyers and reducing red meat consumption. The overarching recommendation was more information and education. §§§§
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Earthday believes every school in the world must have compulsory, assessed climate and environmental education with a strong civic engagement component. It has started a new climate and environmental literacy campaign, aiming to get commitments from all countries at COP26 and to ensure that students across the world benefit from high-quality education to develop into informed and engaged environmental stewards. Earthday says that, combined with civic education, climate and environmental literacy will create jobs, build a green consumer market, and allow citizens to engage with their governments in a meaningful way to solve climate change. Their press release includes a quote from Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change (UNFCCC):
“At COP26, we need stepped up action and ambition right across the Paris Agreement, and that includes ambition in respect to climate education. We need to better educate our children and youth on the science and the risks, but also the excitement of building a better world; generating more good jobs in sustainable businesses and the benefits of being greener consumers and more active citizens. I welcome this global initiative and look forward to it stimulating excitement and enthusiasm among all governments and all sectors of society.” §§§§
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Teach the Future is recommending an accelerated and consistent delivery of investment into the energy efficiency and carbon reduction of school buildings in the Comprehensive Spending Review and has set out its argument, methodology, and costings for a zero-carbon education estate. You can read all this here.
And there is a new Teach the Future blog collating all the available stats on how large the demand for climate change education is. §§§§
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In June, OCR launched a consultation in response to the call for developing a GCSE in Natural History in order to shape early thinking about what such a GCSE might look like. Views were sought on what Natural History is before going on to explore what key themes such as conservation, the early world, and the study of flora and fauna should be included in the qualification. Additionally OCR was also interested in the practicalities and the importance of observing nature in real situations outside the classroom. There were over 2,000 responses, including over 200 from young people, and the results of the consultation are being used to draft the proposal to the Department for Education (DfE) for developing the GCSE. More detail here where you can download a summary of the consultation findings. §§§§
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Every economics and business studies teacher in the country should surely be reading the special report in The Economist about business and climate change: the great disrupter. This looks just like the sort of resource that the young people who are calling for a more real-world, climate-realist education ought to be exposed to. Like most Economist articles it’s readable and the graphs and charts are good. §§§§
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The Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 (GBO-5), published by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a final report on progress against the 20 global biodiversity targets agreed in 2010. Professor Jane Memmott, President of the British Ecological Society, said:
“This report brings together the highest quality evidence on the state of nature across the globe and should be commended. It provides the necessary basis for all nations to come together next year at the UN Convention of Biological Diversity when they will set new targets for halting and reversing the losses we are seeing in the natural world. The crisis in nature is such that we need to act now. Next year’s convention on halting and reversing biodiversity loss is as important as the talks on climate change. We are dependent on the natural world for our food, wellbeing and prosperity and the current rate of loss of species is seriously worrying. That action needs to be based on the best science, and this report gives us a status report, shows us how to monitor biodiversity and gives examples of policies and projects that are making a difference. Being able to find the right policy solutions will fundamentally depend on the latest science, continued innovation and the commitment of all.” §§§§
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Lucy Lake and Angeline Murimirwa have won the 2020 Yidan Prize for Education Development for their work at CAMFED the campaign for female education across sub-Saharan Africa. With the prize fund, they will train 20,000 Learner Guides to help keep 1 million girls in school in five countries. CAMFED says this will be a significant step towards their goal of reaching 5 million girls in the near future. §§§§
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Regatta has launched a campaign which looks at the UK litter crisis and the shocking amount of rubbish being dumped on beaches, in woodlands, and at other natural beauty spots across the country. According to Keep Britain Tidy, 2 million pieces of litter are dropped in the UK everyday: 23 every second. To get more people talking about this you can share your thoughts on social media using the hashtag #UKLitterCrisis. §§§§
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You have only 2 days left to take the survey about your participation (if you have any) in national and international environmental education conferences. The survey is here. §§§§
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Greenpeace is dropping large boulders onto Dogger Bank to stop illegal trawl fishing on a protected sea area. Whatever you think of this personally, it sounds like a great focus for a sixth-form debate. §§§§
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Despite what we said last week, this is our last extract from How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything by Mike Berners-Lee, which was published on September 3 by Profile Books. We’ll be reviewing the book at a later date.
Drinking a cup of black tea costs 22g of carbon, 47g with added soya milk, and 71g tea if cow’s milk is used. A cup of instant black coffee costs 49g, but it’s 87g if drip filtered. You can then add 110g for a typical disposable cup. §§§§