New Project Dirt activities …

Saturday 17th September Introduction to Photovoltaics – Brighton, East Sussex (9am – 5pm) Get Growing at St Dennis Community Garden – St Austell, Cornwall (10am – 1pm) FoodFest 16 – Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire (10am – 3pm) Plastic Fantastic Workshop #2 – Dartford, Kent (10am – 4pm) Birdwatching Outing to Rye Meads – Hertfordshire (10:30am – 4pm) Growing from your roots – Birmingham…

Outstanding Contributions to Learning Outside the Classroom

The shortlists for the 2016 Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Learning Outside the Classroom have been selected.  The LOtC Awards recognise individuals and teams of people who have made a significant impact on the lives of children and young people through their commitment to providing and/or championing exciting and inspiring learning outside the classroom opportunities. The…

Manchester’s environment; Manchester’s heritage

The Countryside Classroom September newsletter has a feature on a project from the Manchester Environmental Education Network (MEEN) which focuses on the industrial revolution’s heritage in the local area. Using the project, called ‘Our environment, our heritage’, two East Manchester primary schools learned about activities in the past that had caused soil, air and water pollution in their local…

How and why trees talk to each other

This is a feature article in Yale Environment 360. Ecologist Suzanne Simard has shown how trees use a network of soil fungi to communicate their needs and aid neighboring plants.  Now she’s warning that threats like clear-cutting and climate change could disrupt these critical networks. The article begins … Two decades ago, while researching her…

Up-cycling or?

We are grateful to Max McMurdo for these up-cycling tips: Jam jars – these make great display storage Old lampshades – remove fabric to reveal a beautiful wire structure Coat hangers – these can be used to make amazing lampshades as seen on the latest Channel 4 series of ‘Fill your house for free’ Chipped…

Storms in Mexico kill millions of Monarch butterflies

The Environmental News Network reports that storms have killed millions of Monarch butterflies.  The article begins … While international efforts are under way to help keep dwindling populations of monarch butterflies from disappearing, scientists are raising concerns about how severe weather and a loss of forest habitat at their wintering grounds in Mexico are affecting them.  Every year,…

The Forager Handbook

Miles Irving’s, ‘The Forager Handbook’, begins with a passionate introduction about a revolution in the food industry and a burgeoning communal return to our ancestral roots.  His enthusiasm and knowledge are clear from the start, and the book, without doubt, does offer a wealth of information.  However, I fear the title misleads us in its…