The Environmental Audit Committee has launched its first inquiry of the new Parliament with calls for evidence on the Government’s approach to sustainable development. Its website says: “Promoting sustainable development – which for the purposes of this inquiry includes protecting the environment, supporting the low carbon economy and improving wellbeing – could be worth billions of…
NAEE has just completed its third year of awarding bursaries to schools. Known as Kenrick Days (after the late Hugh Kenrick), the bursaries are helping Birmingham schools to fulfil Anne Kenrick’s wish to see today’s generation getting outdoors, and learning about the environment, including growing and caring for plants. The bursaries go towards the cost…
Time is running out to register for the Bristol Green Capital ESD Symposium in September. Learning from the Sharp End’ – Implications for sustainability in Higher Education takes place on 7 & 8 September, and the registration deadline is 31 August. The symposium focuses on new ideas to empower students to deliver a more sustainable future and…
Butterfly Conservation is asking everyone whether they have seen the Common Blue this year. The Common Blue is the most widespread of the UK’s blue butterflies but in recent years its numbers have declined and in 2012 reached its lowest level on record. As part of this year’s Big Butterfly Count, Butterfly Conservation has teamed up with the National…
A quick internet search or time spent in this sector tells you that the world is not short of books offering activities to do in the great outdoors. However, credit must be given to the authors of ‘Learning with Nature’ who have written a book which stands out in this sea of titles and offers…
Participants in the BiGGY school-leaver pilots will talk about their ‘green’ projects from 1300 to 1430 on Friday 28th August at the University of Gloucestershire’s Park Campus in Cheltenham. They will focus on their experiences and what they learned and can take forward to their university studies. Blogs detailing the work completed can be found here. For further information contact Meg Baker (BiGGY Coordinator): mbaker3@glos.ac.uk or …
Every day last June, a member of staff from The Wildlife Trusts blogged about a Random Act of Wildness that they did. Did you ‘do’ any such random acts yourself out of sympathy or solidarity, perhaps – or just for sheer enjoyment? If not, there’s still time – in September! Meanwhile, you can read about the random…
As we have already noted, the Royal Society of Biology [RSB] has launched a ‘what’s the nation’s favourite insect’ competition. You might have already voted for one of the 10 insects identified by the Society’s ecologists. Or, perhaps, you’re sceptical of the whole idea. Here’s one such view, taken from our President’s blog.
The Forest Education Network (FEN) was set up in 2012 as the successor to the Forest Education Initiative (FEI) in England. Hosted by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom, the FEN seeks to engage more young people in forest and woodland environments by supporting education in forest and woodland settings, networking and sharing good…
Sir David Attenborough is calling on the public to help reverse butterfly declines by taking part in the world’s largest butterfly survey. The Big Butterfly Count encourages people to spot and record 18 species of common butterflies and two day-flying moths during three weeks of high summer. Have you recorded yet?
A recent map from NASA shows cloud cover over the earth. This shows an average of a satellite’s cloud observations between July 2002 and April 2015. You can just about make out the UK – under all that cloud. NASA says that typically 67% of Earth’s surface is covered by clouds, especially the case over the oceans, with less…
Mairi Kershaw, Chair of the South West Learning for Sustainability Coalition, contributes today’s blog post. “A person whose goal is self realisation is helping to change the world at its most fundamental level, such people are perhaps the ultimate revolutionaries” This quote dates back to 1996. In this century, however, social networking has facilitated an…