Sue Shanks reviews Mother Earth is Weeping by Claire Donald. This slim little book follows Mother Earth as she shares her worries with the moon about the negative environmental impact that people are having on the planet. Turning to the Sun, Mother Earth and the Moon are cheered by the Sun’s belief that there is capacity for…
Green Steel – With funding from the steel industry, NAEE has produced a freely-available resource for chemistry and science teachers which explores what steel-makers across the globe are doing to find low-carbon and zero-carbon routes to steel in the face of global warming and climate change. Currently, the global steel industry uses 8% of the world’s energy and generates 7% of global carbon dioxide emissions (2020…
Sarah Garry British Society of Soil Science Soils underpin our ecosystems, our climate and human culture. Some of the biggest issues affecting our world and its inhabitants have soil at their heart. Healthy soil supports biodiversity: biodiverse soils can host millions of organisms in each teaspoon. Sustaining life in soil is essential to ensure soil…
NAEE has contributed the following thoughts to CJS: the Countryside Jobs Service. It is based on our submission to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee consideration of the green economy. Our core point is that all school leavers to have an essential understanding of key environmental issues because ensuring this cannot be the responsibility…
This is what The Conversation had to say about COP15: “An agreement to protect 30% of Earth’s surface and halt the loss of the planet’s diverse forms of life by 2050 was this week signed by more than 190 countries in Montreal, Canada. But what this treaty will actually involve is still far from clear.…
The end of the COP 15 meeting came in the week before Christmas when the UK media were recovering from the men’s football World Cup and full of Netflix drama and stories about domestic problems around the loss of essential services, and so it was unsurprising that coverage of the COP was more muted (and…
Poppy Flint ‘This is Rubbish’ (TiR) is a community interest company focused on large scale, pre-consumer food waste. It is a crucial climate change issue and a useful subject for looking at both the environmental and social impacts of modern life. Recently, TiR’s education and outreach work has moved on from an environment and climate…
Planktonia: the nightly migration of the ocean’s smallest creatures by Erich Hoyt Whilst our planet is covered 75% in salt water to the extent it should be called ‘Blue Planet’ or ‘Planet Ocean’, we still know very little about the ocean waters and their treasures: the amazing organisms that call these waters home. This is especially true…
Meaningful Connections – London’s Natural History Museum, the Royal Horticultural Society and the Royal Society, are developing the DfE’s National Education Nature Park and Climate Action Awards scheme. This aims to make sure every young person in England has opportunities to develop a meaningful connection to nature, understand the concepts of climate change and biodiversity loss, and feel able to…
If you are reading this then you will likely be a member of that lucky UK tribe that finds fulfilment from being in the natural world, and a just cause in its protection. Our tribe has a long history, and the wonder is that it doesn’t have more members. But that is what environmental education…
Council for Learning Outside the Classroom – CLOtC has published an evidence summary for learning outside the classroom in natural environments. Natural England commissioned this following the publication of 2 new reports. One of the lead authors of these is CLOtC trustee and NAEE President, Prof Justin Dillon. CLOtC hopes the evidence will be useful for encouraging more schools to feel…
Here’s a further update from Natural England by way of relevant evidence and reports, policy agenda developments, large scale delivery sector initiatives, resources and news items from the UK and abroad, with a focus on schools, education and learning. This supports the Strategic Research Network for People and Nature to develop better coherence and collaboration…