John Muir is regarded as the ‘father of America’s national parks’ and is a towering figure in the history of that country’s involvement with ecology, wilderness and all things natural. Born into a harsh disciplinarian home in Dunbar, Scotland (not the US as often thought), as a young boy he would often escape the grit of…
Here’s a link to the 2016 Communicate website and all the presentation slides from the recent conference. Communicate 2016 had the theme of Swapping Spectacles, and was held on 02 & 03 November, at Bristol Zoo Gardens. And here’s a link to the next conservation lecture at the zoo given by Ben Garrod.
Click here for an update from Groundwork West Midlands on their latest activities. This includes Charlotte’s story, and an anti carrier bag story c/o Tesco.
Green spaces are at a tipping point says The Parks Alliance in a comment on a recent report funded by Heritage Lottery: State of UK Public Parks 2016. The Alliance began its comment: “The Parks Alliance (TPA), the UK’s voice of parks, today responded to the Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) report ‘State of UK Public Parks 2016’ by…
The BBC has reported that Scottish children are among the least active in the world. It says that Scotland has been placed joint last in an international study of physical activity among children. However, the Active Healthy Kids Report Card praised Scotland’s policies on encouraging physical activity, which were ranked joint second-highest of the 38 countries. The global study…
The World must urgently take action to cut a further 25% from predicted 2030 emissions, says a recent UN Environment report. This comes on the same day that the newspapers are full of stories about the terrible smog in Delhi. The two are, of course, inter-linked. UNEP also released a report from the One Gigatonne Coalition, about which…
Here’s the link to the Inaugural Living Planet Lecture that was delivered earlier this month. The film includes David Attenborough’s introduction and then the main lecture by Professor Johan Rockstrom of the Stockholm Resilience Institute introducing the concept of the new geological epoch: the Anthropocene and the model based on planetary boundaries. WWF says: “For those who…
This will take place in Vancouver from April 18 to 21 2017. CNN says: “Join us in Vancouver for inspiring keynotes, expertly-curated workshops, field trips and action labs designed to support and advance the work you do to connect children, families and communities to nature. Get the conversation going at #CNC2017″ Day one of the Conference is…
Here’s a link to the USA’s Outdoor Family magazine. The editor’s introduction begins: “What exactly does the tagline “Every family outdoors” mean to the parents, grandparents, educators and caregivers reading our magazine? The OFM team thinks it means this: Consciously making time every day to go outside with the children in our care. Exploring the…
Rolf Jucker has a new book: Do We Know What We Are Doing? Reflections on Learning, Knowledge, Economics, Community and Sustainability We were particularly taken by the title of Chapter 4: ESD is Environmental Education (EE), but EE is Not Always ESD and look forward to reading it. Here are a couple of comments about…
Today, December 5th, is world soil day. Here’s a link to the UN site, and here’s one to related Twitter feeds. UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon says “On World Soil Day, I call for greater attention to the pressing issues affecting soils, including climate change, antimicrobial resistance, soil-borne diseases, contamination, nutrition and human health.” The Soil Association reminds us:…
Salvatore Gencarelle will be presenting a one-day workshop on the healing power of the drum and indigenous ceremonial song from North America. Sal says that he drum is a sacred gift of re-connection and movement that was given to all people. It connects people to the heartbeat of the great mother, the Earth. During this workshop, he will…