October 2013

  • RSPB Disconnect

    I’ve been reading the RSPB’s new survey of 8 to 12 year olds and their conclusions that only 21% of them are as “connected to nature” as the RSPB thinks they need to be.  This is based on a survey...

  • My Beijing keynote

    My keynote at the 6th Beijing Forum on ESD was about the problem of identifying sustainable development indicators that focus on the contribution of education; that is, ESD.  This is the text of the talk ... The Development of ESD...

  • My Week in Beijing

    It began with a 17 hour journey with the turning Earth across 7 time zones: Wiltshire to Beijing: door to door.  Once there, the days were ok – the nights not. It was rather fine weather, from a sunnyist point...

  • Insight from Manitoba

    You have to go all the way to Beijing to meet a man from Manitoba with radical insights into education and sustainability, but it was worth it, for this Leninesque perspective: Sustainable Development  = ESD + Hydroelectricity This is tough...

  • Second Post from Beijing

    A nice quote from Engels in Mr Tao Xiping's talk on the Strategic Value of ESD and its Future Development: "We are punished for every victory over nature." It would be nice to think so, as would be the notion...

  • Post(card) from Beijing

    The 6th Beijing International Forum on begins in two hours with ceremony, and with welcomes from: Niu Chunshan, Deputy Mayor, People’s Government of Beijing Municipality Xian Lianping, Director, Beijing Municipal Commission of Education Liu Limin, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Education...

  • A dull report from Accenture

    Here’s an Accenture survey of about 1000 CEOs, with an analysis of what they think about sustainability.  Not much, it seems.  I found that ... – companies think they’re only really able to learn from each other – universities aren’t...

  • Enlightenment anyone? The clue is in the name

    A new campaign c/o The Art of Positive Change: A new social media campaign, launched as a result of the Powered by Nature Awards – an initiative of IUCN CEC and ALCOA – encourages people to turn off their lights and...

  • That good old UNESCO shimmy

    A while back, I received this email: A message from the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development Secretariat Hello everyone, The monitoring and evaluation process for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) is designed to...

  • UNESCO-UNEP's Environmentally Educated Teachers – once the priority of priorities

    In 1987, as part of its International Environmental Education Programme, UNESCO-UNEP published: Strategies for the Training of Teachers in Environmental Education [Vol 25 of the programme], a summary of whose recommendations was subsequently made available in 'Connect XV(1) pp.1-3, 'Environmentally Educated Teachers –...