January 2015

  • Watch out; 2015 is the European Year for Development

    Just when you thought you had survived the ESD decade, it turns out that 2015 is the European Year for Development [EYD2015].  Think Global, is happy about this.  Its CEO noted in TG's first January mailing: "The first 'European Year' on EU external policy...

  • Energy from Waste? It's a good thing – just don't mention the 'I' word

    In times past, this used to be called incineration, and the mood of the nation was against it as fear of toxic materials trucked in by night, and dioxins produced by day, stalked the land.  Although it's now called energy from...

  • Open Country – Better Lives

    BBC Radio 4's "Open Country" last week was all about the work that Wiltshire Wildlife Trust does around human wellbeing.  It was a rather inspiring 25 minutes.  You can find it here. The Trust has been running its wellbeing programme since 2008,...

  • Ofsted – just gimme some truth

    It has long been a core claim by Ofsted that all its inspection judgements have very high inter-rater reliability; that is, an outcome would be the same no matter which inspection team pitched up to a school (or wherever) on the day.  Another,...

  • Is the Green Party really dismissive of the world's poor?

    I've been suspicious for a while now of how the Green party views economics – feeling that the faithful thinks that economic concepts can be rewritten to suit themselves – they are not alone there, of course.  However, I have always assumed –...

  • #sustedPU in Plymouth

    I am off to the University of Plymouth today for the Education for Sustainability in Higher Education: Achievements & Prospects conference.  If you're not there, the hashtag is #sustedPU . It's a full day.  It begins with a keynote from Jane Davidson (INSPIRE, University of...

  • UNEP chief uses electric BMW at COP20

    It seems that the UNEP chief has been given an i3 car by BMW, though for how long, isn't clear.  The decal on the side of the car says: "100% electric", but that depends what the electricity was made from.  Nobody is...

  • DfE dismisses ESD2

    Here are a couple of further comments on the letter that Steve Martin and I got from the DfE just before New Year.  I have already written about the "we were busy reorganising" excuse they gave for not going to Japan. 1....

  • Nagoya: now UK ministers can see what they missed ...

    You'll have noted that UK ministers gave the following reason for their absence at UNESCO's Nagoya ESD-fest: "... heavy diary commitments of ... a relatively new ministerial team in England, and the post-Referendum reshuffle of responsibilities in Scotland". There you are.  Such...

  • Another ministerial stonewalling

    Here is the response that Steve Martin and I have had from the DfE in response to a letter we sent to Nicki Morgan at the end of November.  See what you make of it; I'll be commenting on a...