October 2015

  • COP Alert – only a month to go now

    Watch out.  COP21 is coming. Reuters has reported comments by Laurence Tubiana, the French envoy to COP21, quoting her as saying that delegates remain divided over fundamental issues, one of which is the framework for measuring carbon emissions – with oil-producing nations...

  • Giving the UN a helping hand

    You may think you have already come across the Global Goals for SD, but are you confusing this with the UN's SD Goals? Of course, they are the same goals, but when you compare the websites, you'll see the difference.  Global Goals...

  • Aid and the Sustainable Development Goals

    The 17 SDGs were launched by the UN on September 25th, to the usual fanfare.  They are wordy, as I've noted before, and as the Economist has argued, some are so convoluted as to defy evaluation – which, perhaps, was the point....

  • Carbon emissions and human development in India

    I was being gloomy in a meeting the other day about the dismal prospects for COP21 when someone said the outcome will depend on what David Cameron does. That cannot be right in any tangible sense as our carbon emissions...

  • Falling Carbon Intensity – the UK leads

    It seems that the UK is leading the world in addressing one aspect of climate change.  This is that the fall in our greenhouse gas emissions per $ of GDP, at 10.9%, is not only the highest in the world...

  • Ashden Sustainable School Awards

    Ashden's Sustainable School Awards ceremony was held his wednesday in London.  Sadly, I was unable to attend.  There were four winners: Thornhill Primary School, Cardiff – young eco warriors make big energy savings Thornhill Primary School’s crack squad of student eco-warriors keep energy...

  • Global EE – just don't mention economics

    Here's a new MOOC from Cornell University: Environmental Education: A transdisciplinary approach to addressing wicked problems. The organisers say: "The goal of this course is to create an environmental education “trading zone”— an online space where scholars and students gather to learn about...

  • ESD is no help in THE table of tables

    It is no surprise to see that Cambridge has (again) topped the Times Higher Education table of tables, based on the combined results of the UK’s three main domestic university rankings.  Oxford lies second (again), and St Andrews third (again).  The 3 tables...

  • In memory of murdered bloggers everywhere

    Avijit Roy, the blogger, knew he had to write; But al-Qaida's thugs (who killed him) knew might was right. ………..................... After Pale Ebenezer ...

  • Postcard from NAAEE's Research Symposium

    It is some while since I have been at NAAEE's research symposium, but coming back is like visiting old family friends, with so many familiar faces – and ideas.  I was touched by the warm 'welcome-back' reception that I received. What...