October 2019

  • Is there a tide running?

    I can't be the only person to have noticed that there is a sudden coming together of four complementary and mutually-supportive forces in relation to the curriculum and the crises in climate and ecology.  These are: Teach the Future Harwood...

  • The concrete and the abstract

    In 1905, Liberty Hyde Bailey, the American horticulturist and botanist, wrote that "The term environmental education is imprecise, theoretical, pompous and will always need to be explained”.  How right he has proven to be.  I lost count a long time ago of the number...

  • Angling for attention

    Flush from its great triumph in banning the hunting of foxes and stags without actually stopping fox and stag hunting, I see that Labour party activists have turned their attention to saving the grouse by banning shooting, as the Times...

  • Education for the Future: Climate Emergency Conference

    Thanks to NAEE for publicising the programme for the Education for the Future: Climate Emergency Conference where Teach the Future was launched.  The full set of events and activities is here. As was appropriate, NAEE focused on curriculum issues, highlighting the following: What...

  • Is the Earth burning?

    We're having to get used to hearing that the Earth is "burning" as it becomes a favoured phrase of those wishing to draw attention to the implications of rapid climate change. Thanks, then, to NAEE for alerting us back in...

  • EAUC's Climate Confection

    I got the following email the other day from EAUC: "We have partnered with Association of Colleges, GuildHE and Universities UK to establish a Climate Commission for UK Higher and Further Education Leaders. Your university/college Vice Chancellor or Principal would...

  • Testing XR's claims

    It's not often that TV can devote time to probing the facts 'n' figures behind the claims of an organisation such as XR, but the BBC managed this on 9 October when Andrew Neil interviewed Zion Lights (nb, their forename...

  • Wiltshire Council is the Tops

    Rather to my (pleasant) surprise, Friends of the Earth has awarded Wiltshire Council top of the league status when it comes to climate-friendly councils.  It scored 92% which must be A* territory.  You can access the full list here. This...

  • Can ESD Bend the Curve?

    I looked carefully at the pictures of the climate marchers last week (and XR this week), particularly at their placards and the messages they contain.  I'm always on the lookout for my grandchildren on the school strike days and think...

  • 1987 Strategies for the Training of Teachers in Environmental Education

    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 – the...