New Publications

  • Net Zero Learning Climate Change

    I wrote the following 18 months ago for NAEE's blog.  I'm reviewing it here to see how well it fits with a focus on  net zero.  This is the text: In terms of teaching about climate change, and based on...

  • How much will you pay for Net Zero?

    I've been reading The Conservation article by Lorraine Whitmarsh University of Bath, Caroline Verfuerth Cardiff University and Steve Westlake Cardiff University: Net zero: direct costs of climate policies aren’t a major barrier to public support, research reveals. It begins in this way:...

  • The balance of nature in crisis

    Nature in the Balance ?  Balance of Nature?  Balance in Nature?   Balance in teaching about Nature? Writing in a recent Times, Jenni Russel said this: "Nature is in crisis. Soils are being depleted faster than they can regenerate, wildlife populations...

  • Three Cheers from the DfE

    If you've seen NAEE's most recent weekly news round up, you'll have read about a synthesis report published by the Royal Meteorological Society [RMetS]. It  confirms what we all knew: that there are many opportunities for climate change education within the...

  • 20 Questions

    I've bought a "vegan nail brush" from a "leading British lifestyle brand" made with "pure cactus bristle" – Agave sisalana – from Mexico with a FSC birch base.  The alternative was plastic so I took the plunge.  It's very nice.  But, given...

  • Appeasing the climate?

    In Hothouse Earth (Icon Books 2022: 160) Bill McGuire writes: “The truth is, playing down the potential worst effects of global heating and climate breakdown is far worse than raising the alarm and amounts to what I like to call climate appeasement....

  • One School at a Time

    I've been reading Leadership for Sustainability: saving the planet one school at a time, written byDavid Dixon, and published by Crown House Publishing, 2022: 250pp, paperback, £18.99, ISBN 978-1-78135-401-8.  The comments which follow will appear as a review in the Spring 2023...

  • Happy winter to you

    I noticed last year just how many 'Christmas' greetings messages from NGOs failed even to mention Christmas.  "Season's greetings", "Festive greetings", "Happy holidays", "Merry yuletide", etc were common themes.  I even had a "Happy winter" email.  It said: "Dear ... Colleague, 2022...

  • Natural History Apprehensions

    The fate of the natural history GCSE is now in the hands of the DfE and OfQual.  Fate as in quality rather than any question of whether it will exist because that battle has been won in the gritted teeth...

  • DfE ministers come and go and come again

    There's a new team at the DfE.  After all the recent resignations new ministers are in place, although one who resigned seems to be back, and the one who never resigned is still there.  Three are new, including the Secretary...