April 2020
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There's a world of a difference between Will and May
A Times leading article this morning, Poetic Justice, mis-quotes Wordsworth by substituting "will" for "may" in his poem, The Tables Turned. Wordsworth's insight was that “One impulse from a vernal wood / May teach you more of man, / Of...
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My Teach the Future blog
I'm feeling moderately pleased with myself in as much as my rather puritan upbringing allows me to be. The reason? I've had a post published on the Teach the Future blog. It's titled, "Are we making progress?" and asks how...
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Initial reflections on the National Youth Climate Summit
I went to the summit yesterday c/o zoom. I didn't see all of it owing to commitments with my grandchildren, and so I'm looking forward to viewing the bits I missed. My main reservation about the event beforehand was with...
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National Youth Climate Summit
I'm going to the National Youth Climate Summit today without leaving my desk. There are obvious carbon and time advantages to having a virtual event, even when it's a necessity because of the Covid-19 lockdown. It's also a democratising mode...
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PPE litter grows
It has only barely been reported, but the levels of PPE litter on the UK's streets seem to have been growing. Even Untidy Britain is shocked. You might have thought that the pandemic now engulfing the UK would have dramatically reduced...
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Inside George Monbiot
George Monbiot was on Radio 4's Inside Science yesterday afternoon, hoping that COVID-19 will change how we live so that we come to be more in tune with the realities of climate change. This is from the programme website: "While the...
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DfE letter deconstructed
On Monday, I posted the contents of a letter from Michael Gove to a student constituent, Calum McDougall (not his real name), about climate change in the curriculum. The text was actually written by (or for?) Nick Gibb, the Minister...
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The DfE explains itself
Some of the members of UKSCN have been persistent in asking their MPs to get DfE to explain in greater detail just how the English school curriculum is so good (as DfE claims) at helping young people understand climate change...
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Indicator smog
The IMF announced last week that there were signs of an economic recovery in China after the coronavirus disruption. It based this view not on the rigorous collection of economic data on the ground, but on the satellite detection of...
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NUS presidents I have known
I see that NUS has a new president-elect. She's Larissa Kennedy and she has been welcomed by the MSM with the usual hostility. The key question for me is whether she will be as assiduous in supporting sustainability as the last...