Bill Scott's blog
Thoughts on learning, sustainability and the link between them
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Neither sermons nor silence
The Green Alliance blog has an interesting post today titled: Should the [UK] government advertise the “green switchover”? 'Advertise' here means communicate to a generally unaware public through TV in order to increase adoption of green initiatives such as the Green Deal...
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The Planet, its People and the Royal Society
The Royal Society's recent report, People and the Planet, had not had the sort of reception its authors might have wished. The Economist was unimpressed, branding it a curate's egg: ... it might have been nice, in adopting the first...
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How much do you know about climate change?
Preparing for a talk on communicating sustainable development with the public, I've been reading far too many reports than are good for me. The following is from a survey of attitudes and knowledge relating to biodiversity and the natural environment (2007...
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Schools, universities, sustainability ...
Just how different are schools and universities when it comes to addressing sustainability? I pondered that question recently, and the associated one of wondering whether "lessons" from one sector could have any applicability in the other. I've been doing this,...
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Wilderness and racism
An engrossing story last night, in BBC FOUR's Unnatural Histories series, about the creation of Yellowstone national park and thence the whole US national park service. It was packed with incident and argument, and wholly unsentimental – a nice change...
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Do windfarms really cause climate change?
Well, according to the Telegraph's excitable headline writers they do! However, the truth is less dramatic and more interesting – as was revealed if you struggled to the bottom of the story. According to research summarised in Ars Technica, ......
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Let's celebrate the lesser black-backed gull
I wonder if this picture of a lesser black-backed gull taking a duckling from Dublin's Herbert Park pond will feature on many wildlife charity Christmas cards this year. I suspect not, as we're squeamish about some of the realities of the natural...
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Incomplete university guide
This week saw the publication of the 2013 Complete University Guide. This categories universities into sets of league tables according to entry standards, student satisfaction, research assessment and graduate prospects, etc. The raw data come from public sources. One thing...
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ESD is misunderstood in the UK
A recent report for UNESCO that looked at the main lessons learned from ESD practice in the UK concluded that "ESD is misunderstood." This seems entirely the wrong way round to me: People find ESD impossible to understand, more like. Here's a...
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Today is International Mother Earth Day, so ...
Today, 22 April 2012, is International Mother Earth Day. The UN says: The proclamation of 22 April as International Mother Earth Day is an acknowledgement that the Earth and its ecosystems provide its inhabitants with life and sustenance. It also...
