{"id":7072,"date":"2017-10-17T03:40:56","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T03:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=7072"},"modified":"2017-10-17T03:40:56","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T03:40:56","slug":"scotland-did-it-yesterday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2017\/10\/17\/scotland-did-it-yesterday\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland did it yesterday"},"content":{"rendered":"

I've been reading, rather belatedly, the concluding\u00a0report<\/a> (March 2016) of Scotland's\u00a0 Learning for\u00a0Sustainability National Implementation Group. \u00a0This is packed with flag-waving claims. \u00a0Given Scotland's reputation for claiming that it does things differently, better and yesterday, I was not surprised to find this:<\/p>\n

Leading the world to a more sustainable future<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Scotland is a renowned nation of innovation, science and great thinkers. \u00a0We take pride in listing the many Scottish discoveries and inventions such as the television, telephone, pneumatic tyres and even the overdraft! \u00a0Less well-known perhaps is Scotland\u2019s contribution to the creation of a more sustainable world.<\/p>\n

\n
    \n
  • 1827 \u2013 Scottish essayist and writer Thomas Carlyle introduces the word \u2018environment\u2019 to the world.<\/li>\n
  • 1890 \u2013 The conservation work of Scottish-born John Muir in Yosemite in California leads him to be known as the \u2018Father of National Parks\u2019.<\/li>\n
  • 1915 \u2013 Prominent Scottish thinker, town planner and environmentalist, Patrick Geddes, introduces the concepts of \u2018environmental sustainability\u2019 and \u2018thinking global, acting local\u2019.<\/li>\n
  • 1992 \u2013 Professor John Smyth co-writes the education chapter of the United Nations Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (Rio Earth Summit).<\/li>\n
  • 1999 \u2013 Opening of new Scottish Parliament. Emergence of a policy agenda building on the work of many of the great thinkers above leading to Land Reform and Naional Parks Acts, etc.<\/li>\n
  • 2005 \u2013 The Governments of Scotland and Malawi sign a Cooperation Agreement, leading to a decade of reciprocal exchange and partnership working on education, health, agriculture and renewable energy.<\/li>\n
  • 2009 \u2013 Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 becomes the most ambitious legislation of its kind in the world setting targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2020 and 80% by 2050.<\/li>\n
  • 2013 \u2013 Scotland becomes the first nation to join the Circular Economy 100 Group. It also becomes one of the world\u2019s first Fair Trade Nations \u2013 second only to Wales.<\/li>\n
  • 2014 \u2013 Scotland becomes the first nation to embed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and learning for sustainability in its professional standards for education practitioners.<\/li>\n
  • 2014 \u2013 Voting is extended to sixteen year-olds to allow them to participate in the Referendum on Scottish Independence.<\/li>\n
  • 2015 \u2013 Scotland is the first nation to commit to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.<\/li>\n
  • 2016 \u2013 The Foundation for Environmental Education recognises the success of the Eco-Schools Scotland programme by awarding Scotland the status of the best country in the world for sustainable development education and environmental education.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    This is, of course, a record to shout about, but you cannot help but note the shift over time from the achievements of Scots (as individuals) to those of the Scottish government (as an institution). \u00a0Are there no great (in a sustainability sense) individual Scots any more? \u00a0Or are the sort of people who draw up such lists just likely to promote what government does?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I've been reading, rather belatedly, the concluding\u00a0report (March 2016) of Scotland's\u00a0 Learning for\u00a0Sustainability National Implementation Group. \u00a0This is packed with flag-waving claims. \u00a0Given Scotland's reputation for claiming that it does things differently, better and yesterday, I was not surprised to...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-new-publications"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7072\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}