This email arrived on Wednesday<\/p>\n
Dear Bill,<\/p>\n
Lots of us remember the misery of a dreary, draughty classroom, or struggling to keep our eyes open in overheated, stuffy rooms. But inefficient school buildings and heating don\u2019t only make lessons uncomfortable \u2013 they waste school resources and drive up carbon emissions.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why we\u2019ve launched the Let\u2019s Go Zero<\/a> campaign \u2013 helping UK schools be zero carbon by 2030. By joining the campaign, schools pledge to work towards that goal (and call for government action too). There\u2019s support and expert advice for all schools taking part \u2013 help with everything from improving buildings and heating to cutting food waste, encouraging greener journeys, improving biodiversity on school grounds and much more.<\/p>\n Why are we buzzing about Let\u2019s Go Zero<\/a>? Because we know that schools don\u2019t only inspire students \u2013 they inspire whole communities. Our classrooms can be beacons of climate action, giving all of society the bright ideas and motivation to act on climate. It\u2019s crucial we build momentum before next year\u2019s COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, when the eyes of the world will be on the UK.<\/p>\n The campaign is off to a great start, with schools across the UK signing up and national media coverage<\/a> \u2013 we\u2019ve even put the spotlight on Yorkshire\u2019s own Greta Thunberg<\/a>. \u00a0So if you\u2019re a parent, teacher, governor or councillor in the UK, or have professional and personal connections that could help, please ask your local school to join the campaign<\/a>. Young people are demanding climate action \u2013 together we can give them the green schools and communities they deserve.<\/p>\n Harriet Lamb, Ashden CEO<\/p>\n ........................................................<\/p>\n I (obviously, I hope) don't object to the expressed aim here, and hope that schools will sign up, it's just that I think it's unrealistic to achieve this by 2030, given where we are now, the size of the educational estate, and the legacy of historic building. \u00a0In the FAQs on their website, Ashden says:<\/p>\n \"Let\u2019s Go Zero brings together UK schools who want to be zero carbon, are reducing their own climate impact, and demanding greater UK government support to achieve this goal. The campaign will show national government that there is a substantial demand amongst teachers and pupils to become zero carbon, with the potential for schools to catalyse wider change in their communities<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n Another FAQ suggests that it's \"the journey\" that's important here, not really the destination:<\/p>\n \"By joining the campaign, a school is publicly declaring that they want to be zero carbon by 2030, and that it wants the UK government to enable schools in the UK to take more action on this issue. \u00a0<\/em>This campaign is about showing aspiration. \u00a0We know that being zero carbon is currently beyond the reach of most schools, but by working together and with government we believe it is achievable by 2030. \u00a0<\/em>To be part of the campaign, schools are expected to be taking action to reduce their carbon impact, measuring this where feasible, and have \u2018next step\u2019 actions planned for the following year. \u00a0They can indicate the steps they are taking from a checklist on the sign-up form<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n But the slogan \"zero carbon by 2030\" suggests it's the destination that matters just as much as (if not more so than) the journey. \u00a0I can't be the only person who thinks the unachievability of this is a problem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This email arrived on Wednesday Dear Bill, Lots of us remember the misery of a dreary, draughty classroom, or struggling to keep our eyes open in overheated, stuffy rooms. But inefficient school buildings and heating don\u2019t only make lessons uncomfortable...<\/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":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7826","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=7826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}