Read
Montana Youth Win! – The court of Montana has ruled wholly in favour of 16 young people who held the state accountable for violating their right to a healthy environment by continuing to promote and support fossil fuel extraction and burning. Read More.
Africa Climate Week – Took place in Nairobi from the 4th to the 8th September 2023, discussing climate solutions ahead of COP28. Take a look at the programme and meetings online. Read More.
Less plastic in the Oceans – A new study has revealed there’s less plastic in the oceans than originally thought; Utrecht University calculated the world’s seas contain around 3.2m tonnes of plastic waste rather than the previously estimated 50m to 300m tonnes. Read More.
‘We turn waste into something golden’: the creatives transforming rags to riches – In Ghana, Pakistan, and Chile entrepreneurs and designers are combating the growing textile waste crisis by collecting discarded textiles destined for landfills and repurposing them into new garments and home furnishings, reducing environmental pollution and creating sustainable businesses and supporting local communities. Read More.
AI helps biodiversity project – Network Rail and Zoo Society London are working together to improve Railside biodiversity, and have been using AI software to successfully sift through huge amounts of collected monitoring data. Read More.
‘This way of farming is really sexy’: the rise of regenerative agriculture – Hollie Fallick and Francesca Cooper are part of the regenerative agriculture movement, focusing on nature-friendly farming practices to regenerate depleted soil and produce nutritious food. This growing global movement, with principles including soil preservation, diverse crops, and grazing animals, aims to combat land degradation and aligns with environmental and sustainability goals. Read More.
Young climate activist tells Greenpeace to drop ‘old-fashioned’ anti-nuclear stance – “Over a third of the clean energy in the EU is nuclear power… I’m tired of having to fight my fellow environmentalists when we should be fighting fossil fuels together.” Read More.
Do
National Education Nature Park launches to all education settings in England on 4th October – National History Museum are encouraging schools to celebrate the launch and get a taste of what the Nature Park is all about by taking part in a Hidden Nature Challenge on 4 October. The Nature Park Programme gives children and young people the opportunity to connect to nature while investigating and recording what’s living and growing on their learning sites. They will plan and take action to boost biodiversity, through improvements such as building rain gardens, growing pollinator-friendly plants, installing bird boxes and more. Places of education taking part in the programme will become part of a vast network of spaces across England that together form the National Education Nature Park. The land from every nursery, school and college in England forms an area the equivalent to more than twice the size of Birmingham, so represents huge potential to collectively contribute to nature recovery across the country. Read More.
FREE nature connection programme for schools – Generation Wild is an interactive nature connection programme from WWT for schools in economically disadvantaged areas, and is now taking bookings for participation right through to the end of July 2024. Children follow the magical story of Ava the bird girl, a character who is brought to life during a visit to the wetland centre. She encourages them to complete nature activities back at school and at home to receive their certificates and membership badges as they become ‘Guardians of the Wild’. The project includes FREE school visits (including FREE transport) as well as FREE return visits enabling children to share the magic with their families. Curriculum resource packs have also been produced so you can tie the project in with your class topics. Read More.
The Rebooting Education Survey – Closes on the 22nd of September, so make sure you get your responses in before then! Help inform Reboot the Future’s upcoming report on teachers’ visions of the future of education. Read More.
Tree of the Year Award 2023 – Vote for your favourite out of 13 shortlisted UK ancient trees for this years Woodland Trust Tree of the Year Award. Read More.
Hidden Nature Challenge – On the 4th October spend 20 minutes or less taking your class outside to find some hidden nature, and sharing your findings online. Read More.
Don’t forget to raise your flag as part of the 2023 SDG Flag Campaign on Friday 25th September! Read More.
World Cleanup Day – The 16th of September 2023 is World Cleanup Day; unite with millions of volunteers, governments and organizations, in 197 countries and territories, to tackle the global mismanaged waste crisis and to help create a new, more sustainable world. Read More.
Evaluate your schools Citizenship provision – Take part in the Association of Citizenship Teaching’s (ACT) National Citizenship Education Study and track your own progress while helping ACT collect valuable information about citizenship learning in the UK. Read More.
Festival of Education UK – Booking is now open for next year’s Festival of Education which will host over 300 leading speakers and thousands of attendees from the world of education; save 35% on tickets booked before the end of September. Read More.
Get your Bee Saver Kit – Of the UK’s 26 bumblebee species, 2 are extinct and 6-8 more species have seen major declines. Bee Saver Kits, including wildflower seeds and a bee identifier, are available from Friends of the Earth for a donation of your choosing. Read More.
Scrooge’s Green Christmas: Spiderweb Musicals – A Christmas musical for KS2, this show spins the classic Christmas Carol story to place an urgent message about the environment at its heart. Order everything you need to do this performance with your students online. Read More.
See
Nature in Focus Awards – Take a look at the stunning winning images from this years’ Nature in Focus photography awards. Read More.
Digital Waste – The Invisible Pollutant: Foundation for Environmental Education – Learn more about digital waste, digital footprints, electronic waste and Estonian Eco-Schools Digital Clean Up Week in the Litter Less Plus webinar “Digital Waste”. Read More.
COP28 – At this halfway point between the Paris Agreement and 2030 world leaders are meeting in Dubai from the 30th November to 12th December for COP28. Read More.
The Great Imagining – Is a new publication packed full of inspiring stories, useful information and thought experiments on topics like sustainability, culture, systems, agriculture, education, and more. Issue 1 is out now, and Issue 2 is one the way. Read More.
Learn
Free Autumn Teacher Training – The Natural History Museum is offering a selection of Teachers Training and CPD sessions to help support teachers to deliver outdoor learning. Tuesday 10th October: Online Zoom session on using outdoor learning to support science teaching in school: sign up. Or choose from two in person events in Hyde Park, London on the 20th September and 4th October focussed on nature and ecology in London, with practical ideas for immediate use with students, logistical and advocacy support for outdoor learning and overcoming barriers to students engaging with nature and climate science: to register email exploreurbannature@nhm.ac.uk quoting “Teachers CPD” in the subject line. Read More.
Learn to lead a bat walk like a boss! – On the 21st of September join Dr Iain Boulton, an experienced bat walk leader, who will guide you through how to organise, lead and promote your own bat walks, and how to ensure they are fun, educational, safe and accessible to all. Read More.
Road Map 2023: The Earthshot Prize – Recently released is The Earthshot Prize’s 2023 Road Map; based on feedback from 40 environmental experts and informed by the latest scientific understanding it highlights 15 key, high priority areas to address. The Road Map has been designed for both collective and personal use. Read More.
Your Green Career: Catalyse Change – “The handbook for young women and non-binary changemakers.” This is an empowering and practical changemaker handbook designed to help young people land their dream job in sustainability by growing confidence, developing skills, and identifying where they can make a difference. Read More.
Teaching Resources: Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT) – Take a look through ACT’s database of teaching resources, including comprehensive plans covering several lessons on themes such as citizen rights, being a changemaker, community identity, and democracy. Read More.
Climate Change Quiz: Earthday.org – Earthday have updated their online climate change quiz for autumn; test your knowledge and increase your learning… or take the test with your class as a learning activity. Read More.
