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This week from UK Schools Sustainability Network (UKSSN) –
Climate Updates
Health – Climate Anxiety
CPD & Support – upcoming conferences and events
CPD – Rethinking curriculum (important knowledge for Ops leaders too!)
Nature – COP16, Education Nature Park, PECT and LGZ
Catering – School Food Matters report, Proveg and plant-based alternatives
Procurement – Eco Refill Shop and WRAP
Energy – the Toaster Challenge, Layer Up, Power Down
📰 Climate Updates 📰
‘The future of humanity is hanging in the balance’. The final sentence of a very recent report published by several of the world’s most eminent climate scientists in BioScience. Please take a few minutes to read the report.
Emissions Gap Report 2024 | UNEP – UN Environment Programme
Yesterday the 2024 UN Emissions Gap report was published. A failure to increase ambition and start delivering immediately puts the world on course for a catastrophic temperature increase of 2.6-3.1°C over the course of this century, leading to dramatic increases in extreme weather events. Simply working outside under that level of warming would be extremely difficult.
We have a moral duty to recognise the challenge and respond to the threat. We must be the generation of ‘changemakers’ that rewire our education system and helps build a better world for the children and young people in our schools and communities.
🩺 Health: Climate Anxiety 🩺
Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey – The Lancet Planetary Health
Yale University describes climate anxiety as: distress about climate change and its impacts on the landscape and human existence. Also called “eco-anxiety,” climate anxiety can manifest as intrusive thoughts or troubled feelings about the future of the world. It can take the form of “eco-guilt,” a feeling of not doing enough personally, or even “eco-rage,” elevated anger that everybody else isn’t doing enough to deal with looming threats. A 2021 study in The Lancet surveying 10,000 youths in several countries found the majority of respondents said they were worried about climate change, while more than 50% reported feeling sad, anxious or guilty. More than 45% said their feelings about climate change were strong enough to negatively affected their daily lives.
One thing we can do is communicate with the people around us about 1) what is happening, 2) how we feel about it, and 3) how they feel about it. Perhaps a starting point is using Climate Mental Health Network’s climate emotions wheel to help start a dialogue.
There is support and guidance about climate anxiety available through the Climate Psychology Alliance.
🎓 CPD: Sustainability Events 🎓
It is great to see an increase in regional and national events to support schools and Trusts transition to a less harmful operating model. We list and promote events on the website, here are just a few:
Climate and Nature Action Events in Worcester (22nd November 2024) and Cambridgeshire (3rd February 2025)
East of England Sustainability in Education Series in Bedfordshire (12th February 2025), Essex (26th March 2025) and Suffolk (tbc)
ASCL Annual Sustainability Conference, Manchester – 5th June 2025 (ASCL – ASCL Sustainability Conference 2025)
North-West Sustainability Learning Conference – 26th June 2025
Plus…we have our regular Ops Group online network events, the next one being 21st November 2024 at 4pm where our focus will be on sustainable procurement.
If you are planning an event do let us know and we will share with colleagues in the network.
🎓 CPD: Rethinking Curriculum 🎓
Rethinking Curriculum – Climate Education and Sustainability in primary schools : My College (chartered.college)
If you have a few minutes over half-term, I encourage you to listen to ‘Rethinking Curriculum’ from the Chartered College of Teaching. The webinar includes presentations from the CAPE Alliance, Northern Star Academy Trust and Sky Primary and Eden Primary Nursery. The webinar discusses environmental sustainability in the curriculum, pedagogy, leadership and governance, community engagement, whole-school approach and developing a sense of place and belonging – ideas for everyone working in schools and the education sector.
🦋 Biodiversity: COP16 🦋
The Sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16) is taking place in Cali, Colombia from 21 October to 1 November 2024. We hope for a major announcement soon. In the meantime, we can all play our part through regeneration of our school grounds. Last year we developed nature and biodiversity plans for our schools in collaboration with PECT. This year we are committed to working with the Education Nature Park and investment in an expanded horticulture provision.
Our competitions – Lets Go Zero (14th October to 25th November)
Applications open on 14th October for the Ovo Foundation – Let’s Go Zero Nature Prize. Enter to be one of 25 schools awarded a cash prize of £1,000 or £200 for projects that bring their students closer to nature.
🥗 Catering: School Food Matters 🥗
CoaSM-report.pdf (schoolfoodmatters.org)
This week School Food Matters published a new report to show the real cost of producing nutritious and sustainable food in our schools. The report shows a significant gap between the recommended funding rate (£3.16 per meal which includes 5p to meet sustainability accreditation standards, such as Bronze Food for Life Served Here) and the £2.53 government funding rate for a free school meal.
Although some caterers have made environmental sustainability a priority, they report that this is not often stipulated by schools in tendering; or if it is, it isn’t actively monitored through contract management.
Funding rates, pricing models, menu design, procurement, contract management, waste management – all need to be priorities if we are to reduce the environmental damage of our school lunch.
Also…Proveg has launched a new plant-powered programme for schools, resources for teachers to support children about the food they eat, healthy and the environment – https://proveg.org/uk/news/proveg-uk-launches-brand-new-plant-. We participate in their School Plates programme.
Plus….Allmanhall recently published a blog about plant-based alternatives to dairy with lots of useful information and guidance: The future of dairy | allmanhall
🛒 Procurement: Eco Refill and WRAP 🛒
Eco Refill (ecorefillshop.com)
Over half of household waste is incinerated with a carbon equivalent to burning coal. Eco Refill shop is designed to support children to change the habits of the whole school community using ethically sourced products. Created by Pupils Profit, the goal is to teach pupils how to set up and operate sustainable Healthy Tuck Shops and Eco refill shops and contribute to a school’s overall wellbeing.
WRAP works alongside businesses, governments, and people to power Circular Living’, helping them transition from wasteful, linear models to smarter, sustainable practices. We need to stop the ‘extract-make-chuck’ model of living towards ‘design-make-reuse-repeat’. Change behaviour, cut emissions, reduce waste, restore nature. The WRAP website has information, resources and support.
⚡ Energy: The Toaster Challenge⚡
You use more energy burning toast than most refugees hope to have. – UNHCR Innovation
How much energy does it take to toast a slice of bread? The challenge was set up nearly a decade ago to show how much energy we humans consume compared to what we can generate.
Spoiler alert!
It took x1 Robert to toast a slice of bread. It would take x180 Roberts to power a car for an hour and x43,000 Roberts to power an airplane for an hour. I wonder how many Roberts it would takes to power a school? We need to focus on reducing energy demand as much as producing our own renewable energy or the type of energy we buy.
The annual Energy Sparks ‘Layer Up Power Down’ day is on Friday 15th November. Last year, on average participating schools saved around 35% on their gas consumption. Layer Up Power Down Day aims to remind staff and students of an important message: heat the person not the planet! Turn heating off or down on the Friday and keep it off all weekend (subject to frost protection settings). Currently almost 10% of school gas use happens at weekends! Energy Sparks provide everything you need on their activity page.
⚠️ I hope you planned your holiday switch off to save energy? If not consider starting to plan for the next holiday now. ⚠️
And finally…..
Amid wildfires and extreme weather, more and more people are asking – what can I do about climate change? More than you think. A starting point might be to calculate your own carbon footprint. Giki is a great (and free) resource to help. Calculating your footprint only takes a few minutes, and you can have an action list and support to set you on your way. What’s your carbon footprint? Understand it, track it, reduce it | Giki