Categories
Climate education Inspiration

Teaching for a Better Future

Join us for a day of inspiration, innovation, and action, designed for educators who believe language teaching can drive meaningful change. This is more than just another ELT event – it’s a global call to action from educators across three continents, united in using their classrooms as catalysts for a greener, more conscious world.

Conference Highlights:

  • Gamify Sustainability with Georgia Papamichailidou
    Learn how playful leadership, storytelling, and classroom challenges can spark eco-consciousness in learners and staff alike.
  • Write for the Planet with Marla Lise & George Jacobs
    Explore how writing—reflective, persuasive, and creative—can help students champion environmental causes.
  • Teach the SDGs through Speaking & Listening with Hannah Tucker-Bloom
    Discover a dynamic curriculum linking English learning to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
  • Planet-Based Classroom Hacks with Harry Waters
    Take away practical, low-prep ideas for bringing sustainability into everyday lessons.
  • Think Green, Teach Smart with Marcela Villan
    Dive into systems thinking and learn to connect language learning with environmental awareness and global responsibility.
  • More Green, Less Screen! with Lucy Crichton
    Get hands-on ideas for eco-projects that engage young learners beyond the screen.
  • Green Women: Leadership in Action with Stephany Carrasco Sardon
    Be inspired by a powerful initiative celebrating women-led environmental education across Latin America.

View the complete programme here

Register to attend here

Categories
Climate education Community action

Admitting Failure

– And moving forward

Our upcoming online conference on 6 June is titled Teaching for a Better Future. The title was chosen with care and intention. During the event, we’ll be showcasing practical, inspiring examples of how language educators around the world are engaging students with nature and climate issues – helping them imagine, and perhaps shape, a better future.

But what does better really mean?

It’s a relative term. While most of us want to believe in a brighter future, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the mounting evidence that the road ahead looks deeply challenging. This isn’t a call to give up. And we absolutely need to continue bearing down on the production of greenhouse gases. Rather, it might be time to shift our perspective. Perhaps the goal now is not to create an objectively better future, but to make the future less bad than it could otherwise be.

This shift brings tough questions – about hope, resilience, and motivation – particularly for educators tasked with preparing students for the world ahead.

In this light, we recommend reading a thought-provoking piece by Rupert Read of the Climate Majority Project. In it, he argues:

“The true power of the climate movement is now to admit our own powerlessness.”

It’s a stark but important point. By letting go of false optimism, we free ourselves from the exhausting effort of maintaining denial about the reality of our predicament. That emotional energy, Read suggests, can be redirected – toward more meaningful action, deeper connection, and more honest engagement with our students and communities.

You can read the full article here: The true power of the climate movement is now to admit our own powerlessness

Categories
books Inspiration Politics

Roger Hallam

In a recent webinar, John Crick from Aspire.Sustain shared a striking U-shaped graph. At the bottom sat the “Trough of Disillusion,” with the “Slopes of Enlightenment” climbing out of it, eventually levelling off into the “Plateau of Productivity.” If you’re curious, you can watch the full video here.

That image stuck with me – especially when thinking about how we respond to the climate emergency. On bad days, I find myself trying to avoid the Trough of Disillusion. On better days, I feel like I’m climbing the (early) Slopes of Enlightenment, spurred on by the hope that comes from action.

In this spirit, I want to recommend a powerful podcast: Designing the Revolution, by Roger Hallam – co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, and founder of Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain. Hallam received a four-year prison sentence in the UK after being convicted in 2024 for organising motorway protests two years earlier. His goal was to draw attention to the dire threat caused by greenhouse gas pollution. He is one of around eleven people currently imprisoned in the UK for similar acts of protest.

Paradoxically, prison seems to have been a liberating experience for Hallam. Speaking over the prison phone for his podcast, he shares a renewed sense of hope and insight, with episodes like A New Way of Seeing, Finding Freedom Within, and The Prison of Perception. He has also published a new book, 50 Articles the Media Wouldn’t Publish. Together, the podcast and book offer fresh ways to think, act, and grow – both personally and politically. For me, they’ve been a much-needed lift out of the Trough of Disillusion.

Highly recommended.

Categories
Uncategorized

Happy Earth Day!

Knowing what we know, that may be an oxymoron. But we like to stay positive and also know that hope springs from action. That’s why we do what we do, encouraging educators around the world to respond to the climate and ecological crisis personally and in their organisations.

So on Earth Day 2025 the founder of Green Action ELT, Chris Etchells, will be joining the Earth Day Special IATEFL Live! Show. The livestream will be broadcast to the IATEFL Facebook page, LinkedIn, and YouTube site.

I have no idea what questions I’ll be asked, but I’ll try to keep it positive! I hope you can join us.

Best wishes, Chris Etchells

Categories
Climate education Uncategorized

Map your campus

National Education Nature Park is an initiative developed by the Natural History Museum in London together with the Royal Horticultural Society, the Royal Geographical Society and a host of other leading institutions in the UK. The aim is to support the development of climate action plans in education settings England, an opportunity to transform the way we teach climate education and support young people to act and increase biodiversity across England. 

Mapping your site is an important first step and this Thursday April 3rd you can join a webinar to learn how to:

  • Use the Habitat Mapper tool to create a baseline map
  • Explore different habitat types and what they mean for your site
  • Discover creative ideas for running a habitat mapping session with your class

Register now here or join the next session on Thursday 24 April

Categories
Sector action Travel and transport

Green ELT

Good to see green thinking making its way across our sector: https://mailchi.mp/betauk/green-skills-16106930?e=f9bc553bc4

Categories
calendar days Climate education

Calendar Days

There are lots of environmental days coming up in the near future:

Friday, 14 March – International Day of Action for Rivers

Tuesday, 18 March – Global Recycling Day

Thursday, 20 March – World Rewilding Day

Friday, 21 March – International Day of Forests

Saturday, 22 March – World Water Day

And of course, Earth Day on Tuesday, 22 April

Green Standard Schools have lots of free teaching materials to help you make the most of these calendar opportunities: visit https://app.greenstandardschools.org/public-lesson-plans

If you find the materials useful, share them with colleagues and on social media – they are an open, free resource to help everyone green their language lessons!

Categories
Climate education

UK’s first Climate Justice undergraduate degree

Wonderful to see the University of Sussex leading the way in the UK with this inspiring programme that offers real hope for the future:

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/feb/27/sussex-to-launch-uks-first-climate-justice-undergraduate-degree

This news comes after a Future Forum (British Science Association) survey found that 7 in 10 UK 14-to-18-year-olds would welcome the opportunity to learn more about climate change in school and that 7 in 10 felt that climate change education should be included across all subjects. Find the full report at https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=0f014842-012d-4199-a5bf-fdfc539d4549.

Categories
books Climate education

Activities for a Greener Mindset

Harry Waters’ new book Activities for a Greener Mindset was published in December 2024. The book is part of the DELTA publishing series “Ideas in Action”. 

Activities for a Greener Mindset is a guide for language teachers who want to incorporate environmental issues into their teaching. The book includes photocopiable activities and is linked to the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Harry is a regular presenter on Green Action ELT – you can find videos of his sessions in our webinar library.

This book aims to help teachers integrate environmental concerns into their teaching and lives.

Categories
books Politics

A book I’m reading

Stephen Markley’s The Deluge is a striking example of art predicting reality. One vivid scene – a frantic escape into a burning Los Angeles – feels eerily relevant, given the recent news about wildfires and even incarcerated firefighters in The USA.

This 900-page, masterfully written novel, set in the “near future sci-fi” genre, begins in 2013 and spirals into a chaotic, apocalyptic world as society crumbles under climate collapse. The character development is excellent, and the book’s scope is epic.

While the detailed, scientific “manifesto” sections might not appeal to all readers, the core story is gripping. Considering how disturbingly accurate the book’s vision is becoming, one can only hope the lessons are not lost on our leaders.

Chris Etchells is Director of English Country Schools