Green Action ELT
A newly released Netflix documentary, “Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet,” features David Attenborough and Johan Rockström, one of the scientists who introduced the concept of planetary boundaries.
The film sounds alarm on planetary boundaries, but offers hope.
Highly recommended: read more here and watch the film here. #GreenELT
The normally impartial and reliable news from the BBC World Service last night might have been written by a government spokesperson.
Leading with the news that our very own Astra Zenica vaccine has now reluctantly been adopted by the French for their older citizens (they didn’t actually use the word ‘world beating’), the bulletin finished with the news that some Australian teenagers are taking their federal government to court over a Whitehaven Coal mine, arguing that the development breaches a common law duty of care to protect young people from future harm.
No mention of our very own Whitehaven, where the government has faced a barrage of criticism over its failure to prevent a new coal mine in this year of supposed climate leadership by The UK: see previous post below.
‘A Backwards Catastrophe’ is a BBC Radio 4 production that is part polemic, part satire, part lyrical collage.
Beautifully produced, it travels in reverse through the BBC archives to trace some of the present problems and oblique antecedents of the environmental crisis.
The programme rolls along to variations on and reversals of the appropriate Mad World melody. Highly recommended.
The best way to escape for an undisturbed hour and really appreciate the sound experience is by using head phones.
It’s good to know where we stand. ELT Footprint UK is part of sustainable education and sustainable education is part of sustainable development.
Just take a look at the UN’s sustainable development goals to see the connections.
So in that light, the UK government’s recent decision to break its manifesto promise by cutting overseas aid by one third should concern us all.
A recent radio programme – The Moral Maze – allowed its speakers to expose some of the spiteful justifications for the decision. Why is it? – asks one person – That some of those who call most ardently for charity to begin at home often have that very belief desert them when it comes to increased welfare spending?
But to be honest, the arguments are not always black and white and the programme aired some persuasive views on the actual efficacy of foreign aid.
In the end though, considering the subject from every angle, every right-minded person will surely agree that the decision to reduce overseas aid was a shockingly poor one. BBC radio at its best.
Do not miss this incredibly important video. It puts climate change into the context of a rapidly changing and developing world, offering hope for us all.
A timely question in the latest issue of the EL Gazette which concludes: ‘Management gurus agree that if you want a competitive advantage you must be two of the following: cheaper, faster, better or greener. And then you have to prove it.’
To my mind ‘greener’ = ‘better’.
Yet another reason to pursue carbon neutrality – and then tell everyone.