Oh great! In 2026 the UK's #EarthOvershootDay is my birthday 🙄 Even more reason to celebrate the gift of presence rather than presents 😁 overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/newsroom/cou...

Join the conversation 💬 Sign up to attend the Climate & Nature Education Festival for a just transition 🔗 buytickets.at/ministryofec... Part of the trade union year of climate action @ucu.org.uk @unison.org.uk NEU @climatemajority.bsky.social @campaigncc.bsky.social

Most plastic + chemicals added to plastic are made from gas + oil. In 2018, writes @bethgardiner.bsky.social , Saudi Aramco announced plans to drive growth in demand for oil by increasing plastic production. 🧵 1/5 www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...

Last year I wrote an article a week. For several months I've been occupied with other work which has kept me out of trouble. However this month it felt good to put my fingers to the keyboard for a seasonal offering from my alter ego, Melody Bird. Have a great Christmas 🎄

Are you coming to GroundEd? Regenerative and Transformative CPD for Educators 📣 ANNOUNCING - Katharine Burke @katharineburke.bsky.social Author of Earthwards - exploring Transformative Ecological Education 🔗 get your ticket here www.tickettailor.com/events/terra...

If you haven't yet watched the recordings of the National Emergency Briefing, I would strongly recommend them. Clear and considered, the message is 'we are not safe'. Please contact your MP and ask them what action they plan to take.

Vegetarians! Vegans! Anyone who enjoys cooking! Here's a thread of recipes for the veggie / vegan dishes I cook regularly and which have helped me massively cut down on the amount of meat I eat these days. First, a cheap, easy., quick dal which *everyone* should be able to cook:

One Christmas wreath ✅ Using reused a wicker mount from basket willow, compostable twine with greenery & pinecones from around the garden. Carbon impact = minimal. Cost = 2m twine ~£0.06. Sustainable festive seasons are possible... and they can be even more joyful than the unsustainable options 😊

I've gone down to London and back on the train from the NE today. I'm not ill but I'm the only person I've seen wearing a mask all day. We have a national #flu outbreak and hospital services are under strain. It just seems like the sensible thing to do. Am I weird 😷?

At COP25, on this day 6 years ago, I spoke about the need to put climate in education. The conference was in Madrid but I stayed home & attended virtually alongside @benking01.bsky.social. 6 years on and the curriculum for climate, nature and sustainability education in England has hardly changed 🙄

It's hot in the UK right now meaning lots of energy in our weather systems. The drive this morning was hazardous due to lashing rain & standing water. Now there's a gale blowing outside. For a nation famous for talking about the weather, why don't folk want to talk climate? istheukhotrightnow.com

We chose our smallholding based on the quality of soil. It is a rich loam, dark walnut in colour, with countless earthworms. Overall the texture is crumbly and well aerated. We rotate crops & enrich the beds to nurture the soil, and it reciprocates with the food we eat. We need soil in education 🪱

The over-consumption trend continues with Christmas trees. Not content with 1 tree, we now want bigger trees & multiple trees. Given everything we do has a carbon impact, is our tree frenzy warming our planet faster resulting in less snow for Santa? 1/3 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

I vote that rather than #WorldSoilDay we have #WorldSoilEveryDay. Soils are fascinating & vital to life, yet they are hardly covered in the national curriculum. Globally they're under extreme threat from climate, over farming & pollution. That's why I focus on them in my school outreach programmes 🪱

SO EXCITED to share the Schools Outdoor Learning Conference 2026 full conference brochure. With 19 workshops, 4 keynote speakers, a full market place and networking opportunities I wish I was attending rather than co-organising. PDF version - www.cumbria.ac.uk/events/confe...

It's #WorldSoilDay on Friday this week. Soils are not only essential to life on earth, they are incredibly fascinating. Needless to say we treat soils like dirt. Education can help but there is almost no time given to soils in the national curriculum 🙄 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Of all the education events scheduled for next year, this should be at the top of everyone's list. There is an incredible range of organisations taking part, it's definitely worth signing up early as places are limited.

@leanahosea.bsky.social, @rachelsalvidge.bsky.social & the @watershed-i.bsky.social team are doing some absolutely incredible investigative reporting on UK water and waste. I may be sick & tired of polluting industries putting profit over people & planet but this is the information we need to hear.

When I studied domestic landfills for my PhD in the early 90s I was aware of climate change but unaware we would utterly fail to restrict warming. I hate to admit it but I did not consider sea level rise or flooding in my final report. I think I need major rewrite in light of the climate crisis 🤔

After decades of underfunding of the EA thank goodness we have @watershed-i.bsky.social raising the alarm of the state of the water systems in the UK. The reality may be grim but we can't fix a broken system if we don't know the scale of the problem.

Education can't readily fix the lack of rain, for that we'd need to reverse climate change. However, we can teach young people how: 💧 to respect water reserves. 🚿 to conserve water. 🌊 to stay safe in floods 💦 waste water can be used. 🥬 hidden water is used in food & manufacturing. 💧 water is vital.

This made me laugh out loud 4 times, and the same again on rewatch. #HopeIsHere with @zackpolanski.bsky.social and I sincerely hope he is our next PM, if not he can defo try stand-up comedy as an alternative career. The @greenparty.org.uk is getting a donation from me for Christmas 🎄

It's all about clear communication. Thank you @nebriefing.bsky.social🙏🏽

I'm thrilled to be presenting a live session for the #STEM #NetZero online event on 3rd December asking "Can Nature Inspire Technology?" based on the @ministryofeco.bsky.social question is "Nature the Answer?" I'll be encouraging children to use creative thinking around biomimicry. ow.ly/SSMf50XwL32

It's #NationalTreeWeek. To celebrate, we extended our apple orchard. The heritage varieties going in the ground this weekend are Allan's Everlasting, Pitmaston Pineapple, Worcester Pearmain, Tydeman's Late Orange and Laxton's Superb. 1/2 🍎

Whose job is it to develop knowledge based on evidence? Teachers, that would be you 🫵🏽 Get the climate facts and great resources using bonefide sources such as the Royal Meteorological Society (www.metlink.org/teaching-resources) or contact @climateambassadors.bsky.social to help you #TeachTheTruth.

Doesn't everyone want to be a member of a political party whose leader tries to welcome them personally when they join? @zackpolanski.bsky.social 💚

“What happened here is crazy,” said Cristina Santin, a biologist from northwestern Spain who studies fire impacts. “Suddenly you get up one day and your home region is burning on a scale that is completely unprecedented.” #Spain 🇪🇸 #ClimateEmergency www.reuters.com/investigates...

We are dismally failing young people. The green jobs employment gap is the shortage of workers with the necessary skills to fill new jobs created by the transition to a sustainable economy. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Have you written to your MP yet about the national emergency briefing on climate and nature? I received a long but somehow noncommittal response from mine 🙄

DfE might need to do another review as the geography curriculum will be moving to the history curriculum in the near future 🤷🏽‍♀️

When fossil fuel lobbyists get together once a year to decide our children’s’ futures… #COP30

Oh look, it's 16⁰C in Northumberland today, 5⁰C warmer than "normal" and the bulbs and buds are out... in November 🙄 #COP30 #COPout

Have you joined the community of eco educators? Join now 🔗 mailchi.mp/ministryofec...

I'm done with fossil fools. I'm also done with an out-of-date national curriculum for England. Time for change. Tick tock 🔥🌍⏰

Want to let DfE, the Education Select Committee & Ofsted know that we need more #ClimateInEducation? In response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, led by @beckyfrancis.bsky.social, a cross-sector working group is calling for a long-term, ethically grounded approach to curriculum renewal 🧵

Great ideas for teachers to introduce different aspects and coverage of the #ClimateCrisis to students 👇🏽

Putting profit over people or planet should be illegal. It's not. So, I've now started doing workshops with young people on "Who's got the Power?". Individual action is required, but widespread collective action is essential for systems to change. Together we're stronger & there's much work to do 💪🏽

Just heard the haunting cries of a Tawny Owl. They're rare with an amber conservation status according to @rspb.bsky.social. Feeling incredibly blessed to live somewhere where nature is still surviving... we have so much work to do to make sure it returns to thriving. www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wi...

My political life 🙈 1987 🗳️🟥 1992 🗳️🟥 1997 🗳️🟥 2001 🗳️🟥 2005 🗳️🟥 2010 🗳️🟨 Joined Labour Party 2015 🗳️🟥 2017 🗳️🟥 Left Labour Party Joined Greens 2019 🗳️🟥 Left Greens 2024 🗳️🟥 2025 Re-joined Greens because @zackpolanski.bsky.social brings humanity back into politics. I think I've found my forever home 💚🙏🏼

In the #ClimateCrisis placed-based learning becomes even more critical as climate impacts will affect regions and landscapes in different ways. I loved talking to Beth Garrett for this edition of Ask an Expert for @ministryofeco.bsky.social 👇🏼

One of our @ministryofeco.bsky.social BIG questions is "Should #Ecocide be the law?" for KS3 English. Students to examine ecocide and the human-nature relationship through the context of language, literature and the emotional context using the ‘power of words’. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

If there is no monitoring to provide evidence then nothing bad is happening, right 🤔

Not all apples are created equal. 🍏 On the left is fruit from the only known tree of Chollerton Lady, grown true rather than grafted with cooking apples of ~500g. 🍎 On the right are standard-sized Dabinets, great for juicing & cider. They're both apples, they are just different. Which is fine.

Going into schools with my #WarmingStripes and #BiodiversityStripes to talk with young people about solutions and collective action is one of the things I do best.

If you haven't seen Plan Z yet, you really should. It really brings the scale of the #ClimateCrisis into sharp focus.

British.

I had a bad morning. I went outside at lunchtime. Nature gave me a hug. I went back to the desk in a much better state.

Some children may learn about flooding and flood risks in the classroom. Others will learn about it firsthand when their homes or schools are inundated, or the roads in their neighborhood are underwater and potentially treacherous. Flood safety needs to be explicitly taught in schools.

Meet Patrick the tea plant 🌿 For our #TerraLigo #STEM enrichment project, #SustainabiliTEA, it seemed fitting to take a tea plant along to a school today. The KS3 students immediately decided to name the plant Patrick. They'll be investigating the use of biochar on soil health over the coming weeks.