Green Group discussion

Google tells me it will be 12 midnight here, do-able. Now to get the day right. The next 'morning' in Ireland, Tuesday. Adding to a Google Calendar helps as it shows up on the Android phone at the correct time.
Remember this is a free event. I could have attended an event with a similar lineup on a similar platform not long ago, but there was a cost involved. There are expenses and professionals involved in a production. So I recommend taking advantage of free ones where possible.

That was a great conversation: brilliant writers, useful insights. Thanks for the heads-up, Clare!

(Btw: I saw your name pop up on the Chat stream and that made me smile. Nice to have Green Group company! ;-)

Glad you could make it! I took some notes and have a few books to read.

Sharing an upcoming talk on Zoom, free but you may donate if you choose.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/5x15-a...

"Join us for the second panel in a new series with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, on the environmental wonders of trees and forests."
Wed, 24 May 2023

13.00 to 14:30 Wednesday, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

Science and social studies need to be combined instead of being 2 different subjects. People shape science and science shapes people and it goes round and round like the chicken and the egg concept.

To teach them as separate subjects results in only half the the story being presented. If there is one thing the internet has taught us is that half the story is the perfect lie. Factually complete but wholly inadequate in helping people understand why something is happening.

Interesting new research on personality and intellect. This will become more important as we try to educate people in the changes required for, and benefits of, limiting climate change and biodiversity loss.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-0...

"Key findings include:

Individuals who are active and energetic tend to have a better command of various cognitive abilities. Most notably, this includes extensive knowledge, efficient memory retrieval and enhanced information processing. Regardless of the subject, active folks tend to know more about it.
People who tend to experience high levels of depression or anxiety may find it more difficult to accumulate knowledge or reason logically.
Those who were more industrious and compassionate tended to have better verbal and quantitative knowledge skills. This discovery suggests an exciting connection between personality traits and how we learn.
There are robust, positive relationships between many cognitive abilities and open mindedness (i.e., receptivity to fresh ideas)."

More information: Kevin C. Stanek et al, Meta-analytic relations between personality and cognitive ability, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2212794120

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Provided by University of Minnesota

Another talk. The early booking tickets are free, it turns out, I got one and the Zoom talk is tomorrow. Get tickets at the Eventbrite link.

Nomad Century: How Climate Migration Will Reshape Our World

Gaia Vince
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/5x15-a...

"The Six Ideas to Change the World series, in partnership with Keystone Positive Change Investment Trust, continues tomorrow with award-winning journalist and author Gaia Vince, in conversation with the FT's Henry Mance.

Gaia's latest book, Nomad Century: How to Survive the Climate Upheaval, is a groundbreaking investigation into this species emergency. It provides a rousing call to arms, showing us that migration is not the problem, but the solution...

She joins us live tomorrow evening to address these urgent and complex questions, in conversation with Henry Mance, Chief Features Writer at the Financial Times and author of How to Love Animals and Protect Our Planet. "

Sharing an upcoming talk. Free earlybird tickets, after that you may be asked for a small payment of 5 - 10 pounds.

"The Six Ideas to Change the World series, in partnership with Keystone Positive Change Investment Trust, resumes in September with Dr Mya-Rose Craig (Birdgirl).

Aged 17, ornithologist and activist Mya-Rose Craig became the youngest person ever to see half of the birds in the world. She also received a Doctor of Science from Bristol University, making her the youngest British person to be awarded an honorary degree.

Join us for a special live conversation with Mya-Rose to hear about her extraordinary story. From her passions for birding and the natural world, to her work as a diversity activist and founder of Black2Nature, which seeks to engage minority ethnic teenagers with nature, Mya-Rose has unique insights into the future of the environmental movement. Her work shows us that in the search for a better future, we must also look to the skies... "

https://5x15.us1.list-manage.com/trac...
Monday, 18th September
Online via Zoom, 7pm (BST) which means Greenwich Mean Time.

An in-person talk in Dublin on 7th March. Green Group author, Mark Johnston is speaking about urban trees. Mark Johnston

The Tree Experts: A History of Professional Arboriculture in Britain


Free admission at the Botanic Gardens' lecture theatre.

https://www.botanicgardens.ie/event/t...

Australian wildlife now starring in this year's marvellous Dance Your Phd winner. Kangaroo Time. So good I watched it twice already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoSYO...

A previous winner explains water conduction in Amazonian rainforests under climate stress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvDjj...

Many people were before their time in designing renewable energy.
James Blyth pioneered wind turbines in Scotland.
Thanks to Iona McDuff for sending me a link to this article.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw4...

"When James Blyth created what many believe was the world’s first wind turbine in 1887, villagers dismissed it as the "work of the devil".

The huge structure at Blyth’s family home in the Aberdeenshire village of Marykirk was built with four cloth sails and generated enough power to light 10 bulbs along with a small lathe."

I'm currently taking an online study qualification in Environmental, Social and Governance law, ESG. This will mostly relate to the European Union law but the topic will be useful to anyone interested in Green issues.
The Law Society of Ireland provides these online courses each year on different topics. The course is free to enroll in and take. If you pass the exams at the end and want a certificate, that will cost €95.
Anyone can take the course. This is useful for newcomers or as ongoing professional training.
The course is self-paced with material spread over a few weeks until the end of July.

https://mooc2024.lawsociety.ie/

Here's a really positive step in Ireland.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/...

"Two new subjects are being added to the Leaving Certificate curriculum.

Drama, film and theatre studies, and climate action and sustainable development will be available for students in 100 schools from September 2025.

A total of 57 schools have been selected to introduce Drama, Film and Theatre Studies, while 43 schools will offer Climate Action and Sustainable Development from the start of the next academic year.

It is part of the Senior Cycle Redevelopment Programme and it is aimed at students who might not fit the mould of more traditional subjects.
...
"Asked if there would be enough teachers to deliver the subjects, Ms Foley said: "We've had great enthusiasm from the schools in terms of the supports that would have to come from the department we would be rolling out in this school year in advance of September '25.

"In terms of the credentials of the staff, they are second to none from what we've seen already.

"In terms of the schools that applied to be part of this process, we were absolutely blown away by the qualifications of the staff to put themselves forward, by their enthusiasm and their interest and by their experience.

"Some of them are coming with masters in the particular disciplines, whether it's in terms of climate action, or whether it's in terms of drama, film and theatre, there has been no shortage of staff willing to step forward here."

Each of the two new subjects will include additional assessment components (also known as AACs) that are not a traditional written examination, which will be worth at least 40% of the available marks and will be externally assessed by the State Examinations Commission.

The AAC in climate action and sustainable development consists of an action project, worth 40% of the available marks, which provides students with an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts and principles they have learned throughout the course, while also employing the practical strategies in the area of climate action and sustainable development.

The AAC in drama, film and theatre studies consists of a creativity in practice project in which students will develop and create a piece of film or theatre, along with the relevant pre-production materials.

The creativity in practice project will be worth 50% of the available marks in the subject."

Those are big steps going forward.

I can see a school with both new subjects, putting the young people together for their projects. The environmental project could be filmed by the drama students. That's what I would suggest anyway, as the numbers in each would not immediately be very large.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/5x15-o...

Date and time
Mon, 19 May 2025 19:00 - 20:00 GMT+1

"An online event with Guardian environment editor Jonathan Watts explores the legacy of journalist Dom Phillips in the Amazon rainforest.

Jonathan Watts is an author and journalist based in the Amazon rainforest. He is global environment editor for The Guardian and founder of the Rainforest Journalism Fund and Sumaúma.com. A veteran foreign correspondent previously based in Tokyo, Beijing and Rio de Janeiro, Jonathan covered two tsunamis, three earthquakes, one cyclone, two bombings, a G8 conference, two world cups, three Olympics and interviewed numerous state leaders. He switched to full time environmental reporting after writing the eco-travelogue, When a Billion Chinese Jump. He is now living on the climate and biodiversity frontline in the Amazonian town of Altamira.

Dom Phillips was a highly experienced British freelance journalist. He moved to Brazil in 2007 and wrote extensively for British and American newspapers such as the Guardian and Washington Post. In 2023, How to Save the Amazon was awarded a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant by the Whiting Foundation. In June 2022, Dom Phillips and his colleague Bruno Pereiria were killed in a remote part of the Amazon while researching this book."


I got a free earlybird ticket, after those run out there are charges.

https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2025...

"Pope Francis has been praised for a legacy of inspiring "generations of environmentalists around the world" and as a "beacon of humility, compassion, and courage" by the stars he met including Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Michelle Yeoh."

I found that the Open University has free courses on the environment. They are in three levels and take from a couple of online hours to 24 online hours.
The OU is British and used to run courses over television. Then they sent out CDs, and now the lectures are on line.

There are badges to show completion. You can use these on a CV or on your Linked In profile.
You need to register and then sign in to start taking a course.

Free courses are in the final link in this comment.
This is the actual OU:
https://www.open.ac.uk/

At the page end are links to course topics, here is the environment page. Naturally, they try to sell you a degree course. Modules are not cheap.

https://www.open.ac.uk/courses/enviro...

There are micro-credentials, only one in environment at present.

But there are free shorter courses if you ask. They don't make it easy to find these. I had to go back to the link I first followed, which leads me to OpenLearn run by the OU. As the OU is a registered charity it is kind of obliged to make its purpose available to all, but do not expect to get education credits from the free courses.

I have filtered Open Learn for free and environment at the link below, but once there, you can bookmark it in your browser and then play around to see what other free offers are going. If you enjoy the badged courses you might be inclined to pay for a module or short course which could build towards a certificate or degree.

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/nature...

https://rte.social.ebu.io/JXEB22OO6BEW

"After a two-year around-the-world ocean voyage inspired by Charles Darwin, scientists and crew sailed home on a historic vessel into Rotterdam Thursday bearing a warning about climate change -- but also a message of hope. The majestic three-masted Oosterschelde, the last remaining vessel from a fleet of Dutch schooners that criss-crossed the globe in the early 20th century, arrived to a welcome befitting a voyage of more than 40,000 nautical miles (74,000 kilometres, 46,000 miles). Ceremonially escorted by more than a dozen vessels ranging from tall ships to steamships, all blaring horns, the Oosterschelde received a "water cannon salute" from fire service boats, as hundreds waved and cheered from the banks. Like Darwin in 1831, the Oosterschelde departed the British port of Plymouth in August 2023 to embark on a voyage of discovery that took in the major stops explored during the British naturalist's world-changing mission aboard the HMS Beagle.

From the Falkland Islands to the southern tips of Africa, South America and Australia, the trip closely shadowed Darwin's voyage that inspired his groundbreaking theory of natural selection described in "On the Origin of Species". Aboard the Oosterschelde at various points of the voyage were some of the world's best young conservationists, 100 scientists aged 18-25, selected to study a species also observed by Darwin, himself aged 22 at the time of his trip. Giant tortoises, Chilean dolphins, and howler monkeys were just some of the weird and wonderful creatures the young "Darwin Leaders" investigated, tracking changes since their appearance in "Origin of Species" two centuries ago. With "online classrooms" onboard and slick social media output, the mission also hoped to inspire a new generation around the message: "Conservation isn't about what we've lost, it's about protecting what we still have.""