A Wall that Heals in Malta!
Forest Expeditions in Latvia!
Engaging schools to address national environmental targets in Kenya!
A Tiny Forest brings LEAF to Tertiary Education!
Forest action for climate change mitigation in Greece!
A week-long vacation in the forest!
Environmental education at Honey Pot Garston Nursery
Lockdown Treasure Hunt in Czech Republic
Cyprus's "Path of Nature"
UNESCO support’s GAIA 20:30 Biodiversity Campaign
A valued partnership
We are proud to welcome UNESCO as an official partner of the GAIA 20:30 Biodiversity Campaign, which was launched by FEE on 14 September. The GAIA 20:30 Biodiversity Campaign aims at mobilizing action, raise awareness, and collect, co-create, and disseminate resources on actions that we can take to protect global biodiversity. The campaign strives to support and help implement #GenerationRestoration by aligning to the UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration.
The campaign
The GAIA 20:30 Biodiversity Campaign will engage different stakeholders in a series of activities: a lesson plan competition, a global quiz, a social media challenge, a best practice competition and FEE's Global Action Days.
We believe that this partnership will jointly strengthen the impact of this campaign and our shared efforts to protect global biodiversity. We would like to thank UNESCO for its continuous support!
Together, we can change the world!
To learn more about the campaign visit: GAIA 20:30 Biodiversity Campaign — Learning about Forests (leaf.global)
Or to discover more on UNESCO commitment to biodiversity visit: UNESCO's commitment to biodiversity
Learning from Nature in Bulgaria
Visit at the Tamanduateí river in Brazil
A Nesting Forest in your Neighbourhood
Win a Tiny Forest!
A fantastic opportunity to win a Tiny Forest through IVN’s competition!
What is a tiny forest?
Tiny forests are highly compact, fast-growing forests that bring nature into urban environments. As well as helping us reconnect with the natural world, they are also a haven for insects and birds. Each forest counts about 600 trees and covers a space that would normally fit a tennis court – roughly 200 square metres. While a regular forest takes 100 years to reach maturity, tiny forests feature fast-growing species and are lush and green after just 10 years. Find out more about tiny forests in our article.
The prize
The winner of the tiny forest will receive funding to cover the costs of the trees, soil preparation, fencing and planting as well as training and onsite guidance from nature education organisation IVN, which is leading the tiny forest movement in Europe.
Who can apply?
Anyone (18+) living in a city in Europe, who wants to co-create and care for a local tiny forest together with the local community, city council, nearby school or nature education organisation.
What are we looking for in applicants?
Willingness to spend 1 day a week for a year to create this forest.
Intrinsically motivated to follow the IVN (online) training programme.
Permission from your city council or other local organisation with approx 200m2 available land, such as schools or nature organisations, to plant a tiny forest in your city that can grow undisturbed for at least 10 years.
The tiny forest will be accessible to the community and can be used for educational purposes.
You have the enthusiasm to engage the local community in the planting and upkeep of the forest – ideally it will be adopted by a school and/or the neighbourhood.
You are willing to be interviewed about your experiences for 5 Media.
Employees of 5 Media and IVN, and their relatives, are excluded from entering.
Enter the competition
To have a chance at winning a tiny forest in your town, answer the question: What would a tiny forest mean to you and your community?
To enter, complete this form. The competition is open until September 30, 2021.
More information: Win a tiny forest | 5 Media (fivemedia.com)
Another year of creativity through LEAF in Cyprus
CYMEPA, our LEAF implementing organisation in Cyprus, along with the Cypriot Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth and their sponsor, EuroLife, wrapped up the activities of the Learning About Forests programme for the school year 2020 -2021 during an official ceremony, presenting the winners of an award competition.
In the competition, students were asked to produce a three-dimensional model of a forest, using their creativity and different materials. Each Student formed a pair with a parent and worked together during the lockdown to make their own creation. A total of 56 pairs took part!
Here’s the winners!
1st Prize ex quo
Anna Ucron from Chlorakas Primary School
Nicholas Christophides GC Scholl of Careers
2nd Prize
Annmarie Charalambous GC School of Careers
Honourable Mentions
Sotia Stavrou, GC School of Careers
Michael Prodromou, Pissouri Primary School
Irini Theodosiadou Koupatio School Paphos
Sotiria Theodosiadou Koupatio School Paphos
Michaelia Constantinou, Palehori Primary School
Learning about Forests & Eco-Schools at UNESCO World Conference
Anna Linehan and Eric O’Donnell, Student and Teacher from Thomond Community College, Ireland are attending the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development - representing Learning about Forests and Eco-Schools Global!
On 18 May, they're joining the session "ESD in secondary education". The session explores how ESD activities could be best introduced in secondary education and discuss some success factors in effectively implementing ESD.
Our student Anna, over her time in Thomond Community College, has consistently displayed an awareness of environmental issues, while also balancing that with an understanding of how communities, both local and global, need to be able to provide for themselves.
Anna has taken part in the Learning about Forests - LEAF Ireland programme, as well as the preparation and planting of An Coill Bheag (a Tiny Forest) at the back of the school, helping to greatly enhance the biodiversity of the school.
Anna has also been an active member of the Green-Schools Eco Committee and engaged in actitivies to encourage staff and pupils to think about their actions on #biodiversity.
Anna said: “I would love to participate in the UNESCO Conference panel, as I have a curiosity and will to discover what can be done for sustainable development, such as awareness of unnecessary consumption and what can be done in our communities. It is important for our earth to thrive off our actions, as we put work into our schools, companies and all around community.”
We look forward to listening in! The session will be recorded and shared! You can follow the live events at www.en.unesco/events/ESDfor2030
#LearnForOurPlanet #ESDfor2030 #leaf #ecoschools #LEAFanywhere
A wildlife conservation partnership between the Helvellyn Foundation and FEE
The Foundation Launch Programme was initiated in April 2021 as the first programme run by the Helvellyn Foundation. The aims of this grant are threefold: to support impactful organisations, to nurture meaningful partnerships, and to develop their grant-making process.
FEE was awarded 10,000 GBP on its proposal to continue working on professional development opportunities for educators in our network, and specifically, Eco-Schools, Learning About Forests (LEAF) and Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE). Through this project FEE remains true to its goals, presenting online learning within the fields of Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).
The creation of a professional development course on Biodiversity
Thanks to this grant, FEE is able to develop course modules introducing Biodiversity as a field and mainly as a theme to be addressed by schools globally. These educational resources will introduce many current environmental aspects that we all need to focus on such as:
The preservation of existing and new forests/natural habitats
The promotion of sustainable management of the coastal zone
Combatting pollinator and insect loss
Raising awareness of and support actions to remove invasive alien species.
This module series includes elements from all three programmes: it links to the curriculum through Eco-Schools, it conveys guidelines for outdoor education opportunities that we can find with LEAF, and it constitutes an inspiring space of creativity through YRE.
We expect that the project will:
Develop one open-source course, consisting of several modules covering the aforementioned FEE Strategy areas;
Engage at least 30% of programme managers running the youth-based programmes;
Increase effectiveness of projects implemented at the school level;
Empower educators to engage young people in conservation action;
Engage youth to conserve biodiversity
Support the asthma – allergies and COPD sufferers by choosing allergy-friendly trees
“Scientists predict that pollen counts will quadruple in the next 20 to 30 years, making life unbearable for those with pollen sensitivities. They say people who don’t normally suffer from hay fever may likely start to. Asthma attacks may also increase.”
The Allergy Friendly Schoolyard is “the call” of all school-aged children and teachers who are allergy/asthma sufferers. The goal is very simple: to have “healthy” schoolyards for all school-aged children to engage them in allergy-friendly exercise and play.
In the past, schoolyards were frequently planted with shrubs and trees that triggered pollen allergies - allergic asthma. The typical schoolyard is, unfortunately, all too often considerable allergenic than the surrounding landscape.
Today, more than ever, especially given the current epidemic of childhood obesity, children need to be encouraged to exercise and play vigorously. Schoolyards should be fun, safe, healthy places and always be allergy-friendly.
We encourage schools to:
• Check Ogren Plant Allergy Scale (OPALS) rankings for all the plant selections. This is a numerical plant allergy scale where landscape plants are ranked 1 – 10. Plants ranked 1 are best, least allergenic, and 10 is worst, most allergenic. This scale is now used worldwide for allergy reduction.
• Talk to the people in charge of planting shrubs and trees in your schoolyards. Strongly encourage them to include allergy-friendly plants in all future selections for your schoolyards.
We need your help. Working together, we can make great things happen!
The Veterans Gardening Guide is available at:
http://www.veteransgardeningguide.com/
More information can be found at:
Announcing Earth Action Hub: A 3-Day Virtual Climate Event!
CONNECTING PEOPLE TO INSPIRE CHANGE
IT’S OFFICIAL!
The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) is excited to be announcing the launch of Earth Action Hub, a dynamic 3-day virtual event dedicated to engaging everyone from youth to elders in learning about and promoting sustainable solutions to climate change!
Hosted by FEE, Earth Action Hub is the creation of the international, youth-led Organizing Committee made up of seven dedicated members: Barry McLaughlin (Ireland), Jessica Laxton (England), Joanna Tao (New Zealand), Kristina Madsen (Denmark), Paola Bay (Italy), Reeza Hanselmann (USA/Germany) and Samia Gomes (Brazil), all with the shared vision of building an online collaborative community that will serve as inspiration and support for continued environmental action across the globe.
“Our mission is to offer international youth-led virtual events and showcase resources that will give people the knowledge, skills, support, and hope needed to make changes in their daily lives that collectively will have a profound positive impact on the environment.”
SAVE THE DATES: 21-23 May 2021
The first annual Earth Action Hub event will be kicking off on Friday, May 21st at 14:00 UTC, starting with an Opening Ceremony filled with individuals from around the world and diving straight into a variety of talks, conversations and workshops. We’ve got over 24 hours of fun, dynamic and educational activities and sessions planned so Earth Action Hub is sure to be a success! And everyone’s invited!
Since our goal is to highlight a diverse range of voices, stories and experiences around solutions to climate change, we’re fortunate to have a number of incredible partners and speakers supporting Earth Action Hub all around the world. You can learn more about our partners on the Earth Action Hub website - we’re adding new ones every day!
Help us support the creation and maintenance of the online Earth Action Hub website with a donation!
Follow us @EarthActionHub on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and share our posts using #earthactionhub!
Check out our website and sign up to our newsletter to join the Earth Action Hub community and stay updated on news both leading up to and after our inaugural event!
Interested in partnering with us or running a session at the event? Send an email to reeza@fee.global.