Latest project states a fall in pupil numbers from 7859000 to 6915000 in the next decade. As school finances are based on student numbers that creates a major problem. I am sure the geographical spread is uneven, which will create more pressure in some areas.
CLIMATE
PANIC
I live in a rural village in North Somerset. My garden is full of insect friendly flowers. Weather sunny. Few insects. What the fuc* is going on?
CLIMATE ALERT
Portugal declares state of emergency as temperatures soar. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/04/spain-and-portugal-suffering-driest-climate-for-1200-years-research-shows
AN ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY PROJECT
EXAMS
Students are now taking GCSE and GCE Exams with 15-20 different exams. Why so many? Surely an exam in English – written and oral, and one in Maths should be enough. Other subjects could be assessed by competencies (especially the arts and practical subjects). Humanities subjects could be assessed by a reasoning paper with access to internet.
FARMING
Firstly it should be protected from the import of inferior produce with duties and protective legislation. (Taking back control!). Secondly there needs to be a distinction between family farms and those run for investment purposes and pure profit. Third it may need support to change to restorative techniques. Fourth the land owned by farmers should be excluded from property development.
CLIMATE
45 years ago I started teaching geography and climate change was a key component of my geography lessons. I must have been a crap teacher as the situation has got steadily worse. The biosphere is struggling to maintain diversity and food chains. Ice caps and glaciers are melting, the acidity of the oceans is changing, weather events are becoming more extreme and frequent. I still believe it is every individuals responsibility to do what they can to ameliorate these issues, but it needs government and diplomacy to force the mega rich corporations and individuals to take immediate action.
MOBILE PHONE RADIATION MAYBE KILLING INSECTS
CLIMATE ON TV
There should be a 10/15 minute broadcast the latest progress or not regarding climate change. This should include electricity generation on a weekly basis to show renewable/fossil generation. It should also have regular updates of electric car sales, houses insulated, CO2 levels.
All this could be supplemented with relevant innovations and analysis of government policies, both home and abroad (new coal mines, power stations etc.).
It should not be scaremongering, but should attempt to keep the issue at the forefront of everyones minds. Excerpts should be put on social media and politicians asked for comments on specific issues.
There is plenty of material available to make it an interesting programme with a valuable contribution.
Canada, Russia, Brazil and the USA and the Middle Eastern producers are all offering subsidies to fossil fuel companies to expand production. At present fossil fuels accounts for 60% of greenhouse gases – so basically governments are subsidising fossil fuel extraction using your taxes. Britain is not squeaky white on this with one of the 22 mega projects (although one of the smallest of the biggest.