Can ecology help solve Earth’s biggest environmental challenges? The British Ecological Society thinks that it can.
Jack Daniels, a second year CDT-SIS researcher, was involved in an outreach event with the British Ecological Society just before Christmas 2019. Some year 8 pupils from local schools came to the University and attended a number of workshops about climate change, food security and biodiversity. The BES and partner universities – Durham University, University of Leeds and University of Southampton have worked together to develop an engaging outreach programme that discusses and highlights to the pupils key ecological issues facing the planet and to see the possible solutions or outcomes of our actions.
The aim of the sessions was to teach them about how ecology was important for addressing major global problems. Jack was mainly involved with the climate change session, where they asked the students to think about all of the causes/consequences of climate change, and then design their own island based on what they had learned.
“Finding solutions cannot happen without a broader understanding of the challenges facing our planet. At the beginning of the day most pupils had an idea that ecology was something to do with nature and that global challenges include things such as climate change, pollution, poverty and inequality. By the end of the event, pupils had an increased awareness of environmental challenges and the significance of tackling them.”
Christina Ravinet writing for British Ecological Society
The young people were also encouraged to think about careers in science and engineering and in particular ecology with the postgraduate researchers acting as role models. The pupils were able to ask questions and discover what working in the science sector was really like.
The BES have written a short article about the national outreach programme, which is available at: https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/how-to-save-your-planet-uk-schools-outreach-project/