Sustainability news

On Sunday 12^th March, the new and highly anticipated OU/BBC natural history co-production Wild Isles reached our television screens after three years in the making. The series, which focusses on the beauty and fascinating diversity of the British and Irish countryside was informed by the expertise of OU academics Dr Philip Wheeler and Dr Miranda Dyson.

To celebrate the release of the highly anticipated Open University (OU) / BBC series, Wild Isles, the OU is inviting you to share your favourite British and Irish nature spots or species on social media, using the hashtag #ShareYourWildIsles.

Simply head to The OU’s social channels and share your photo to get involved.

Did you have a favourite book as a child? My first favourite book I can remember was Dear Zoo. Now, whenever friends or family have a baby, I always buy the baby a copy (unless I’d already given their first baby a copy!).

Earth is very resourceful for the existence of living beings. Unexpected and continuing natural occurrences provide further resources, but can also be detrimental to us and our environments. For example, some of the natural occurrences are essential to our existence, such as rainfall, while others pose threats to our living conditions and survival, such as extreme heat, volcanic eruption, and flooding. Climate change is an ongoing growing threat that is affecting the survival of all living creatures on earth.

For many years, governments and civil society groups in the global South have been demanding that their countries should have easier, low-cost access to green technologies.  These are meant to bring several environmental benefits including reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.  Responding to such demands, COP27 extended the Technology Mechanism of the UN Climate Convention. 

Tens of millions of people affected, for days and weeks, in all sectors.  Significant and widespread disruption and impacts on the environment, agriculture, industry, energy and utilities, emergency services, transport, and cities. Red extreme weather warnings, temperature records broken, and declaration of a national health emergency.

Welcome to drought in the UK, 2022.

Last year I was privileged to attend COP26 in Glasgow as an official observer for the Open University. I’d heard plenty of negative comments about the previous COPs from activist friends, but I was glad to have the opportunity to experience one for myself. It was an insightful even fascinating week. You can read my blog here:

COP26 an activist's viewpoint – My experiences inside the COP26 global climate summit in 2021 (wordpress.com)

Climate change is not new.  Ever since there was a climate on Earth, repeated cycles of ice ages and warming have occurred naturally over billions of years. 

But rapid industrialisation of many economies has altered the Earth’s climate system.  Emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases from human activities has increased from less than 1 billion tons per year in 1800 to 35 billion tons per year in 2020.  There is now widespread agreement by the scientific community that current global warming is unequivocally the result of human influence.