Children and young people, more than anyone else, see the need for long-term solutions to the global and climate challenges we face. After all, they’re more likely to be around to see the results of global warming and environmental changes. Because of the importance of making changes now for the sake of future generations, Bolton Council supports sustainability education in many ways – including through Bolton’s Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Network.
What is the ESD Network?
The ESD Network:
- Collects information and shares it among its 300+ members. It coordinates the Bolton ESD Directory of 30+ local sources of educational support as well as local places to visit, training opportunities and funding sources.
- Organises Bolton-wide events to promote sustainable solutions for schools and educational groups (e.g. Opening the Doorways event for 28 schools)
- Supports those working in education (e.g. a “PESST” practitioners group meets regularly)
- Supports specific parts of the Sustainability agenda through local networks like Forest School in Bolton and Fairtrade Schools
What can you do?
Get involved! Your local school, youth group or environmental organisation may well be keen to hear from anyone with the skills, experience, or simply the enthusiasm, to work with children and young people on growing food or plants, reducing their global footprint, making international links or reducing waste. If you’re interested in education and sustainability (as a practitioner, a governor, a parent or an organisation) you can join the ESD Network and receive the twice-termly mailing. Contact the ESD Network using the email link above.
Here are some useful definitions:
“Footprint means pressing down and global means world, so ‘global footprint’ means pressing down on the world and we don’t want to press too hard” - a child’s definition of Global Footprint.
“(A sustainable school)..should teach its pupils to look after the environment and themselves, and should be sustainable in itself” - pupils at a Sustainable Schools day for secondary schools.
“Sustainable development means inspiring people in all parts of the world to find solutions that improve their quality of life without storing up problems for the future, or impacting unfairly on other people’s lives. It must be much more than recycling bottles or giving money to charity. It is about thinking and working in a profoundly different way” - Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)