Discover the Western Soundscape Archive
December 3, 2015
Sarah Stubbings writes: Did you know that one in five mammals, one in eight birds and nearly one in three amphibians worldwide are threatened with extinction? And this is largely due to what we humans are doing to our environment. This damning statistic is one of the many insights into the natural world that you …
Join our Carbon Reductions Hotseat Live from Paris Climate Change Conference
November 30, 2015
Sarah Stubbings writes: Sustainability, Society and You is bringing you a hotseat live from the Paris Climate Change Conference. On Wednesday 2 December from 3.00-500pm GMT, Nick Blyth, Policy and Engagement Lead for the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA), will be answering your questions on carbon reductions. Are some tonnes of CO2 better than …
Sustainability focus on health and gardening!
November 20, 2015
This week in Sustainability, Society and You included a focus on health. Dr Neil Chadborn and Dr Linda East introduced us to the health benefits of a low carbon economy as a positive selling point for sustainability. Positive health co-benefits include a shift to low carbon vehicles, to walking and cycling, resulting in both less …
The top five environmental anthems
October 23, 2015
Sarah Stubbings writes: While working on our plans for the University of Nottingham’s MOOC Sustainability, Society and You, Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi was on repeat play in my head. Joni’s inspiration for the song was looking out of her hotel window in Hawaii and seeing its sublime natural beauty blighted by the sight of …
Coping with the carrier bag charge
October 19, 2015
How are shoppers coping after Monday 5th October when they started being asked to pay around 5p per single-use carrier bag in shops in England? Charges are already routine in Wales (since October 2011), Northern Ireland (since April 2013) and Scotland (since October 2014). The scheme is intended to protect the environment from the number …
Sustainability, Society and You MOOC starts on 2nd November
October 13, 2015
At the end of September world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and committed to 17 Global Goals which aim to achieve three extraordinary things in all countries in the next 15 years. End extreme poverty. Fight inequality & injustice. Fix climate change. How do these …
Shale Gas Massive Open Online Course
December 16, 2014
On the 2nd February 2015 the University of Nottingham is launching it’s Shale Gas Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). The course is written by the Shale Gas Research team here at the University who have been publishing the Public Perceptions of Shale Gas UK Public Surveys for the last two years. In this Blog we …
Welcome to the Anthropocene video
June 4, 2014
Although it’s a couple of years old, this video, made by Owen Gaffney at the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), about climate and environmental change is still very relevant – take a look. “Welcome to the Anthropocene” is a film about the state of the planet, which opened the UN’s Rio+20 summit on sustainable development in June …
To Frack or not to Frack?
May 30, 2014
Since March 2012, academics from the Schools of Geography, Politics and International Relations and Sociology and Social Policy have been running surveys of public attitudes to shale gas extraction in the UK. The survey has tracked changes in awareness of shale gas, views on the environmental impacts of its extraction and use, as well as …
Sustainable buildings
February 21, 2014
Examples of particularly sustainable buildings shared by participants in Sustainability, Society and You, the current MOOC on Futurelearn. Business and commercial flagships The Green Firemen: The first six minutes of this video (link below) shows what one local fireman achieved for his station. This Fire station in North Dublin is now carbon neutral and being …
