Sarah Hammond Ward

Our courses have opportunities to explore outdoor education, education for climate change and sustainability issues - and we love spending our time teaching and learning outdoors!

MSc Outdoor Environmental Education

If you’re interested in studying for a postgraduate qualification in outdoor environmental education, I’ll be talking at an online event on Tuesday at 5pm about our courses at the University of Hertfordshire - sign up via the link www.herts.ac.uk/courses/post...

And the first DofE expedition of the year. The sunrise and sunset made this one to remember #adventure #outdooreducation

A few photos to catch up on the last few weeks - the sunny weather has encouraged us to spend more time teaching outdoors with MSc and BA early childhood education students

Coffee Prices Are Soaring, but Growers Aren’t Celebrating (Gift Article) Climate change is behind the windfall gains, and growers are worried about whether they can adapt.

Although the majority of people around the world are worried about climate change, most still feel it is a future issue or one that only affects the natural environment.

They couldn’t be more wrong: climate change is already affecting what’s on our kitchen counter!

St Albans Abbey and end of our journey - and the night before I was also here reading out names for our graduates of the MSc outdoor environmental education at their graduation ceremonies!

Brilliant day yesterday on fieldwork with MSc outdoor environmental education students. A ‘slow’ journey along the Alban Way from Hatfield to St Albans - love this glimpse of St Albans Abbey and the river Ver beneath #slowways #outdooreducation #outdoorlearning

A lithograph from the 1830s figuring the Matterhorn drawn by french-speaking Swiss artist Alexandre Calame. The famous mountain stands out from the surrounding landscape.

'Le Mont Servin'
Alexandre Calame
Late 1830s

One of the few views of THE mountain produced and published (1841 here) before the tourism flourished in the area, i.e. from 1848, and especially after the first ascent (1865) 🏔️🎨⛏️

This looks so interesting!

#EfES thought for today...💭
According to the Royal Met Soc school leavers survey in 2024 'What reduces greenhouse gas emissions more?' 57% of 16 year olds said 'Recycling' compared to 15% saying a 'Plant-based diet'. Actually eating a plant-based diet has ~4x the impact. We need #ClimateInEducation.

Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement to restore African forests, is pictured standing in an open grassland with a single acacia tree. She is wearing a bright blue, green and yellow traditional African dress and head band.

Wangari Maathai (Nobel Peace Prize 2004) was a Kenyan biologist, creator of the Green Belt Movement to restore African forests. Her work in spite of opposition by corrupt governments inspires us. She was threatened and jailed, but prevailed. For the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Ministers to appeal against river pollution ruling won by Yorkshire anglers High court had ruled government was not meeting legal duty to clean up Costa Beck near Pickering

Labour came to power promising to clean up England's rivers.
Now @SteveReedMP is burning taxpayer money taking river guardians @WildFishCons to court, because "cleaning up individual rivers devastated by pollution is administratively unworkable."
WTAF?
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The north face of Vignemale and the Oulettes Glacier in the Pyrenees in September 1985 after a dry and hot summer

Oulettes Glacier and Vignemale
📷 @polarrobs.bsky.social
Sept. 1985

40 years ago, there was still a real glacier below Vignemale (3298 m) north wall! 🤩

Before long, the glaciers will be nothing more than sepia memories... ⏲️✝️

Window to stop decline of England’s nature closing fast, watchdog says Office for Environmental Protection calls for urgent action after finding government is falling short on most targets The window to stop the decline of England’s nature is swiftly closing, the environmental watchdog has said, as its latest report finds…

Window to stop decline of England’s nature closing fast, watchdog says

I’ve subscribed! I’m teaching a module on climate catastrophe this semester which reflects deeply on several of these issues

Busy week of marking assignments and getting ready for new modules. Leading one of my favourites this semester where we explore climate catastrophe and how education can respond to these huge global issues.

AI has an environmental problem. Here’s what the world can do about that. The sprawling data centres that house AI servers churn out toxic electronic waste and are voracious consumers of electricity, which in most places is still produced from fossil fuels.

"A request made through ChatGPT, an AI-based virtual assistant, consumes 10 times the electricity of a Google Search"

This isn't a game. This is accelerated destruction via huge usage of power, water, resources etc. Stop using it - especially for messing about!!

www.unep.org/news-and-sto...

Pretty sure that most of the new Labour MPs in my area stood next to chalk streams during the election campaign 🤔

The government has shelved a rescue plan for the UK's beleaguered chalk streams - work for which had already been completed under the Tories - and which was basically ready to go.

Its author was told there was "no mandate" for the plan, despite Labour standing on a platform of river restoration.

Ghosts of the landscape: how folklore and songs are key to rewilding Finland’s reindeer For ecologists restoring the vast bogs of remote Karelia, wild reindeer are not just part of the environment but entwined with the ancient culture of the boreal forests

Really interesting article - intrigued by the idea of deep mapping, connecting nature, culture and rewilding

It was good to start my Christmas break with a night away on the Norfolk coast - fresh air and time outside.

A green field with shadows and hills. Blue sky with scattered clouds.

The shadows and gentle swooping contours of this field make it an interesting place to walk. The vastness and monoculture of the field can be unnerving though and I often wonder what it might have been like 100-200 years ago. Lovely to spot some pairs of skylarks on my walk there yesterday.

I love this map of places where sycamore gap tree saplings will be planted. They include the Rob Burrow Centre for MND and a plot in memory of a 15 year old girl killed by her ex-boyfriend. They stretch from the Orkneys to Cornwall. By @nationaltrust.bsky.social

I helped plot some of the #SlowWays when we were stuck in Covid lockdown. Loving seeing how they’re now being explored and walked.

A busy week but a highlight on Friday watching Gold DofE groups present about their expeditions. So much interesting discussion about what they discovered about their sense of adventure, history and nature of Snowdonia on their journeys. Lovely throwback to memories of summer!

When it comes to the climate crisis, educators need to tackle the identity problem - Erasmus Magazine A lot of students walk around with a guilty conscience and a feeling of unease, despite their utilitarian rationalizations regarding sustainability, says education expert Ginie Servant-Miklos. She thi...

YES! 'Only education that helps to rebuild environmental identities will succeed....we to help students... to appreciate and value nature not as a consumer, but as something we’re a part of and we can build meaningful relationships with.' Ginie Servant-Miklos

www.erasmusmagazine.nl/en/2020/11/2...

John Dower’s legacy: a call to action on access | LiveMoreYHA Read all about the celebration at YHA Malham of the legacy of John Dower - a well known name of the countryside access movement...

Facilitating opportunities for ALL young people to access the outdoors and connect with nature is so needed - this by James Blake, YHA CEO, explains why…

From the roadside honesty florist (stick a quid in an old pan) in Wicken,July. My photo’s inspired by the work of Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750). Research shows that when we look at something we find visually appealing dopamine’s released in our brains, lifting mood & improving mental health slightly:

A young person standing underneath a waterfall whose origin is not in the view,. The water is splashing into a circular pond, with rust-colored sand in the foreground and a forested hill in the background. Copyright Tom Kimmerer

Three young children walking slong a path in a forest, the two on the outside holding hands with the smaller child between them. Copyright Tom Kimmerer

Two men setting up kites for the two toddlers with them. They are on a grassy slope leading down to a stand of young trees. Copyright Tom Kimmerer

A large group of about fifty people in an open field planting trees. It's a cool day and the people are dressed in bright outdoor clothing. The ground is checkered with black plastic squares into which trees are being planted. Copyright Tom Kimmerer

I agree with @naomiaklein.bsky.social that we all urgently need to become eco-populists because we face existential threats. There is another, essential thing we need to do, which is to make the natural world a deep part of our lives. You can't love someone you don't know. Get out there!