The Life Geographic: A somewhat self-absorbed personal and professional development blog of an ex-Geography high-school teacher…
Meganne Christian, a remarkable figure with Australian, British, New Zealand, and Italian citizenship, shares her unique journey from studying industrial chemistry to living at Concordia Station in Antarctica and joining the European Space Agency's astronaut reserve. Her experience highlights the intersection of science, exploration, and personal growth amidst extreme environments.
My #CoffeeGeogPod chat with Dr Claire Brown highlighted the importance of adapting UK housing for climate change, focusing on thermal comfort during heat waves. We discuss social issues such as the insulation and shading choices available to private homeowners versus social housing tenants. Retrofitting existing homes and incorporating solar shading into building regulations are pivotal for future-proofing structures and ensuring health and safety.
My first RGS-IBG Annual International Conference took me from Fenland weather heritage and flood resilience to cyborgs, climate humour and the geographies of outer space, while raising new questions about inequality, knowledge and what it means to create more just places.
When millions of phones sounded with a wildfire Emergency Alert last month, concern was not hysteria. My latest article for East Anglia Bylines explores why children's climate concerns cannot simply be blamed on schools, parents or social media, and how events such as the Dunwich Heath wildfire shape young people's understanding of climate risk through lived experience.
A new Natural History GCSE qualification for high school students in England could be more than another exam about nature. Here’s why I’m advocating for fieldwork, notebooks, inclusive access, climate literacy as safeguarding, and school climate action plans at the heart of the new qualification.
A personal reflection on GroundEd, a two-day regenerative education gathering at the Homestead in Northumberland. This post explores what happened when CPD moved outside, slowed down, made space for nature connection, climate action, teacher wellbeing, community, music, humour, and the messy but necessary work of imagining education differently.
The first letter in this series was written in frustration — in response to a school communication that seemed to confuse the effects of heat with the effects of relaxed uniform. This one comes from a different place. During the same spell of extreme weather, another school made the difficult decision to cancel an outdoor trip and postpone a community event during a red heat-health alert. For one parent, it stood out as an example of calm, child-centred leadership under pressure. What follows is a lightly anonymised version of the note they wrote in response.
A school in England, facing a run of very hot days and a national heat alert, wrote to parents to set out its expectations. There were some adjustments - small ones - but the overall message was clear: standards would hold, routines would remain, and any loosening of uniform would need to be carefully controlled. There was also an implication, lightly but unmistakably put, that where uniform had been relaxed in the past, behaviour had slipped. For one parent reading it, that last point stuck. So they wrote back....
In Season 6 Episode 9 of Coffee & Geography, I discuss climate education with Nava Khorram Ahmad, Executive Director of the Climate Education Centre. Emphasising practical approaches, Nava highlights the importance of integrating Indigenous knowledge and the human aspect of climate issues. She shares stories of youth-led climate resilience and underscores the potential for change through community efforts.
In Episode 5 of the podcast, the I visit East Norfolk Sixth Form College in Great Yarmouth, emphasising sustainability as a cultural practice intertwined with education. Principal Dr. Catherine Richards discusses the college's role in the community, addressing local challenges while promoting climate literacy across all subjects, fostering a sense of belonging and optimism.