The 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires season saw a year-to-year surge in fires occurring in the Amazon rainforest and Amazon biome within Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru during that year's Amazonian tropical dry season. Latest News Headlines. Please report that too, for balance, Greenpeace. Billed as an untold story about a … The coal industry and associated power generation kills far more people The remarkable story of three-year-old Jude Leyton's survival for three days alone in an Eastern Ontario forest began last Sunday when he was helping his grandfather, Chris Fisher, build a swing in his workshop. forest information system for europe (fise) is the single entry point for data and information to support forest-related policies in Europe. On the 16th of April, plumes of smoke caused smog in Kyiv, 250 kilometers away and although they did not exceed norms, higher levels of radioactivity than usual were detected. Oh, major oil industries. About 31% of the Earth's land is covered by forests - this translates to about 12 million square miles or 3.1 billion hectares! Secrecy was one of the reasons why the Chernobyl disaster was so severe in 1986: it was later confirmed in court that even the director of the Chernobyl power plant was not made aware of a disaster at the Leningrad nuclear power plant in 1975 that would have given clues to what happened in reactor 4. It is a recurrent annual phenomenon, however, are also brought under control due to the short span of precipitation. No-one is immune from radioactive products getting into their homes. The decline is due to a number of factors, including two … “They said the way round it is to get some cameras so we’re going to do that,” says Sue Cowling, a supervisor at Ashdon. Hundreds of ill-equipped firefighters and foresters are currently trying to get the fires in Northern Ukraine under control. She was surprised how quickly children grasped fire safety. Here is an organization that is trying to stop that and they are met with such naive, uninformed, opposition. However, there are numerous working hypotheses and even more speculations. “Parents worry about the cold but if they can do it in Norway, in -10C, we can do it here,” reasons Watts. The human race WILL be the cause of the sixth mass extinxion event on this planet. It is clear that practically anyplace on earth, man is destroying it. This is why, in the contaminated areas, the village dwellers living nearby are deprived of their right to use the forest for the next 300 years. “He goes to a nursery at the moment and for four weeks in a row, they didn’t go outdoors,” she says. 7. But can they prepare children for our technology-obsessed world? And most of all, what about the cold? The 18-story structure contains apartments, office space and the aptly named Wood Hotel. Forest schools: fires, trees and mud pies. “Children are going to get stung by nettles, they will get caught on brambles,” she says. The “exclusion zone” surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is still – 34 years later – heavily contaminated with caesium-137, strontium-90, americium-241, plutonium-238 and plutonium-239. Despite the ongoing research, there is no convincing explanation for the phenomenon. Like many parents, I’m keen for my three-year-old twins to experience the freedoms I enjoyed roaming wild as a small boy, and avoid the incessant screens and invitations to consume that come with indoor life. Unless otherwise stated, the copy of the website is licensed under a CC-BY International License. We just give them the best equipment to do it.”. With the Greenpeace Russia forest team and global mapping hub, I have been following these wildfires since they began. Forest declines . Brazil has the biggest share of the 670 million hectares of forest ... 2019 shows several fires burning in the Brazilian Amazon forest. “I love teaching reception but we’re closing the door – literally – and moving towards more testing. “Both Hayley and I have chosen to leave primary school because we believe in this really strongly,” says Harwood, cooking Welsh cakes on the open fire. aims to allow clear, easy-to-use, open access to updated information about the state and trends in Europe’s forests through meaningful data and narratives. With antecedents in Robert Baden-Powell’s scouts, the Woodcraft Folk and Margaret McMillan’s outdoor nurseries, today’s movement was kickstarted by Bridgewater College, which established the first forest school in Somerset in 1993 after an inspiring trip to Danish nurseries run on Scandinavian friluftsliv (“open air life”) principles. Hypotheses. The losses released the equivalent of the annual emissions from 570 million cars, more than twice the number on the road in … Child-led learning … Dandelion forest school in Norfolk. Increased activity of Caesium-137 and other radionuclides in the air can lead to a rise in levels of cancer. 34 years later, Chernobyl radioactivity is still circulating. Indonesia managed to reduce primary forest losses in 2018 by around 40%, its lowest rate since 2003. One of them is located close to the site of the old nuclear power plant, only 4 kilometers away from the sarcophagus. positive impact on confidence and dispositions for learning. Inspectors judged it “good” but withheld an “outstanding” rating because children had too few opportunities to “turn on and operate information and communication and technology equipment”. Close to the fires, firefighters and local people are exposed to risks from both smoke inhalation and radiation. Despite fears that the forest school movement is not well-served by Ofsted, when Forest Kindergarten in Sevenoaks was inspected this year it was rated “outstanding”: Caroline Watts provides technology in the form of cameras and torches. The wildfires started on April 3rd, due to abnormally hot, dry and windy weather. Odisha saw 16,494 forest fires since November 1 last year, the highest among all the states. Production houses Zee Studios and Emmay Entertainment have come together for actor Rani Mukerji's next feature film, "Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway". These fires happen almost every year. It's already in your and your misled readers' bodies, lots of it. Environmental groups and indigenous activists from the Amazon region filed a lawsuit Wednesday in a French court alleging that France-based supermarket chain … Chernobyl was a disaster caused primarily by humans repeatedly ignoring or overusing safety warnings. The smoke and ash have also crossed borders: the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority registered a small increase of caesium-137 concentrations in the air in Norway. We've developed a suite of premium Outlook features for people with advanced email and calendar needs. ;] The boreal forest needs natural disturbances such as forest fires and outbreaks of insects and disease. This is Dandelion forest school, one of a growing number of outdoor nurseries, where children learn through outside play, all year round. Expand your Outlook. The consequences of Chernobyl are still here. Read our, We use cookies to enhance your experience. Last modified on Sat 25 Nov 2017 03.38 EST. How about revealing your major donors, Greenpeace? man is the destruction of man.how stupid but always have & will destroy each other. What is one of the largest wildlife areas in Europe will take years to recover. Plutonium particles are the most toxic ones: they are estimated to be around 250 times more harmful than caesium-137. Why not cause worry over that? Emma Harwood and Tilly, 5, making Welsh cakes on an open fire at Dandelion forest school. Teacher-to-child ratios are never more than one-to-six. But my girls have quite different personalities – Esme loves mucking about outside while Milly prefers indoor play – so I wasn’t sure how they would enjoy an open day at Dandelion, an off-grid nursery that opens next to Erpingham primary school (itself a forest school) in Norfolk in January. annually than nuclear power. Cities like Kyiv are exposed to the health impact of inhaling smoke in the short term and in the longer term, risk internal irradiation through contaminated berries, mushrooms and milk bought on the local markets. A Scottish study recently found activity levels 2.2 times higher in a forest school day than during a school day that included PE lessons. ... “Parents worry about the cold but if they can do it in Norway, in -10C, we can do it here,” reasons Watts. There is currently no data on how much nuclear material has been brought into the atmosphere because of these fires, so we don’t know how far they have travelled. Will a forest school nursery prepare my daughters for modern primary schools – and the technologically-obsessed modern world? DC's animated movie 'Batman: The Long Halloween' will have Naya Rivera posthumously voicing Catwoman. That is 22% of the total area of the exclusion zone. “Reception teachers say the main thing children need is resilience, and bringing them to the forest teaches them resilience. Having said that, in seven years working with [forest school] reception classes, I haven’t had anything other than cuts and bruises.”, By Dandelion’s climbing tree, another mum, Lois Povey, watches her son, Tom. Early in the morning of April 26, 1986, the fourth reactor exploded at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. It is clear that the numbers will be higher this year. After reading some of the other comments, I just can't get over how most people have lost the ability to think for themselves. Every spring, fires start in the forests that are still heavily contaminated with radiation after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Well here in the Swartland, Western Cape, SA, it's been the occasional spike - around 40 Celsius - 104 Fahrenheit, and that's not abnormal for Autumn in these parts, so enjoy - it's all the normal ups and downs of Nature... That is not good, I do feel for these poor people. Emma Harwood, an experienced primary school teacher, is opening Dandelion with fellow teacher Hayley Staniforth-Room, after they became convinced of the merits of child-centred learning outdoors. The best sports coverage from around the world, covering: Football, Cricket, Golf, Rugby, WWE, Boxing, Tennis and much more. The people who are against nuclear power. As I am writing this, three weeks after the start of the fires, at least three of the largest fires continue burning. Forest schools have fallen victim to public sector cuts – until recently, a number of local authorities employed staff to develop forest school sessions in mainstream schools but all but one has lost their job. Golden leaves are falling, wood smoke is rising, and my daughter Milly finds a dressing-up box incongruously placed in a small paddock, puts on a silky pink top and sunhat and climbs a tree. “At forest school, children learn to think, question and justify what they think and that’s a much better stepping stone into commerce or engineering,” she says. A Microsoft 365 subscription offers an ad-free interface, custom domains, enhanced security options, the full desktop version of Office, and 1 TB of cloud storage. It is possible that most of the radionuclides will settle within the exclusion zone and nearest area, as these are heavy particles. These fires happen almost every year. “I’m amazed by their autonomy,” says Watts. Her two sons were brought up forest school-style: one is a writer, the other is a physicist who works in the City. And yet the movement is growing in Britain and beyond. The Forest School Association charity has since helped 12,000 teachers and other professionals undertake forest school training. However, in the past two decades, slightly more than half a million square miles (130 m hectares) of forest have been lost to deforestation and destruction by factors such as floods and fires. We know from previous (smaller) fires that happened in the area in 2015 that scientists found a release of 10.9 TBq caesium-137, 1.5 TBq of strontium-90, 7.8 GBq of plutonium-238 , 6.3 GBq of plutonium-239, 9.4 GBq of plutonium-239 and 29.7 GBq americium-241. He was outside this morning [in November] in his pyjama top and no pants, playing with his boats in the paddling pool.” Povey used to be a teacher and wants Tom to avoid her experience. Satellite images show that an estimated 57 000 hectares of the Cherbobyl exclusion zone has burned so far. “They’ve become more and more competent physically and play more and more imaginatively.”. “Tom is so happy outdoors. Most of the children have got access to it [communications technology] at home so do they really need it here?”. “I’m going to chop you,” he says. “Every day, we risk-assess,” says Harwood. Below her, one boy waves a toy plastic chainsaw at another. (NASA via AP). One child, however, left the Forest Kindergarten because “he was getting ill so much we thought it wasn’t fair,” she says, although she is convinced that being outside means her children are less likely to pass around illnesses. “There’s a definite fear among parents about getting their children ready for school at a younger age but all the evidence says that’s not what they need,” says Watts. Like any conventional nursery, forest school nurseries are inspected. “Every parent likes the idea of their children being outside more”, says Harwood, but many are initially sceptical about its educational benefit. This is due to the fact that since 1986, the forests have accumulated radioactivity, mostly concentrated in the wood and upper soil layers. So yes, potentially dangerous radionuclides are travelling with the fire haze. Open fires, messing around with tools, outdoor toilets and outside in rain and snow: it may sound like a cruel punishment for cotton-wool kids, but forest schools are quietly spreading through Britain, with almost no assistance from the authorities. Leading research institutions are Østfold University College (Norway) and the Italian National Research Council. It has a 1.2 billion year half life. “We’re also looking for mushrooms,” she says. “Clearly children will be what they are. Wondering so much about how forest school will benefit them, I hadn’t paused to consider its positive impact on parents: on the journey home, both girls conk out, fast asleep after so much fresh air and exercise. Cree recently visited South Korea and found 40% of its kindergartens undertaking some form of forest school education. The tools? “Our classroom is constantly changing, which is what I love about it.” Earlier, they made lassos, climbed onto a ship (a tree stump) and used their lassos to rescue (imaginary) sheep. Parents are shivering in the cold but no children are complaining. Cs137 has a half-life of ~30 years, so most is gone from the region today. “I’ve certainly met a lot of parents who thought it [forest school] was a waste of time but I’ve never met a parent who after their child attended hasn’t said, ‘Wow, that really made a difference’.” Is there hard evidence that being outdoors inspires better learning? What about the fire and the tools? Demi Lovato opens up about … These forest fires are burdening an emergency ministry already in the midst of a health crisis. Rashid Alimov, is a nuclear campaigner at Greenpeace Russia. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian. Fire releases these particles into the air where wind can transport them over long distances, eventually expanding the boundaries of radioactive contamination. By clicking “Got it!” you agree to our, the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority. Greenpeace continues its unethical fear mongering rather than educating. This year, our firefighters have not been able to go on site to help due to the coronavirus pandemic. People are still at risk; exposed and fighting on the frontlines. In 2016 alone, 29.7 million hectares of forest cover was lost. When I call Caroline Watts, who runs the Forest Kindergarten in a National Trust wood near Sevenoaks, Kent, her children are feeding sugar-water to a tired bumblebee. Jon Cree, chair of Forest School Association, agrees that the popularity of forest schools is, in part, a reaction against the contemporary testing culture. Not surprising. Ashdon Preschool Forest School in Saffron Waldon, Essex was the first completely outdoor nursery to be inspected by Ofsted. Most studies have looked at forest school’s positive impact on confidence and dispositions for learning. Many forest school websites repeat a brusque aphorism variously attributed to Scandinavians, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Alfred Wainwright: there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. The tropics lost a total of 12.2 million hectares of primary and secondary regrown forest in 2020, WRI's data said. What about Potassium40? By the end of our session at Dandelion, to my surprise, indoorsy Milly is still playing outside while mud-loving Esme has retreated to the security of the warm tent. “I don’t think it’s the right place for iPads. “We hugely underestimate what children can do.” Tree-climbing and tool-use is closely supervised. But suitable clothing is expensive (although in Norfolk, Harwood has scoured charity shops for shrunken cashmere jumpers for her pupils) and some children really do feel the cold more than others. “They want to move it into their very regimented primary and secondary schools,” he says. They are now the biggest fires ever recorded in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. We should be making schools ready for children rather than make children ready for schools.”, At Dandelion, Emma Harwood also offers reassurance. The planet can take only so much. The forest area remains vulnerable to forest fires during Autumn. Dandelion is purist: there is no indoors. Forest fires in contaminated areas are a big problem for Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia where 5 million people still live in contaminated areas according to official data. Instead, there is a fire, a tree to climb, a sink where children can make mud pies, a tunnel of willow shoots containing a doll’s house, a mini-stage made from pallets, a shed for a toilet and a purple tent for quiet time, heated by a woodburner. The long-lived radionuclides released by the accident mean the disaster continues decades on. Nuclear-related risks themselves are exacerbated by a lack of transparency: at the beginning of the fires, the first official accounts minimized the areas on fire by about 600 times. “Parents understand that to learn and develop, you will occasionally have accidents. Forest fires in contaminated areas are a big problem for Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia where 5 million people still live in contaminated areas according to official data. In Harwood’s sessions, children sing around the fire, learn to use and make tools, build dens, dig in the mud, identify bugs with magnifying glasses or retreat to the tent for reading and puzzles. The Greenpeace Russia firefighting squad has helped several times to extinguish the fires on contaminated territories. “It’s a tool, not a weapon,” says his mum, making sure he is safe. Forest fires, insects and diseases help the boreal forest. Denmark, Iceland and Norway suspend AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccinations after blood clot reports. Outdoor nurseries are sweeping the UK, their focus on fresh air and child-centred learning rather than testing. It doesn’t feel child-centric enough any more.” After taking primary schools on weekly forest school sessions, Harwood noticed a huge difference in pupils’ “self-esteem and ability to assess risk and make their own decisions”. In Worcestershire alone, there are 360 “forest schools”, mostly primary schools, which typically give pupils one woodland learning experience each week. “Everything is so structured and prescriptive and involves tests. Chernobyl will continue to pose a threat for many generations to come. 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