6 questions for sustainability leads before 2025

I'm pleased to share my TES article concerning the drive to appoint teachers as leaders in sustainability in schools across England. It is likely many international schools around the world will follow suit. 

The Department of Education has set a deadline for all maintained settings to have designated someone to the role by 2025. 

I work in a large international school here in Bangkok and I'm one of two Sustainability Leads driving green issues forward inside and outside of the curriculum for our primary aged-pupils. 

When my colleague left last year, I was asked to design the interview questions and sit on the panel to appoint her replacement. 

Many new sustainability leads are likely to go unpaid and be chosen as someone willing to give it a go. 

My view is that this doesn't take the area seriously enough. It is crucial for education to address sustainability, if it is to meet the needs of future generations. 

This means formal interviews seeking to identify the right person for the job and - if they can afford it - schools should be paying teachers to take on the challenge. 

The article provides senior leadership teams in a variety of settings with the questions we asked our interviewees - and explains why we asked them. 

Here are the original 10 questions, I proposed: 

1. Can you describe an educational sustainability project that you were involved in that had an impact? What went well? What were the challenges?

2. The science behind sustainability can lead to worrying conclusions. Eco-anxiety is increasingly recognised as affecting young people. What would be your approach to this with our children?

3. How do we bring sustainability into our curriculum?

4. How would you respond to a parent who doesn’t see the relevance of sustainability to their child’s education?

5. Can you describe a climate change or sustainability success story from the wider world that has inspired you recently? 

6. What sparked your passion for sustainability? (Or what personal sustainability practices do you utilize in your everyday life?)  

7. How would you motivate or inspire less enthusiastic or confident colleagues to introduce more learning about sustainability into the curriculum?

8. What support would you need if you were appointed to the role?

9. Is it important to empower children to take action on Sustainability? Why? Why not? How would you support child led change? 

10. How would you involve the whole community?

Feel free to reach out to me if you are appointing in this space or if you a potential candidate in your school - I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have! 

With plastic-eating machines, Thai communities turn a profit fighting pollution

I found the workshop down a narrow soi in Bangkok’s old town. Several large sacks of plastic bottle caps, carefully sorted by colour, were propped up by the entrance.  

Machines filled the rest of the shed, but this wasn’t a big, industrial set up. The machinery was small-scale and hand operated. Its purpose was to turn those plastic caps into something new, ensuring they would no longer head to landfill or, worse, into the ocean.  

This was the workshop of Precious Plastic Bangkok, and it was a pleasure to write this article about their work providing communities around Thailand with machines to recycle plastic into useful products that can be sold for a profit.

The extruder melts old bottle caps so they can be shaped into new products. Photo: Ewen Mcleish

During my research I took part in a plastic recycling workshop where I learned how the process works and even made my own flowerpot! It looked a bit dodgy due to my inexpert hands, but I could see how, with a bit of practice lots of different containers could be created.

Precious Plastic have equipped communities with knowledge, tools and machines to recycle plastic. I was lucky enough to interview representatives of four of these initiatives about how how the projects were unfolding in their different geographies. Everyone involved was so enthusiastic about tackling the plastic pollution crisis.

A community group works together to sort plastic bottle caps into colours.
Photo: Precious Plastic Bangkok. 

Thanks to Dominic Chakrabongse and Jisara Suwannasri, both of Precious Plastic Bangkok for all their help in writing it all up.

I received some really nice comments from them after the article was published:

"We want to extend a heartfelt thanks to you for writing a fantastic article about Precious Plastic Bangkok. Your article has helped to raise awareness about the importance of recycling and the positive impact it can have on our community and the environment. We are truly grateful for your support and for helping to spread our message."

- Jisara

"Thank you, Ewen Mcleish, for your wonderful article about Precious Plastic Bangkok. It was incredibly thoughtful of you to take the time to share our mission and the work that we do with your readers. Your article has helped to raise awareness about the importance of recycling and the positive impact it can have on our community and the environment. We are truly grateful for your support and for helping to spread our message!"

- Dominic

Check out the full article here on Bangkok Coconuts!

Going Green: 8 ways we're acting on the government's sustainability strategy

I earn my bread and butter as a primary teacher at an international school here in Bangkok. Alongside helping youngsters learn the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, I lead the school's approach to sustainability. 

I was interested to find out that the UK government published a policy paper on sustainability, climate change and education in 2022. Given that British international schools, including my own, make a show of keeping up to date with the latest policy developments in the UK, I wondered what the ideas proposed would look like in my setting. 

Writing the piece also gave me the chance to read the paper closely and explore how schools can implement the ideas inside. I selected eight areas, explained them, then described how we're trying to meet them or what hurdles are getting in the way. 

The points I identified in the strategy were:

1. Bringing nature onto school grounds. 

2. Appointing sustainability leads in every school. 

3. Providing carbon literacy training for staff. 

4. Improving buildings to respond to climate change and reduce emissions. 

5. The educational opportunities that flow from any improvements implemented. 

6. Where in the curriculum should this learning be placed? 

7. How to handle political debate about environmental issues in the classroom. 

8. Celebrating the success of the young people involved. 

Full details of all of these can be found in my article published by TES Magazine here. 

One thing to note, I wanted to make the point (which comes through in the strategy) that retrofitting school buildings to become more climate friendly and reduce emissions can actually provide learning opportunities for pupils. Educators can use climate friendly adaptations like installing solar panels or heat pumps to create real life lessons. Giving children the chance to see how climate solutions are actually put into practice. I wish this had come across more clearly in the published article. 

Thai fishers step up to clear seas strangled by deadly ghost nets.

A Samut Prakan fisherman organising his nets after a night at sea. 

Photo: Ewen Mcleish/Coconuts

It was really wonderful to get to write this story for Coconuts. To research the piece, I visited the Ko Tor fishing community (less than an hour from Bangkok) and met the inspirational and hard working Khun Pen. 

Her story intertwines with that of the sea, an ever-diminishing bounty blamed not only on climate change but also practices closer to home – industrial pollution, poorly designed nets, harmful abandoned gear – and innovative attempts to address them.

Originally, the aim of my trip was to find out about the 'Net Free Seas' fishing net recycling project, but Khun Pen told me how things had changed dramatically in her 3 decades at sea.  She's witnessed dolphins, crab, mackerel and others fall in numbers since she first went fishing. This seemed like a greater story.

I decided to document Khun Pen's view of the decline and how it effected her, and by implication similar artisanal fisher folk throughout Thailand. At the same time, her recognition that abandoned fishing nets floating aimlessly at sea are a problem she can do something about is a source of hope. 

I'm grateful to Rahul Mehrotra, a post-doctoral researcher at Chulalongkorn University and program director at the gulf-based Aow Thai Marine Ecology Center who explained the problems caused by discarded fishing gear and how researchers have little idea about the extent of the damage. 

This black tipped-reef shark died trapped in an abandoned net at Shark Bay on Koh Tao 

Photo: Kirsty Magson

"The Environmental Justice Foundation's Net Free Seas Project aims to connect small-scale fishing communities with recyclers, creating a supply chain that turns discarded fishing nets into homeware products for sale to consumers,” project coordinator Salisa Traipipitsiriwat told me. 

Khun Pen is heavily involved in the project purchasing the used and damaged nets from fellow fishers and selling them on to Cirplas Tech, the recycling company. After cleaning and processing, the resulting pellets are turned into lifestyle and homeware items by Qualy Design. 

Duanpen Jaengpracham, aka Khun Pen, stands with used fishing nets ready for recycling. 

Photo: Ewen Mcleish / Coconuts

I was pleased to be able to interview and include Thosaphol Suppametheekulwat who owns both Qualy Design and Cirplas Tech.  This ensured the article painted a picture of the whole project. 

Carver table lamps made from recycled fishing nets by Qualy Design

Photo: Qualy Design

Thanks go to Salisa Traipipitsiriwat for arranging my trip to the fishing community, introducing me to Khun Pen and helping with translation for the article. 

Please click here to read the full story. 

COP26: How to use event to reduce pupil climate anxiety

Being a close follower of environmental news, I was keen to see how Glasgow's COP26 climate conference would pan out. As a teacher, I also wondered how the event and the hope that came with it could be highlighted to my young students. 

Children will be aware, albeit to varying degrees, of the wide range of extreme weather stories linked to climate change to hit the news agenda, and maybe that human actions in the form of burning fossil fuels are to blame. 

It's scary stuff and it's hard to teach. However, educators have a responsibility to help children understand what's happening. How can we present the facts without instilling climate anxiety amongst pupils? 

This is a very real issue, as an international study into the phenomenon, led by the University of Bath and funded by online campaign group Avaaz, outlines.

10,000 young people across 10 countries were asked about their thoughts and feelings on the issue. It found that 59 per cent of 16- to 25-year-olds were worried or extremely worried about climate change. 

But school aged children are also effected. 

Research conducted by the BBC's Newsround, which polled 2,000 8 to 16-year-olds in the UK, revealed how nearly three-quarters worried about the state of the planet. One in five admitted to having a bad dream about it.  

It strikes me that children need a more empowering, hopeful story around climate change in order to reduce feelings of despair. We need to acknowledge their worries, provide scientific explanations and then show how the adult world can take - and is taking - meaningful action. 

COP 26 was a chance to highlight to children that the climate emergency is not being ignored and that solutions are being sought. 

I planned, alongside my fellow sustainability coordinator at school, a trio of lessons to make the point.  The lessons were taught by other teachers in the school with slide shows we designed, using the freely available resources from Twinkl as a start point. 

The first lesson focussed on basic climate science and what COP26 was. The children learned how the conference aimed to bring countries together to report on their progress cutting emissions and hopefully come to agreement about further cuts. 

But we wanted to go further and help children understand that they can make their voices heard and demand more from politicians. 

This in mind, the second lesson invited pupils to enter an international competition run by UK-based Trust for Sustainable Living in partnership with Conservation Without Borders.  

The challenge was to create a video message to world leaders and governments on "the need for climate action and driving a green revolution". We ran the challenge as a "house competition" and received a decent number of entries, which were used as a basis for the third lesson sharing and celebrating the children's work.  

The winning entries were selected for entry into the international contest, and one of our pupils received special commendation from the judges. 

Overall, we hope we've helped children see COP26 as a chance for adults to work together to solve our climate problems - and that young people can and should demand that adults rise to the occasion. 

If any children in our care have feelings of climate anxiety, then this knowledge - and the opportunity to speak out - may foster a sense of hope within them for the future.  

I was delighted to see my article summarising the project published by Tes Magazine.

Rescuers struggle to save unemployed Thai elephants from worse than exploitation.

Elephants enjoying Napier grass grown to reduce overheads at the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary.
Photo: Phuket Elephant Sanctuary

This was a sad, yet absorbing topic to investigate.  

Having travelled around Thailand intermittently during the lockdowns of 2020/2021 and seeing the effects of 'zero tourists' on so many places, I got to wondering about the country's elephant camps and what had happened to them. 

I'd picked up a few hints of the problems involved during conversations with the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation in Chiang Rai and read an excellent article in National Geographic about the problems faced by Thailand's elephant sanctuaries and businesses as they attempted to look after (or failed to look after) their elephants - with essentially no tourist dollars coming in. 

The Phuket sandbox travel scheme was about to start and it seemed prudent to focus on a sanctuary there, find out how they coped and their hopes as the holiday island opened up. This would give me a starting point for finding out how elephants across the country had fared. 

It was great to interview Vincent Gerards from the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary and learn about the innovative initiatives that helped get them through. Turning to its tens of thousands of social media followers for help, the Phuket sanctuary didn’t just want to ask for money but instead “designed initiatives people could join from afar,” Gerards said. 

For example, they produced “two short films, telling the story of two elephants’ daily routines and a mahout’s (elephant keeper’s) role in rescuing another elephant. Supporters can purchase exclusive access; all proceeds feed our herd,” said Gerards.

Gerards thought the sandbox would provide a ray of hope, but dark clouds are continuing to hang over Thailand's tourist industry. 

Sangdeaun “Lek” Chailert of the Save Elephant Foundation
Photo: Save Elephant Foundation

I was lucky enough to be granted a phone interview with Sangdeaun “Lek” Chailert of the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai. She has received international recognition for her years improving the lives of Thailand’s working elephants. 

Chailert told me that elephants left unemployed during the pandemic were often sold because the elephant camps could not afford to keep them. 

During my research, I unearthed a pair of videos posted on TikTok and Instagram, which show two separate elephants struggling to pull large timber trucks up muddy mountain roads in the jungle. 

While it’s difficult to draw a direct link between unemployed elephants and the clips of them doing possibly illegal logging work, it is known that industry which once depended on their labor is one the owners have turned to when tourists stopped coming. 

"Elephants are definitely doing this work during the pandemic. I’ve visited them myself,” Chailert said.

But some owners have sought better fates for their elephants. Some have contacted Chailert to offer their lucky elephants for sale – and the chance of a better life.

Tang Mo and Sang Mueng once entertained tourists under the threat of the bull-hook at Phuket Zoo.  Photo: Moving Animals

Before tourism collapsed, elephants Tang Mo and Sang Mueng performed three times daily for tourists at Phuket Zoo. Closed and looking to cut costs, the zoo turned to Chailert. At Elephant Nature Park’s expense, the pair were moved to its 250-acre jungle reserve in Chiang Mai where they are now free, no longer hustling for tourist amusement.

Tang Mo and Sang Mueng enjoying their new lives at Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai.
Photo: Save Elephant Foundation

Another positive outcome of the great crunch has been dialogue between the Chailert's Save Elephant Foundation and owners about improving conditions for captive elephants. 

“Before the pandemic, I was talking to a brick wall. Elephant people thought I was their enemy. But now, many are interested in my views. They’ve seen my ethical model where elephants can be themselves out in the open and are asking how they can do the same,” Chailert concluded.

These hopes aside, it’s clear Thailand’s working elephants and the people that rely on them face real hardships until the tourists return. It is time for the government to meaningfully step in. 

Please read the FULL ARTICLE HERE. 

 

Pupils will never forget their virtual elephant safaris

I haven't written much about the Education for Sustainability projects I work on at school in my capacity as Environmental Sustainability Co-ordinator, but this one stood out as somewhat unique. 

It was one of the more eye-catching emails to arrive in my inbox. 

“Would your pupils like to meet our elephants on an educational online call?”

I was keen to read on. 

The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation offered my school live elephant safaris over Google Meet Photo Credit: GTAEF

The offer was from the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF), a conservation group that runs an elephant sanctuary located approximately 900 kilometres north of Bangkok at the remote point where the borders between Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet. A very different place from the city based international school where I teach. 

We were in a second round of online learning due to the pandemic and pupils had been learning from home for nearly a month. The answer was an obvious - yes! 

It was great to work closely with Laddawan Yonthantham and John Roberts of the GTAEF. Armed with a laptop, smartphone and selfie stick, they took the whole of the primary school (that's around 970 pupils) on a series of virtual field trips to meet the elephants they care for. 

Children were delighted with the elephant's fun loving-antics Photo Credit: GTAEF

The project's success prompted me to pitch the story to the TES and they kindly asked for a full write up. The full article can be read here. It was also published in the TES magazine itself. Click this link for the tearsheet.

It was good to have the chance to point out to the wider TES audience of educators that: despite the pandemic and resultant move to online learning, we can find new and innovative ways to engage pupils in real-world experiences that boost learning –  and highlight the real people working to solve our conservation and sustainability problems. 

Such learning brings not only reality to pupils, but also hope. Hope that we really can fix the planet on which we all depend.

The GTAEF continues to offer virtual field trips to schools worldwide, and can offer virtual elephant safaris to suit a variety of timezones. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you would like your school to be involved. 

Unsung trash heroes save Bangkok from choking on its own waste

Uncle Ban has spent the last decade collecting unwanted waste from people's homes, earning enough to pay for his children's education Photo: Ewen Mcleish

For a long time, I'd been considering a feature article investigating Bangkok's informal waste collectors. These independent workers scour the streets looking to buy or scavenge recyclable materials discarded by the city's waste generating inhabitants. 

My Thai's ok for day-to-day life, but the language barrier blocked my way. Until I met Pavini Sethi of Beesgreen, who also saw these workers as playing a valuable part in our haphazard recycling system. 

Fluent in Thai, she was tireless in searching out a 'seleng' operator who would be willing to be interviewed, and found Uncle Ban working the sois near my work and her home. Thank-you Pavini!

Uncle Ban was a little surprised by my questions, but answered patiently all the same. It was really interesting to hear about his life and his pretty positive view of his work. 

My prejudices were overturned as I'd expected to hear a story of poverty and lack of opportunity, but instead Uncle Ban displayed a kind of determined, gentle contentment about his occupation and life in general. 

Selaeng operators sell recyclables to medium sized businesses who sell to Thailand's larger recycling companies. Photo: Ewen Mcleish

To add some academic background to the article I drew upon the case study 'Closing the Loop: Sai Mai District' produced by the Stockholm Environment Institute and UNESCAP.  It was great that Diane Archer, an author of the study, was able to provide extra details about the situation of informal waste collectors in Bangkok. 

It was also good to come across other businesses and projects in the sector, such as 'Recycle Day' and Less Plastic Thailand (provides a great beginners guide) in the course of my research. 

A 'selaeng' fully loaded and ready to go; all sorts of consumer waste can be resold and used again.     Photo: Ewen Mcleish

One thing that struck me as I put together the piece was the need to raise the status of these informal recyclers so they can gain some recognition for their important environmental work. 

If properly supported, they could be key to ramping up Bangkok's recycling system and clearing up the mess made by throwaway capitalism. 

I hope this article goes some way to persuade more people to take note and support a system for recycling which is already up and running in Bangkok, and on which many livelihoods depend.

Please click through to Coconuts to read the full article. 

Before it spawns the next pandemic, should Thailand stamp out the wildlife trade?

I was excited to see this article published by Bangkok Coconuts. I feel it highlighted the connections between the human exploitation of nature and emerging new diseases - crucial to understanding the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Experts consider bats to be high risk species when it comes to the emergence of new diseases.
Photo: Freeland

I was grateful to Steven Galster of the Bangkok based Freeland Foundation for taking the time to talk to me. 

Here’s the lowdown: With wild animals smuggled through Bangkok’s Khlong Toei port, sold at Chatuchak Weekend Market and exported for sale onward; Thailand is a nexus for the global wildlife trade, and Galster thinks a law banning the commercial trade in wild animals may protect us from the next viral disaster.

Galster has been interviewed by a number of news organizations  about Freeland's campaign to ban the  commercial trade in wild animals. Image: Freeland. 

Not everyone agrees with Freeland and backs a blanket ban. Richard Thomas, spokesman for trade monitoring group Traffic, says total bans are a knee-jerk reaction that are extremely difficult to implement and enforce. He cites the drug trade as an example.

“If the underlying demand persists, it’ll be supplied,” Thomas said.  Big players like the UN Environment Programme, or UNEP look to governments to manage things instead. 

I certainly learned a lot about this troubling situation and received some great comment from readers both on and offline: 'Fascinating, terrifying and superbly written.'

I concluded the article by making the point that: we need to recognize the link between our commercial use of wild animals and new pandemics; to safeguard humanity's future health we should rethink our relationships with our fellow species. 

Of course, reducing the risk of future pandemics is not the only reason we should follow this advice! 

The original article is here, and it also appeared on Singapore's Yahoo Lifestyle site. Please take a look at the full piece. 

 

Did Thailand's plastic bag ban solve our problem?

I started this article before the virus hit and was feeling Thailand's celebratory backslapping over its plastic bag ban needed looking into. 

I wanted to hear from the people who called for the initiative and ask them what more needed to be done. 

It became apparent that the pandemic was creating vast amounts of single use plastic waste so I re-angled the piece, just before publication on regional news site Coconuts, to reflect this. 

During lockdown Bangkok city authorities reported an explosion in levels of plastic waste as people relied on home deliveries and huge numbers of contaminated face masks piled up. 

When the country re-opened, it became obvious the economy and society's wasteful attitude to plastic had not gone away. 

I met with six grassroots environmental change-makers to hear how the battle against single-use plastic has gone and what’s next to protect our environment from plastic peril. 

Photo: Warawat Sabhavasu

Warawat "Bibb" Sabhavasu of Trash Hero Bangkok volunteered to care for Mariam the Dugong, who won and then broke Thai hearts with her internet videos showing cute antics and her subsequent death from ingesting plastic waste.

Photo: Baramee Temboonkiat / Greenpeace 

Tara Buakamsri, Country Director for Greenpeace helps orchestrate campaigns on plastic pollution in Thailand and wants the public to connect their use of throwaway plastic to the bigger environmental picture.

Photo: Grin Green International 

Almost done with school, Marlena Wilson runs Grin Green International - a school based NGO with a mission to rid Thailand of single use plastic. Here she is at a climate strike.

Photo: Biel Calderon / Greenpeace

Bored in class, Nanticha “Lynn” Ocharoenchai was inspired by Greta Thunberg to found the group Climate Strike Thailand and feels people need to understand that climate change is about much more than plastic bags. 

Photo: Ewen Mcleish 

Chanin “Nammon” Srisuma is one of the faces behind Refill Station, the shop-cum-cafe which allows customers to purchase toiletries and household products in pre-loved containers brought from home. 

Photo: Prasopsuk Lerdviriyapiti

Prasopsuk Lerdviriyapiti, aka Eco-Artist Pom, has spent the last 15 years creating art to highlight the plastic tide engulfing Thailand’s seas. She uses plastic waste from Phuket's beaches to put together her masterpieces.

It was a real pleasure to meet and virtually meet all these lovely people and find out their thoughts on the plastic issue and dreams for a brighter, greener future. Thank you to everyone for your time. 

I concluded the article with a call for real government actions on plastic pollution and our wider environmental crisis, and the hope that green strategies will be central to the new policies needed to move Thailand on from the disruption caused by Covid 19. 

The full article is available here on Bangkok Coconuts. 

8 life hacks for greener Bangkok living - now and after the pandemic.

As the world shut down and the Coronavirus pandemic spread across national borders, I noted how the news media was (rightly so) packed with stories and information on this incredible crisis.  

But I wondered how to keep sustainability and the changes we need to support it on the agenda. After all, we couldn't (and still can't) afford to put our environmental crisis 'on the back burner.'  

My Coconuts feature article, highlighting ways to live greener under lockdown, was my response. 

I wanted to showcase some things Bangkok people could do while living under quarantine or in self isolation that may help repair our world if maintained in the long run. 

The 8 ideas for living green and making a difference under lockdown were: 

1. Home working

2. Cycling more

3. Being an armchair activist 

4. Growing your own

5. Going plant-based diet 

6. Becoming a citizen scientist 

7. Eating what you have (a response to panic buying)

8. Finishing those abandoned projects 

Each idea contained a little explanation of the problems to be tackled and why the idea would be beneficial for the planet. 

I was also pleased to give a shout out to the MARsCI citizen science project where Facebook users can upload photos of their marine biology 'spots' to aid research and to Grow Learning Gardens, who produce wooden planters especially designed for Bangkok balconies. 

I end the article by concluding: 

'Cynics may ask, why bother with all these efforts as health care systems struggle and the economy tanks? While 2020’s COVID-19 crisis is extremely challenging, it pales in comparison to our environmental crisis. From crisis comes opportunity, and positive steps like those above are not only good for the soul, adding hope and value to our lives, but they may translate into some of the big changes needed to solve the planetary peril we face.'

It's a fresher piece, with more of my own 'voice' and opinion in it than usual.  I wrote it with more urgency than normal. 

I hope it was inspiring in the dark times we were experiencing. To read the full article: click here. 

International School Awards 2020 - Winners!

My work as environmental sustainability coordinator at the school where I teach and my writing came together as 2019 came to a close and 2020 began:

International Schools Awards Ceremony in London. Photo: ICSREARCH.COM 

Our school was nominated for the International School Awards organized by International School Leader Magazine in the environmental initiative category.

The initiative in question was Bangkok based environmental education group Eco Beasts, which started life at our school but now stands as a fully independent project of its own. The school maintains an active Eco Beasts after school club, which I help run.

This lead to two opportunities to tell the story:

Firstly, the school asked me to write a promo piece announcing our nomination, published in Expat Life in Thailand. 

We then won, not only the environmental category but also international school of the year! 

So my second article told the Eco Beast story, as it unravelled in our school for a global audience of educators, appearing in International School Leader Magazine. Find the PDF here.

It was nice to be able to bring together my interests in both sustainability and education, as well as write about a considerable success! 

From rescued to rescuers, orphans-turned-medics run remote Thai ambulance service

Really happy to be sharing this piece about the Bamboo School and its extraordinary work training youngsters as medics in a part of Thailand, previously cut off from the country's healthcare system.

It's a slight departure from my usual environmental/sustainability themes, but I feel a truly sustainable future cannot be built without providing access to healthcare for all.

The Bamboo School runs the only ambulance service in this remote part of Thailand. Photo: The Bamboo School and Friends.

I was lucky enough to visit the Bamboo School and interview Catherine Riley-Bryan. She is an exceptional lady, whose work with underprivileged youngsters fleeing the troubles across the border in Myanmar is remarkable.  It was an insightful experience and she told me stories I will never forget.

I love the quote Riley-Bryan gave me to sum up her work:

“If we can change our kids’ mindsets from merely surviving into actually thriving, and get them looking at how they can help others, rather than what they can grab for themselves: then they can overcome some of the problems they have inherited.” 

I'd like to thank Mowai Apisuttipanya and Bamboo School student Suriwan for answering my questions as well. Mowai has been connected with the Bamboo School since childhood and is now a fully qualified medical doctor, who cut his teeth on the ambulance project.

Catherine Riley-Bryan and Mowai Apisuttipanya stand proudly next to the Bamboo School’s long-serving, first ambulance. Photo: Helen Mullen

The article focuses on the 'ins and outs' of establishing and running a fleet of rural ambulances, how Riley-Bryan gets the teenagers involved and the impact the project is having.  Since they got their first ambulance in 2009 the project has inspired many youngsters to seek careers in medicine.

Pupils enjoying a meal at The Bamboo School. Photo: The Bamboo School and Friends

Pupils receive sponsorship to complete their studies, and the results are impressive. Two have become public health nurses, one of whom runs the local government clinic. Another five are now qualified nurses working at nearby hospitals. Three more former students are currently in medical school.

The Bamboo School also run a clinic which provides essential healthcare to the local community. Photo: Ewen Mcleish

I am grateful to Coconuts for publishing my article, please check it out in full here. Thanks also to Helen Mullen of Eco Beasts for the introducing me to the Bamboo School.

There are many children and young people living at the Bamboo School who are in need of sponsorship and support to find out more visit The Bamboo School online.

World Oceans Day - Special Article for Eco Beasts

I was pleased to be asked by my friends at Eco Beasts, Bangkok's network of sustainability educators, to write a piece for their website on the learning experiences they organized for 2019's World Oceans Day celebrations.

The article is a review of the Eco Beast approach to this event. Hopefully it provides an example of how environmental educators can create change and provoke thought about sustainable lifestyles in the minds of the public.

It's quite a specialist story, but I trust it will interest readers. It's also my first venture into creating content for a particular website rather than a general audience.  Read my piece on the Eco Beast site.  The article also reached a wider audience when it was published in the magazine expat life in Thailand. See it here.

While I love writing mass media articles with broad based appeal, I'm keen to develop my expertise in content creation for the websites and blogs of NGOs, enterprises and others working in sustainability, environmentalism, and development in general.

So, don't hesitate to contact me if your organisation or company would benefit from entertaining, well researched writing aiming to support the creation of a sustainable future for us all.

Foraging for Thailand's forgotten edible plants

A walk on the wild side:

In the context of the massive threats to our planet's biodiversity and louder responses from political movements like Extinction Rebellion,  I wanted to write about how as increasing numbers of plant species disappear, we lose our knowledge of how useful (or delicious!) these plants may be. As this happens - something of traditional culture is lost too.

I profile local permaculturalist Goustan Bodin, who runs foraging tours on Bang Kachao, Bangkok's Green Lung to educate people about the diverse variety of edible plants growing there.

Bodin (AKA P'Dan) offers wild betel leaves for fellow foragers to try.  Photo: Ewen Mcleish 

From a different perspective, Michelin starred Chef 'Bee' Santongun of gourmet restaurant 'Paste Bangkok' uses wild, foraged and rare ingredients to give a twist to classic Thai dishes.

Chef Bee of Paste Bangkok examining wild ingredients. Photo: Paste Bangkok

In different ways, I think they are both, by tickling people's tastebuds, raising awareness of Thailand's great biodiversity and why its preservation is important.

I was grateful to the pair for taking the time out of their busy schedules for interview and for introducing me to a variety of tastes I otherwise may never have experienced.

The full article was published internationally by news website Coconuts in their Travel section, which reaches 8 cities across South East Asia.

Click here to read the whole piece.

Inspiring Child-Led Change

The EcoBEASTs Community Action Day. All photos: Somkhanay Thepthong

Bangkok's International Schools, grassroots sustainability groups, and businesses come together to work for change.

I was very happy to combine my passion for writing on sustainability themes with my passion for education in this article. In recent years I've noticed many stories involving students in schools around the world acting to tackle our sustainability crisis. 

I wanted to write about how young people are increasingly involved and inspired to act within the green movement here in Bangkok. Writing about Ecobeasts, gave me the chance to do this.

This group of teachers aim to connect international schools with local environmental organisations and green businesses, as well as support educators in delivering sustainability in the curriculum.

It was pleasing to see the resulting article: Uniting to Inspire Child-Led Environmental Change appear in the Bangkok Post. The article focuses on the 2019 EcoBEASTs Community Action Day, where 120 students met and learnt from a fantastic array of people behind green and socially conscious projects in Bangkok. Apologies for not being able to mention all of them in the article.

I'd like to thank my colleagues at STA 71 for their support in writing the article, as well as Helen Mullen and Katy Waring, the dedicated teachers behind EcoBEASTs.  Links to all organisations mentioned (and more) can be found on the EcoBEASTs site.

A pdf of the article is available here.  Below are some photos of the activities laid on for students attending the event:

Precious Plastic Bangkok's innovative machine recycles old plastic.

Students learn how to turn used cooking oil into soap with Bangkok Soap Opera. 

Up-cycling an old T'shirt into an Eco-bag. 

Learning about the importance of soil. 

Postscript: A more detailed version of this article appeared in the April/May 2019 edition of 'Expat Life in Thailand.'  A PDF of this is available here.