JustCarol
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justcarol.bsky.social
JustCarol
@justcarol.bsky.social
Writing this felt like a contradiction - I am tired of living my life via a device, yet I live my life via a device! But having grown up in the 80s/90s it is hard to not compare how different life has become.
The rise of AI amidst a tech burnout?
An ESOL teacher's perspective. Without a shadow of a doubt, technology has made life easier. From a user point of view. The way we think and function has morphed from when I was in school to now. My childhood/teenage years were the 80s and 90s, so I guess that makes me Gen X. No computers or smartphones. Information was gleaned from elders and encyclopedia (weighty Britannica volumes bound in dark blue 'leather' with gold embossed A-Zs in my case).
sustainesol.wordpress.com
September 15, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Water, women & well-being

In researching a chapter for book I was invited to write (Sustainability in ELT - yet to be published), I chose the topic of water, as this seemed to me one of the most vital ingredients for life. Without water, we, along with all our plant, animal and fungi relatives,…
Water, women & well-being
In researching a chapter for book I was invited to write (Sustainability in ELT - yet to be published), I chose the topic of water, as this seemed to me one of the most vital ingredients for life. Without water, we, along with all our plant, animal and fungi relatives, will cease to exist. Yet, the focus of many institutions is to be carbon neutral by 2050, so measures are taken to reduce their carbon footprints.
sustainesol.wordpress.com
June 30, 2025 at 10:39 PM
In researching ideas for a chapter on adapting Native American teachings on water in relation to sustainability, it's made me appreciate the sacredness of the gift of water. This short piece summarises my findings, and I intend to share more ideas for English language #esol lessons.
“Water is not a resource, it is a relative.”
Thorley Wash Nature Reserve, Hertfordshire, UK Recently, I was invited to contribute to an open-source publication on sustainability in English language teaching. Hopefully it will be included in the final publication later this year. My chosen topic revolved around the importance of water in our lives. Without which, we'd perish within days of not having any, as well as its cultural significance, history, the role of women and water and the lessons we could adapt in our present predicament.
sustainesol.wordpress.com
April 21, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Freedom from Fast Fashion

ESOL teachers have a list of go-to topics for lessons - food, festivals, hobbies and shopping to name the top four (probably). But shopping is definitely up there as a popular topic of choice. After all, who doesn't like a bit of retail therapy (clever marketing that…
Freedom from Fast Fashion
ESOL teachers have a list of go-to topics for lessons - food, festivals, hobbies and shopping to name the top four (probably). But shopping is definitely up there as a popular topic of choice. After all, who doesn't like a bit of retail therapy (clever marketing that term!) As it turns out, a lot of my learners love shopping. New clothes, things for the home, parties for their children.
sustainesol.wordpress.com
April 9, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by JustCarol
"Forest biomass burning is unsustainable & produces more CO2 than coal per unit of energy. Pellet-making is contributing to deforestation & biodiversity loss in NAmerica, & will increasingly do so in tropical nations, incl Vietnam, Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia." 🌏 news.mongabay.com/2025/03/fore...
Forest biomass growth to soar through 2030, impacting tropical forests
The harvesting and burning of forest biomass to produce energy continues to surge, according to a new report on near-term global production and demand for wood pellets. This growth comes despite scien...
news.mongabay.com
March 16, 2025 at 5:11 AM
A delightful surprise! ☺️
Thank you, #NATECLA, for the opportunities to share & and encourage other #esol tutors on topics such as digital skills and sustainability.

www.natecla.org.uk/join-natecla
March 16, 2025 at 11:30 AM
💙💛
Ending the night with this.
*Get your hankies*
A D-Day veteran called a gracious and humbled Zelenskyy a hero.
March 1, 2025 at 2:48 PM
"Grandmother moon, Nakomas, is is known for the creation of of tides and without tides moving we would not have life; that set the stage for those first tiny microbes to come together to produce life and to produce oxygen, the very first breath of life happened" 15:31 youtu.be/sexeCj3LeZ4?...
Grandmother Moon with Jan Longboat
YouTube video by Wabano Centre
youtu.be
January 25, 2025 at 3:57 PM
"The water can hear you, the water has memory..."

The more I learn from the Native Americans, the more I feel a deeper connection to this living Earth, and the role of #women as life givers and sustainers. We have a much bigger role than we think.
#sustainability #gaia

youtu.be/KC2FHciQ0sU?...
Sing The Water Song
YouTube video by Sing The Water Song
youtu.be
January 25, 2025 at 3:46 PM
@markcranfield.bsky.social hi, I follow you on X, but it'd be great to follow your insights here on BSky. Is there any chance you'll move house?
January 25, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Women are rising. Not in a modern feminist way, but as in the Divine Feminine; the sacred ways of love, compassion for life, and ancient healing are returning.
Love this article from the BBC's @georginarannard.bsky.social So Women holding the power in Ancient Times was widespead! We knew the misogynists were gas lighting us.
You've heard of Boudica - the warrior Queen in Britain who led a revolt against the Romans. Well, she probably wasn't alone.
DNA analysis of another tribe shows that it was built along women's blood lines - with daughters inheriting land and wealth. My story here - www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
January 15, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by JustCarol
January 12, 2025 at 7:19 AM
This is why I still bake Christmas cookies with my kids...
Live simply and simply love in the moment
The canaries are all dead, the windows of opportunity are all welded shut, the frogs are fully cooked, the bananas are all gobsmacked, all the ships have sailed and the ticking time bombs have all detonated.

At least we've lived in interesting times, right? A penny for your thoughts.
December 26, 2024 at 3:02 PM
It's still a tradition even though Santa visits have long been a thing of the past. My 13yo has made a cookie to look like me. At least she knows my favourite colour is green! 😁
December 26, 2024 at 2:57 PM
Reposted by JustCarol
We have to define what we mean by “AI.” Because the model that advanced our understanding of protein folding and the LLMs that churn out the nonsense slop that fills the internet both get called “AI.” And the latter is co-opting the usefulness of the former to create this exactly perception.
Do you think AI can be boycotted out of existence? What benefits are there to not using it? There are benefits to being thoughtful to how you are using it, yes. But rejecting it is like...I don't know...rejecting a life saving vaccine. Accept it or die a slow death.
December 25, 2024 at 10:18 PM
Reposted by JustCarol
“The problem with degrowth and contraction is that they are not worth investing in because the return of investment goes to society as a whole, not the investors”
December 23, 2024 at 8:53 AM
Not forgetting the ever growing energy hungry AI....
Were they ever deployed at the massive scale required to power 8 billion energy-hungry humans, solar panels and electric vehicles would actually worsen both the climate crisis and other human impacts on Earth
December 24, 2024 at 6:52 AM
I don't think the solution is an alternative to continue business as usual. Rather, we should be changing our consumption habits altogether. Reduce the 60%+ cattle global population to make room to grow back the ~4%dwindling wildlife.
“The media is trumpeting studies that say we can drastically reduce cows’ methane emissions merely by feeding them a particular seaweed. But I did the math, and it doesn’t add up.”
Do Not Pin Your Hopes for Guilt-Free Hamburgers on Seaweed
The media is trumpeting studies that say we can drastically reduce cows’ methane emissions merely by feeding them a particular seaweed. But I did the math, and it doesn’t add up.
newrepublic.com
December 24, 2024 at 6:47 AM
I've said yes. It's reasonable to guess that this publication will be released in early 2026. Until then, I've got to carve some time out for writing ✍️
December 23, 2024 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by JustCarol
Thrilled to get the analog, glossy, printed magazine edition of my AMOC review article! 🌊
You can of course read it open access here:

tos.org/oceanography...
December 17, 2024 at 12:21 PM
The total lack of compassion for all living things, including Gaia, is the destruction of ourselves.
Close-up photo of the ‘pristine’ Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area - at Gladstone, a massive port for exporting coal and fossil gas.

For as long as possible.
December 17, 2024 at 9:27 AM
Reposted by JustCarol
Yup
December 17, 2024 at 3:40 AM
This headline (from the Guardian) and the whole bloody article. We must stfu if we want to stay on the right side of the law, which, ironically, is progressively on the wrong side of life. #collapse #TEOTWAWKI

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Britain leads the world in cracking down on climate activism, study finds
Research shows UK police arrest environmental and climate protesters at three times the average global rate
www.theguardian.com
December 12, 2024 at 12:00 PM
It's really easy to pooh pooh this if you live in the UK, but this is global low-lying cloud cover, not just the manky dull rain clouds we've got.
December 7, 2024 at 10:38 AM
🤮
This kind of 'news' is why so many people don't give a flying fk about the state of our affairs
But wait, there's more. Day 6 of Murdoch media's gas-sponsored articles...
December 7, 2024 at 10:33 AM