Doccy B 🌿🌿🐝🌿🦔🌿
banner
merylbatchelder.bsky.social
Doccy B 🌿🌿🐝🌿🦔🌿
@merylbatchelder.bsky.social
Enthusiastic communicator for climate, nature & sustainability education
Former science teacher
Education Lead for TerraLigo
Coordinator for the Ministry of Eco Education
#ClimateAmbassador #STEM
Alter ego of Melody Bird
I grow stuff in my free time 🌱
Pinned
I recently left teaching as the curriculum is failing to prepare young people for the future on our rapidly changing planet. I now work for @ministryofeco.bsky.social to support teachers to embed sustainability across subjects & key stages.
I explain more here👇🏽
northeastbylines.co.uk/news/environ...
An ‘inadequate’ national curriculum has driven me to quit the classroom
Meryl Batchelder writes about why, after 14 years teaching, she will be one of thousands of teachers leaving the classroom this July
northeastbylines.co.uk
It's #NationalTreeWeek. To celebrate, we extended our apple orchard. The heritage varieties going in the ground this weekend are Allan's Everlasting, Pitmaston Pineapple, Worcester Pearmain, Tydeman's Late Orange and Laxton's Superb. 1/2 🍎
November 22, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Whose job is it to develop knowledge based on evidence? Teachers, that would be you 🫵🏽
Get the climate facts and great resources using bonefide sources such as the Royal Meteorological Society (www.metlink.org/teaching-resources) or contact @climateambassadors.bsky.social to help you #TeachTheTruth.
November 16, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Doesn't everyone want to be a member of a political party whose leader tries to welcome them personally when they join?
@zackpolanski.bsky.social 💚
November 15, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by Doccy B 🌿🌿🐝🌿🦔🌿
“What happened here is crazy,” said Cristina Santin, a biologist from northwestern Spain who studies fire impacts. “Suddenly you get up one day and your home region is burning on a scale that is completely unprecedented.”

#Spain 🇪🇸
#ClimateEmergency

www.reuters.com/investigates...
November 15, 2025 at 5:25 PM
We are dismally failing young people. The green jobs employment gap is the shortage of workers with the necessary skills to fill new jobs created by the transition to a sustainable economy.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Half of all UK jobs shed since Labour came to power are among under-25s
Exclusive: David Blunkett warns Keir Starmer Britain’s youth are in danger of becoming ‘lost generation’ on his watch
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Have you written to your MP yet about the national emergency briefing on climate and nature?
I received a long but somehow noncommittal response from mine 🙄
I’ve just announced I’ll be leading a National Emergency Briefing on 27 November . At a time when climate is in free fall on the political agenda , it’s vital our leaders realise what is at stake if we do not accelerate a just , green transition for all .

@nebriefing.bsky.social 🇬🇧
November 14, 2025 at 1:12 PM
DfE might need to do another review as the geography curriculum will be moving to the history curriculum in the near future 🤷🏽‍♀️
Once upon a time in the Arctic, a long long time ago, there was this magical substance called ice ...
November 10, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Reposted by Doccy B 🌿🌿🐝🌿🦔🌿
When fossil fuel lobbyists get together once a year to decide our children’s’ futures…
#COP30
November 9, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Oh look, it's 16⁰C in Northumberland today, 5⁰C warmer than "normal" and the bulbs and buds are out... in November 🙄
#COP30 #COPout
November 8, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Doccy B 🌿🌿🐝🌿🦔🌿
Have you joined the community of eco educators?

Join now 🔗 mailchi.mp/ministryofec...
Ministry of Eco Education
Join the community of eco educators and keep up to date with the very vest resources and opportunities from 100's of organisations!
mailchi.mp
October 22, 2025 at 8:59 AM
I'm done with fossil fools. I'm also done with an out-of-date national curriculum for England. Time for change.
Tick tock 🔥🌍⏰
November 4, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Want to let DfE, the Education Select Committee & Ofsted know that we need more #ClimateInEducation? In response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, led by @beckyfrancis.bsky.social, a cross-sector working group is calling for a long-term, ethically grounded approach to curriculum renewal 🧵
November 3, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Great ideas for teachers to introduce different aspects and coverage of the #ClimateCrisis to students 👇🏽
I've finally got around to curating a selection of films about the #climate crisis 🎥

There's lot of mediocre climate films out there, but for me these stand out head & shoulders above the rest 🎞️

They make excellent resources for classrooms, lecture halls, or community cinema's 🎬

Thread:🧵Plz RT
November 1, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Putting profit over people or planet should be illegal. It's not. So, I've now started doing workshops with young people on "Who's got the Power?". Individual action is required, but widespread collective action is essential for systems to change. Together we're stronger & there's much work to do 💪🏽
Remember, the people profiting most from doing this to our world are building bunkers.
October 27, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Just heard the haunting cries of a Tawny Owl. They're rare with an amber conservation status according to @rspb.bsky.social. Feeling incredibly blessed to live somewhere where nature is still surviving... we have so much work to do to make sure it returns to thriving.
www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wi...
October 22, 2025 at 7:08 PM
My political life 🙈
1987 🗳️🟥
1992 🗳️🟥
1997 🗳️🟥
2001 🗳️🟥
2005 🗳️🟥
2010 🗳️🟨
Joined Labour Party
2015 🗳️🟥
2017 🗳️🟥
Left Labour Party
Joined Greens
2019 🗳️🟥
Left Greens
2024 🗳️🟥
2025 Re-joined Greens because @zackpolanski.bsky.social brings humanity back into politics. I think I've found my forever home 💚🙏🏼
October 22, 2025 at 2:44 PM
In the #ClimateCrisis placed-based learning becomes even more critical as climate impacts will affect regions and landscapes in different ways. I loved talking to Beth Garrett for this edition of Ask an Expert for @ministryofeco.bsky.social 👇🏼
The Morecombe Bay Curriculum is a great example of curriculum innovation with a focus on place based learning and sustainability

We interviewed Dr Bethan Garrett @lancasteruni.bsky.social to explore more

Inspired by the @edenproject.bsky.social

youtu.be/TPQFGS0coRo
Dr Bethan Garrett - Morecombe Bay Curriculum - Ask an Expert
YouTube video by Ministry of Eco Education | sustainable schools
youtu.be
October 21, 2025 at 4:51 PM
One of our @ministryofeco.bsky.social BIG questions is "Should #Ecocide be the law?" for KS3 English. Students to examine ecocide and the human-nature relationship through the context of language, literature and the emotional context using the ‘power of words’.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
Should we treat environmental crime more like murder?
Serial killers and violent criminals dominate the headlines. What if we covered ecocide and pollution in the same way?
www.theguardian.com
October 19, 2025 at 4:27 PM
If there is no monitoring to provide evidence then nothing bad is happening, right 🤔
Why is the EA overlooking “a giant chunk of toxic material” linked to harm to sexual function, fertility + child development when investigating forever chemicals pollution near a chemical plant in Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire?

Our new article, out now:

share.google/vSRfIoHkjM3p...
Regulators overlooking toxic Pfas found around Lancashire chemicals plant
Exclusive: Environment Agency not testing for ‘forever chemical’ made by factory despite evidence of emissions
share.google
October 19, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Not all apples are created equal.
🍏 On the left is fruit from the only known tree of Chollerton Lady, grown true rather than grafted with cooking apples of ~500g.
🍎 On the right are standard-sized Dabinets, great for juicing & cider.

They're both apples, they are just different. Which is fine.
October 18, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Going into schools with my #WarmingStripes and #BiodiversityStripes to talk with young people about solutions and collective action is one of the things I do best.
October 17, 2025 at 9:45 PM
If you haven't seen Plan Z yet, you really should. It really brings the scale of the #ClimateCrisis into sharp focus.
🇲🇾🇸🇬🇿🇦🇹🇭🇻🇳 Short documentary about scientists in #climate rebellion now available to schools & universities in Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand & Vietnam!

‘Plan Z: From lab coats to handcuffs’ is part of the Goethe Institute’s Science Film Festival, screening in classrooms until 20 Dec 2025
Plan Z - From Lab Coats to Handcuffs
When the UK government ignores growing evidence of climate breakdown, three British scientists take matters into their own hands. Facing arrest, criminal records, and damage to their professional repu...
www.goethe.de
October 17, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Reposted by Doccy B 🌿🌿🐝🌿🦔🌿
British.
October 16, 2025 at 5:03 PM
I had a bad morning. I went outside at lunchtime. Nature gave me a hug. I went back to the desk in a much better state.
October 14, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Some children may learn about flooding and flood risks in the classroom. Others will learn about it firsthand when their homes or schools are inundated, or the roads in their neighborhood are underwater and potentially treacherous.
Flood safety needs to be explicitly taught in schools.
October 14, 2025 at 7:48 AM