ENVIRONMENTAL RISK TAKER
What makes an educator who loves his work leave the safety of salaried teaching? In Pete Milne’s case it was his commitment to the environment and global citizenship.
Big decision
When you talk with Pete Milne it is clear that he loves the whole idea of teaching: the buzz, the responsibility and the idea of what kind of learning can happen when you get things right.
Why, then, would he step away from the profession at the peak of his career, having worked in three outstanding international schools and a senior position beckoning, when most of us would have continued to draw a salary for doing the thing we love best?
Quite simply because, for Pete, there was a wider need to be considered. When teaching, he had been encouraged by inspirational leaders like John G. Jones at St. Christopher’s in Penang to develop ideas for the kids that he thought were important. For Pete that meant learning about the environment and sustainability. He wanted to go beyond the weekly eco-club meetings and litter-picking expeditions, good and important as these things are, and somehow weave the concept of ecological awareness and environmental action into the school’s curriculum and its culture.
Turning point
At first it was enough to do this at the school where he was working. In 2009, he organised his first environmental event for a school community when teaching at Raffles World Academy in Dubai. This went further than most events on the school calendar, drawing in staff, parents and local business leaders to play a role as they connected with students in discussions, debate, workshops, an exhibition and action. This was an important initiative that helped lead the school to become one of the first to achieve Eco-Schools Green Flag status in the UAE.
In the process he sensed that if environmental issues were to become central to a school’s culture, it was this kind of community mobilisation that could make a difference. After 3 years working as a freelance consultant, supporting over 40 schools in the UAE, as well as developing educational CSR programmes, Pete and his family returned to the UK, where he started to develop his ideas further for a new educational company Target4Green.
Brave decision
It was a brave decision. We all know the stresses and strains of a teaching life, but this also comes with considerable compensations – and it’s not just the monthly salary. It provides the structure, support and opportunities that make teaching – particularly in international schools – such a rewarding profession. It is not easy when these things aren’t there.
Then in 2015, came COP 21 – the United Nations climate conference in Paris that adopted the first legally binding international agreement to limit the effects of human-induced climate change to 1.5 degree Celsius about pre-industrial levels.
‘COP 21 was such an important moment, not only for the environmental movement, but also for world history. The important thing was – would it stick? Could we do it? There are so many constraints that would make it difficult’.
Beyond COP 21
The Paris agreement became central to his thinking, and using his work at Raffles as the blueprint, he organised his first school ‘symposium’ for GEMS Legacy School, Dubai, in what became his ‘Beyond Cop 21’ conference series for schools. Within the event format remains the critical link between social, economic and environmental sustainability, and climate action, as framed in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, launched at the same time, in 2015. One thing led to another and as a result, he has been able to carve out a very different career path from the usual well-trodden ways that most of us follow.
Incredibly, the series is now celebrating its 10th anniversary and Pete is about to hold his 50th symposium. It’s hard work. Listening to Pete quietly explain what’s involved, you begin to realise just how hard.
Thinking local
Local community involvement is central to the idea of the event.
“A two-day symposium is focused on whole school engagement and community outreach, looking at what is important locally as well as globally. What I normally find is that there is a great deal going on in the sustainability space through a number of small groups and companies within the local area, but connections with schools can be disjointed or not happening at all. In my view, it is so important that they are”
According to Pete, seeing successful ideas in action locally is essential.
“it is easy for young people and their teachers to feel overwhelmed by the scale of what is called the climate crisis – just what can we do that will make any kind of difference? The answer is often closer to home than they think, and, with growing eco-anxiety amongst our young generation, even more important to find”
And this is where Pete’s genius and commitment to the profession comes in.
“Teachers work so hard and their priority must be to their students whose learning is in their hands. This takes time and is demanding.”
In order to get things going, he applies the principles which he learned from the enlightened leadership of the schools in which he worked, by literally making time for others.
“People like John Jones were prepared to give me the time to develop ideas which the school had decided were important and then to implement them. This included developing a residential trip programme for Years 3-6 involving nature and adventure. It made a big difference. I now try to take the pressure off teachers who would like to do more about the environment and on sustainability in general.”
As he prepares for a symposium, he therefore does all the heavy lifting for the school in terms of community mobilisation, contacting local schools, companies, activists, and organisations. He then liaises with his school contact to produce a programme for the two days with student experiences firmly at its centre.
Creating a framework for action
The aim is to leave a framework in place for social action and change. It’s a bit like scaffolding. He holds hands with the school to set up the event, brings people together and then leaves the network behind which will enable more to happen.
“Of course, it’s great to keep in touch and to be asked to come back to a school. But the most important thing is that each event is the start of something rather than the conclusion”.
Understated leadership style
And what keeps him going? The life of the independent consultant and trainer is notoriously difficult.
“I look to the example of great individuals who remind you there is more to be done. People like Dr. Jeff Allan whose work on hydrogen-electric cars is amazing and Adrian Hayes who I was lucky enough to support through online educational blogging for his Greenland Quest expedition back in 2009. These are people we all need to know about and have been key contributors.”
But clearly, it’s the students in so many different schools who are his greatest inspiration. Creating an atmosphere which provokes them to think and gives them the confidence to speak is surely his greatest achievement.
We might have a view of environmental activism as being loud and demonstrative. Of course, at times this is absolutely needed. But we also have a great deal to learn from Pete as we reflect on a powerfully understated example of leadership, which draws on a deep commitment to both learning and the environmental cause.
Peter Milne was talking to ITM editor, Andy Homden
To learn more about BeyondCop21, see: https://www.beyondcop21symposium.org/
FEATURE & SUPPORT IMAGES: kindly provided by Pete
