The headlines the Afghan Government has called for a humanitarian ceasefire with the taliban as the first ever peace talks between the two sides began in qatar. So far, the taliban havent mentioned a truce. The us is encouraging both sides to reach an agreement, telling them, the entire world wants you to succeed. Police on the greek island of lesbos have fired tear gas during a protest by migrants whose camp burned down on wednesday. Efforts to build alternative accommodation for thousands of residents of the moria camp have been delayed by objections from local authorities. Following a sharp rise in coronavirus cases over the past week, one of britains leading scientific advisers has warned that the country is on the edge of losing control. From monday, people will be able to socialise in groups of no more than six people. Its just over a week since schools in england reopened for the new term, and thereve already been a number of instances
where pupils have been sent home to prevent possible covid infection. Schools are required to isolate suspected cases and as a last resort, to close a school. Our education correspondent Elaine Dunkley has been to a school in darlington, which had to send home a teacher and 20 pupils as a precaution. Who has got a new skill from being in lockdown . Its Distance Learning for Primary School children. Today, mrs craggill is teaching year three by video link. Shes currently self isolating, but lessons continue at heathfield Primary School. Well, obviously, it wasnt the way i wanted to start the year with the children. I wanted to be in school, but circumstances happened. So, its been really beneficial for myself and the children to be able to have some connection each day and just to connect with maths and english. And to see their faces really, and for them to see me. Children here are having recovery classes and lessons in mindfulness. Helping them to adjust after missing months of schooling is vital. So, i liked being back at school to be with my friends and have education. Like, really good education. Like, face to face. I like being back at school because i can see my friends and because if im struggling, the teacher can help me, because i couldnt do that at home. The risks to children are low, but there are concerns about the virus spreading. Social distancing and hygiene is now an important part of the school day, but it puts pressure on budgets and time. Obviously, paying out for more cleaning materials, but also theres some staffing costs as well. And on a personal level, health and safety has just taken over my life as a headteacher at the moment, which is nobodys fault. Thats the way, the situation that were in. But its frustrating because we want to be getting on with our usual dayjob of making sure that we do teaching and learning really well. If there is a suspected or confirmed case of coronavirus, schools have to get in touch
with their local Public Health teams. Claire has two children at the school. Her son is still attending, but her daughters class has been sent home to self isolate. Shes asymptomatic, which is great. You know, im very happy about that. But should she get symptoms, my concern is that because my older son is still in school, obviously, if my daughter gets symptoms and does get covid, then my son will get it and he will have moved it to year six. Can you write it for me there, siobhan . The vast majority of children across the uk are now back in lessons, but learning to deal with disruption is the reality of being back at school in these times. Elaine dunkley, bbc news, in darlington. Now on bbc news, Philippa Thomas hears from people around the world about their extraordinary experiences during the pandemic and how covid i9 has changed their lives. Welcome to coronavirus your stories, a programme about how covid i9 is changing lives around the world. Im Philippa Thomas, and this week were looking at nature and climate. How our Natural Environment can help us as individuals in times like this and also the personal story of two activists who want the Global Pandemic to throw more light on the Global Climate emergency. Later, well hearfrom ireland about one way of turning to nature in stressful times, with growing interest in the traditional practices of forest medicine like forest bathing. And from sweden, how health based architecture can help us now to redesign the spaces around us, try to stay healthy and be more resilient to infection. But first, how is
the covid i9 pandemic changing climate activism 7 we have the personal story of two campaigners on either side of the atlantic. Shante wolfe is National Field directorfor sunrise, a Youth Led Movement in the United States fighting to tackle the environmental crisis. She says the pandemic has shone a light on the most vulnerable in society who are most at risk from the effects of Climate Change. And in london, todd smith is an Airline Pilot turned frontline activist with Extinction Rebellion. He feels the pandemic makes it more urgent than ever to rethink the worlds Climate Policies and act before its too late. But what brought these campaigners to the climate cause and how have they been changed by the covid i9 pandemic . We spoke first to shante wolfe of sunrise in birmingham, alabama. She said, perhaps surprisingly, she doesnt feel the pandemic has shifted attention away from the Global Climate emergency. Honestly, i think the issue of millions on unemployment right now searching forjobs, millions losing Health Insurance at the height of terrible fire seasons in california and a terrible Hurricane Season in the south has made an emphasis on Climate Change now more than ever in this pandemic. We have had to figure out in several ways how we can accommodate the most vulnerable of our populations in this pandemic, for example, you know, most of time in the summer, everywhere you go in the United States, there are cooling shelters that people can go to. How can you have a cooling shelter and adhere to cdc guidelines so that folks dont catch the virus because they are congregated together . On the flipside of that, you have Hurricane Season, where at lake charles in louisiana, constituents
there are currently suffering from a category 4 hurricane thatjust hit, so you have thousands of people who are displaced in the middle of a pandemic and that causes us to ask ourselves how can we treat those that are suffering . You may have seen several times that those in our country are called essential workers and they have been held up as heroes, but how can we move past reverence to justice for those who are very vulnerable in these moments . So, i think now more than ever the issue of climate in this pandemic is important. Is that what you thought when we first went into lockdown, when the pandemic first hit . I dont think so, and i think that lack of engaging how serious this was prompted both a sense of having to buckle down a little harder and also it forced the hand of collaboration and activism in a way we have never seen because now that we are suffering from outstanding rates of deaths and positive cases, weve had to figure out how we can make sure that the show goes
on because we also have a very important election season that is in the middle of this pandemic. So, i think we were all, we all underestimated it to a certain degree, i will admit that, yes. When you say you had to figure out how the show goes on, how have you had to change your tactics . What a lot of us associate with Climate Action is huge mass gatherings, making your presence felt by the numbers. But thats more dangerous now. It absolutely is more dangerous. However, what we found out is that at the height of the uprising. So, in the middle of the pandemic weve also seen, you know, people taking it to the streets for various causes because theres a lot going on in america right now, for better orfor worse. So, what we decided to do at sunrise is to create multiple tiers of engagement so that people could feel comfortable engaging in our actions safely. For example, a real barrier that we had to participation was that before the pandemic,
we had planned for pretty large scale outdoor earth day actions. Well, now that most folks were in lockdown, we had to figure out how to create socially distanced options for people to engage in, and we came up with this idea called wide awa kes. Essentially, this is one tier where if you want to still go out, we provide ppe and the necessary things for feeling safe and people go to their respective legislator or representatives homes at the crack of sunrise to alert them that, hey, millions of people in this world right now are currently having to decide between insulin or paying their bills. Theyre having to decide between going outside or being displaced due to other things outside of their control that the pandemic has coerced. Shante, let me bring this back to the personal. On this programme, were
looking at how covid has changed things for us. When youre talking to your own family and friends about what you do, it must be more challenging in a time of covid. I think theres two truths to that answer. It is challenging to talk about climate when my family wakes up and the first thing is how are we going to provide and put food on the table for my mom, for my sister, for my Little Sisters baby who was just brought into this world in the middle of a pandemic and an uprising. These are the things that people are thinking about, so, like i said earlier, it was up to me to talk to my mom on how are these things are interconnected how is climate and a better quality of life and poverty all connected . And weve seen examples of that. With our Hurricane Season, i have family members and Close Friends in louisiana right now that are displaced and currently forced out of quarantine because their homes were ransacked by the latest
hurricane that came through. So, when we talk about climate, we talk about it from a sense of environmentaljustice because true climate activism does achieve justice for everyone, and when we talk about it from that lens, my family is a lot more receptive on our zoom calls on the weekend and my mom always tells me im a tree hugger, but shes progressed from saying im a tree hugger to saying im someone who is actually fighting on behalf of something that can drastically change the course of our next decade for the better. Shante wolfe in alabama. Like shante, todd smith of Extinction Rebellion says his own experience pushed him towards climate activism. But his personal story is rather different. As a former Airline Pilot for thomas cook, i spent seven years learning to be a pilot. I grew up in a working class family. My dad, a builder, told me to do a job id enjoy, and a few years into the industry, unfortunately about 2. 5 years ago, i had my medical revoked due to a diagnosis of lyme disease which has become much more prevalent in the uk due to warmer summers and milder winters. That was a wake up call for me and gave me a moment to reflect and at the time i had off work, we saw the rise of Extinction Rebellion in london, and i was compelled to try and understand why people were taking to the streets in masses, people from all walks of society, and i really made it my mission to understand the science. And i wanted to get involved in Extinction Rebellion, i was fully behind their cause, but i was conflicted about my career choice and the implications of me joining a Movement Like xr. So, actually four months ago, with the covid lockdown, that was just the final straw for me. I think we realised our human vulnerabilities, and that was the beginning of myjourney and the last four months or so ive now made this my lifes work, really. Im doing it seven days a week. Todd, how do people within the Climate Action movement react to you as a former Airline Pilot . Youve spent years with an industry that contributes a lot to emissions. Absolutely. From day one when i very first joined an xr meeting, i was welcomed from the beginning. At the time, i was still flying as well, and we welcome people from all sectors. Theres no blaming and shaming in Extinction Rebellion, and we really need to be working with workers in carbon heavy industries and promoting relief from the government to transition to a lower carbon sector, so we really need those lower carbon sector jobs to be created. Workers in carbon heavy industries should be re educated to transition to lower carbon. In the Airline Industry alone, we can see up to 70,000 Airline Workers lose theirjobs this year caused by the Economic Foundation due to covid. We really need to be supporting these workers and creating the jobs in the green sector. Todd, if i can come back to you on how youre campaigning. Youre there and there are crowds campaigning and protesting about the urgency of Climate Action, and yet this is a time when were not meant to be gathering in crowds. Are you changing your tactics . Clearly, were taking all the recommended precautions, social distancing, using masks and we feel the time to act is now. Our governments own advisors have told them to start preparing for a rise of four degrees in the world, and that will mean billions of people will lose their lives. Vast parts of africa will be uninhabitable, and spain will look like a desert. The International Energy agency say we have six months to act, and that was two months ago. So, if we dont focus on a Green Recovery from this pandemic, we could see a high spike of co2 emissions moving forward. And i just feel like i have to be out here. We delayed our action in spring already and are taking necessary precautions, as i said. So, this is just the time to act, the time to act is now and we need to support the climate ecological emergency bill and do everything we can to see the next much bigger wave, which is the climate ecological emergency. Todd, when the pandemic again, even now, its the thing that has grabbed the attention of all of us around the world. Has it shifted energies away from the Climate Emergency . Thats a great question, philippa. You know, i think this is probably the first time in Human History where the whole of the planets population have been on a collective consciousness
with a common threat, and i really feel like its exposed our human vulnerabilities and its given a lot of people time for reflection. Its such a tragedy that we needed a Global Pandemic for potentially a moment to realise that we do need to take the Natural World seriously and we have got to really listen to the scientists. Now, weve listened to the scientists during this pandemic, and its absolutely crucial that we listen to the science now when it comes to the climate ecological emergency, which affects all of humanity, and ive made the decision that im no longer am going to return to flying passengerjets because i think its really important to walk the walk and lead by example. And the un say that we need to be below two tonnes of c02 per year to be sustainable, and one flight from london to bangkok would be 3. 5 tonnes of co2 alone. Todd, im hearing a great deal of conviction from you about the way youve changed your life. You told me a little earlier you come from a working class background, being an Airline Pilot was something you wanted to be. How have family and friends reacted to this dramatic change . Have you had to do some persuading or have some pretty frank discussions . I couldnt have become a pilot without the support of my mum and dad, who remortgaged their house and they essentially lent me their retirement money. I still owe them £100,000. Initially, they were, you know, they didnt really understand why i wanted to leave this fantastic career which id spent so long training to do. And i am passionate about flying, of course, but, as pilots, we always want to fly passengers to the original planned destination, but if we encounter adverse weather en route or something that might jeopardise the safety of the flight, without hesitation we would divert and change trajectory. And its the only way i can see that we can make the systemic changes required to deal with this emergency effectively. Todd smith in london. Youre watching coronavirus your stories, a programme about how covid i9 is changing lives around the world. Im Philippa Thomas. And this week, were thinking about how the pandemic has made us reassess our Natural Environment. Next, getting out into nature and bringing nature home to us. How to link the Great Outdoors with our personal health and peace of mind. From sweden, the man seen by many as the godfather of health based architecture, professor roger ulrich, about what that means and how it can help us right now. And from ireland, the founder of the Forest Therapy institute, nature and well being consultant Shirley Gleeson. Forest bathing, the concept came from japan in the 1980s, so youre really engaging your five senses i