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   Andy Arthur - Threadinburgh @[email protected] · 2026-09-14 · 05:30 UTC

   Sex Education and the Singing Street: the thread about Albion Road and Norton Park Schools

   Preamble. The schools of the “School Board” era of public education (those built 1872-1918) hold a particular fascination for me, one most profound where they have been “deconsecrated” and are either no longer in use as schools or have disappeared entirely. This thread began as a couple of lines for my own notes about the “Lost Board Schools of Edinburgh” but soon snowballed into an alphabetical deep-dive into each.

   It’s been a few months now since we last had an instalment of the “Lost Board Schools of Edinburgh” series but finally part eleven finds us in that nameless district between Easter Road, Lochend and Abbeyhill where stands the former Albion Road Public School. This institution came about due to a perpetual lack of accommodation at nearby Leith Walk Public School. This was the result of tenement housing being built in the district faster than that school could be expanded. In June 1902 the Edinburgh School Board (ESB) purchased a piece of land from Leith’s Trinity Hospital next to St. Mungo’s Church Halls on Albion Road. These were at that time being used as overspill accommodation for Leith Walk School. Albion Road at this time was merely a dead end lane that gave access to an undeveloped area known as Drum Park home to a number of sports fields, including that of Hibernian Football Club. This area was about to undergo rapid change however, changing its character from a rural periphery to an industrialised and densely populated neighbourhood of tall tenement housing. The principal street was a widened and re-aligned Albion Road, at the far end of which Messrs Redpath Brown & Co. would erect a large steel fabrication works. Also nearby were two large maltings for the city’s brewing industry, multiple print works, a crystal glass works and a railway gas works.

   It had no Park but stood among tenements and a variety of industrial buildings which together covered the lands between the Canongate of Edinburgh and the Port of Leith.

   A description of Albion Road / Norton Park School by former teacher Dr J. T. R. Ritchie

   This was perhaps an odd choice for the location of a new school. Although it was to be paid for and erected by Edinburgh, for the benefit of her children, it had been positioned in a municipal exclave, cut off on two sides by railways and the only way in or out was the territory of neighbouring Leith! Doubly odd was the fact that municipal boundary between these two burghs actually ran straight through the middle of the site (also meaning it had the unusual honour of having to be approved by the Dean of Guild Courts of both Edinburgh and Leith).

   1910 Post Office plan of Edinburgh showing the Edinburgh and Leith municipal boundary (red and blue line) cutting through the middle of Albion Road School, highlighted in pink on the right. At this time it was not possible to access the school without crossing through Leith as Albion Road was a cul-de-sac and the Crawford footbridge over the railway had yet to be built to provide access from Bothwell Street. Highlighted pink on the left is Leith Walk Public School and in yellow at the top of the map is Leith School Board’s Lorne Street School. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

   Despite these obvious drawbacks, plans for a new school were prepared by the Board’s in-house architect, John Alexander Carfrae. It would be a three-storey, asymmetrical, J-plan building with a capacity of 1,403 pupils; 773 juveniles (at 10 square feet per pupil) and 630 infants (at 9 square feet each). The styling has been described by architect Richard Atkins as “free Queen Anne-based London neo-baroque“, finished entirely in red sandstone for reasons of economy. These plans were remitted to the Scotch Education Department in London for approval. This was usually a formality that elicited minor feedback around the arrangements for lighting or ventilation, but in this case they were sent back with strong objections. The Department was unhappy that the infant department was spread across two floors, so Carfrae went back to his drawing board and reduced the infant accommodation to a single floor. This reduced capacity by a third to 460 pupils, with a corresponding increase in the juvenile department. The School Board was vexed by this, as it was infant accommodation that was most in demand. They reluctantly sent the amended plans back to London, but were astonished to have them rejected again! This time a range of further amendments were requested, principally concerning the arrangement of staircases. The ESB was used to some meddling, but nothing this pedantic. But they were chaired by the redoubtable Flora Stevenson who was not to be easily cowed by civil servants far to the south. The Board stood its ground, with Stevenson intimating that they would sooner refuse to build the new school entirely than further compromise its design. This standoff was eventually resolved in their favour, but the Board estimated that the meddling, combined with a recent increase in the mandatory floorspace requirements, had inflated the per pupil construction cost by almost a third; from £11 0s 10d to £15 12s 1d. The total eventual cost was estimated at £23,500 (about £2.5 million in 2026); £20,092 14s 10d being the accepted construction tender and the remainder the purchase cost of the site.

   Artist’s impression in the Edinburgh Evening News of Albion Road Public School, February 18th 1903

   Carfrae followed the convention for these “barracks-type” schools of a grand, dominant block that was pulled right up to the street as a civic monument to education. This however had the unfortunate side-effect of placing its playground to the rear, the north, where it was largely cut-off from most sunlight. Gloomy playgrounds in the shade of large buildings were a common failing of school design at this time. An unorthodox design feature however was that the janitor’s house was integral to the building, usually it was detached off to the side (this would ultimately mean it was never sold off as an ex-Council house). After the delays were overcome, work progressed quickly and Albion Road Public School was opened in February 1905, the first headmaster being James C. Anderson who had transferred from Castlehill Public School. He instantly faced a double crisis. Firstly, applications to the school from Edinburgh filled only half his seats. Secondly, parents of children in the Leith School Board area wanted to send their children to him. After all, his school was mainly in Leith, as were the majority of nearby houses! The ESB strongly objected to this, they were financed by the Edinburgh ratepayers and it was their roundel that adorned the school’s façade. They referred to a bye-law they had adopted against the practice back in 1890:

   No child residing beyond the School Board district shall be hereafter admitted to any of the Board’s School

   Leith protested and the matter was remitted to London for adjudication by the Education Department who were rather vague about it all. They told Edinburgh that while they couldn’t legally refuse children from a neighbouring Board, they weren’t actually obliged to take them! Eventually an agreement was reached that Leith children would be accepted into the Infant Department (those under seven years of age ) from the streets of Albion Road and Albion Place, so long as those places were not needed by Edinburgh children. After this any Leithers progressed to the Juvenile Department of a Leith school, usually Lorne Street. The ESB felt that by this age they were now old enough to walk the extra distance this entailed. This angered many parents who had specifically moved into the area to take advantage of the new school. Others had imagined themselves as being in Edinburgh only to find out they had in fact unwittingly moved across the invisible border to Leith! To clarify the situation, the rather drastic step was taken of fixing physical boundary markers on a number of tenements in the district. These were stamped E and L to refer to each School Board, with a dividing line in the middle. Only those living on the side of the E could send their children to Albion Road!

   School Board boundary marker above the tenement door of 91 Albert Street. Only children living on the right side of the marker could attend Albion Road School, a ridiculous situation that split the tenement in half. This was despite the fact the Leith half was closer to Albion Road school than the Edinburgh half, and it was only possible to get to the school from the latter by passing through the former! CC-by-SA-2.0, subberculture via Wikimedia

   The uneasy compromise ended in September 1910 when two hundred and ten Leith children were sent back to Leith, either to Lorne Street or a new school that had just been opened by the Leith Board at Hermitage Park. At this time the school roll was 1,206, still below its total design capacity of 1,400 children.

   Albion Road Public School, postcard probably dating from the time of its opening in February 1905

   The first infant headmistress was Miss Kate F. Bremner who had been promoted to the school from Sciennes. She was a well travelled and progressive educator, having been a member of a commission sent from Great Britain to the United States in 1903 to study teaching methods there. Bremner was very interested in improving physical education opportunities for girls and, inspired by song-and-ball games she had observed in Nääs, Sweden, adapted thirty-one of these into English for use in the Albion Road playground.

   There is no reason why our girls should not have a share of our large playgrounds and the many open spaces in our public parks, to play games which are suitable for them, and from which we know, by experience, they would derive great pleasure and much benefit

   Kate F. Bremner, foreword to “A Book of Song Gales and Ball Games Adapted for School Use”, 1905

   The success of these songs and games saw the music and directions published under the title “A Song of Games and Ball Games, Adapted for School Use” in 1905, richly illustrated with photographs featuring the pupils of Albion Road and other local schools (you can read the full book at Archive dot org.) At the school’s first annual concert, on March 28th 1906, the Evening News reported that the highlight was the “graceful rendering of action songs and Swedish song games.”

   Example game and song called “Off to China!” from Bremner’s book. The brand new school and playground of Albion Road were used to take the photographs.

   In 1909 it was the turn of an American deputation to visit Albion Road and the subsequent report by Corliss Fitz Randolph of the Newark Board of Education has a very rare photograph of an infant pupil’s drawing on a slate.

   “Burns’ Cottage”, a specimen of chalk drawing work on slate by an infant aged 6 at Albion Road School in 1909, from “A Report of a Visit to European Schools” by Corliss Fitz Randolph of the Newark Board of Education

   As was standard practice at the time, when “infants” became “juveniles” on reaching the age of seven, the sexes were strictly segregated within the school. To this end there were separate playgrounds and entrances for the boys, for the girls and for infants. Within the building itself the stairs that gave access up to the juvenile department were segregated for boys and girls, each having their own route, and there were railings to separate them wherever their paths might cross.

   When war broke out in 1914, Albion Road was one of a number of Edinburgh schools that were requisitioned by the War Office for use by the Territorial Army. It was returned to the School Board in 1918, the year that a new Education Act for Scotland totally re-organised the system. One of the major changes was replacing the thousand-odd School Boards with a much smaller number of combined Education Authorities. The new Edinburgh Education Authority replaced the ESB and also subsumed the Boards of Leith and other neighbouring parishes. This resolved the silly boundary situation and just two years after later the Edinburgh Boundaries Extension and Tramways Act 1920 forcefully absorbed the entire Burgh of Leith into its dominant, neighbouring city. Amongst the photographs taken to illustrate the amalgamation bill was one of Albion Road School, helpfully annotated with a line down the middle of the east gable to show which half was in which municipality. But for long afterwards teachers would specify which side of the line they were teaching on. They joked that they might be teaching in Edinburgh in the morning and Leith in the afternoon on account of moving to a classroom on the opposite side of the corridor.

   Official photograph taken to support the Edinburgh Boundaries Extension and Tramways Act 1920 which subsumed Leith (and other surrounding parishes) into Edinburgh. This highlights the rather ridiculous nature of the municipal boundary cutting through the middle of a school which served only one side of the line. © Edinburgh City Archives

   Despite these simplifications of the school’s administrative status, a fundamental drawback remained – the difficulty in accessing it from the south and the east. This was not finally solved until 1929 with the opening of Hawkhill Avenue, connecting Easter Road to the vast new council housing estates of Lochend, and of the Crawford Footbridge that crossed the railway between Bothwell Street and Albion Terrace. This latter structure was named for Labour Councillor Gerald W. Crawford, who had been elected in 1926 on a campaign promise to have the link constructed and who had been its main champion within the Town Council.

   Bartholomew Post Office map of Edinburgh and Leith, 1932. Hawkhill Avenue towards the top connects Albion Road to the vast new housing estates of Lochend to the east (right). The Crawford Footbridge is the thin line between Albion Terrace and Bothwell Street, crossing the railway and making the school far easier to reach from Abbeyhill to the south (bottom). The red line is the old Edinburgh and Leith municipal boundary, by now a council ward boundary. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

   This improved connectivity greatly increased the school’s catchment, a change that prompted the transfer of the Lorne Street Commercial Institute from that school to Albion Road. For a small fee (partly refunded for perfect attendance and passing certain grades) this taught night classes for children over the school leaving age. These were both general and vocational, the beginnings of further education aimed at improving students’ workplace opportunities. The advert below details the classes that were on offer in 1930. A Continuation School was also opened, providing more specialised day education for children over the age of eleven – the very beginnings of mass Secondary Education. Up until this point they would have remained in the Advanced Divisions of their elementary school. The evening Commercial Institute lasted until the 1957-58 term, by which time improvements in secondary education and the opening of purpose-built further education colleges made it surplus to requirements and it was discontinued.

   Advert for Edinburgh Corporation’s Evening Commercial Institutes, The Scotsman, 6th September 1930

   The boys of Albion Road enjoyed particular success on the football field in the 1920s and ’30s and repeatedly won the Inspector’s Cup and the School Board Cup, the two most prestigious trophies contested for by Edinburgh primary schools. They won the Board Cup in 1927 (beating Broughton 1-0), 1928 (beating North Merchiston 1-0) and 1935 (beating North Merchiston 3-1). The Inspector’s Cup was won in 1930, beating North Merchiston 4-1 and thrashing Portobello’s Tower Bank 10-0 in the semi-final. They were also losing finalists in 1929 and 1932 in this cup, going down 2-0 to Gorgie and 2-1 to North Merchiston respectively.

   Albion Road school football team, class of 1926-30. This team won both the School Board Cup (1928) and the Inspector’s Cup (1930). The boys are, left to right: front row; D. Cossar, T. Brough, J. Mowat. Middle row; A. Bryce, W. Paterson, P. Armstrong, A. Souness, R. Milne. Back row; A. Gow, A. Stewart, C. Snell. Photo credit Alex Gow (picture), with permission of Norton Park CIC.

   With the opening of the Continuation School and expansion of the catchment to serve the new Lochend housing area, the roll inevitably increased. To accommodate this, in 1930 a new gymnasium block was built in the playground to the rear of the school (it can be seen in the aerial photo further down the post). This allowed the internal central halls of the school to be dedicated to use for assemblies and as teaching spaces. At this time the headmaster of four years, John Fraser, chose to take early retirement and was replaced by Alexander Doull of Granton School who in turn was succeeded by John Lumsden.

   A class at Albion Road, undated but from the style of haircuts and some of the fashion thought to be from the early 1930s. With permission of Norton Park CIC

   The school changed again in 1935 on the occasion of its elevation to Albion Road Intermediate School, with alterations made by the City Architect Ebenezer J. Macrae at a cost of £12,874. This relatively new class of institution was defined by the Scotch Education Department as providing “at least a three years’ course of instruction in languages, mathematics, science and such other subjects as may from time to time be deemed suitable for pupils who, on entering, have reached the stage of attainment in elementary subjects.” This was the next logical step on from the Continuation School towards universal secondary education in Scotland and centralised the teaching of pupils aged between twelve to fifteen in a dedicated, specialised school. These were the children who had not passed the Qually, the Qualification Examination that all sat at the age of eleven and whose outcome streamed their educational future. The Intermediate School absorbed the function of the Continuation School and also some specialised Technical and Commercial Schools that had been instituted. Its students were streamed into Technical (boys only), Domestic (girls only) and Commercial (boys and girls) classes. These were aimed at improving student’s vocational skills in those fields, preparing them for entering the blue-collar or clerical workforce on reaching leaving age (or for most of the girls, marriage, motherhood and domestic labour). This change meant that primary-aged pupils (4 to 11) were dispersed to other nearby schools.

   Albion Road girls’ “Qualifying Class” (11-year olds) in 1929. At this time, passing the Qualification Examination gave the chance to attend a Higher Grade School, something not all who passed could afford to do. Most stayed on in Advanced Divisions at Albion Road until leaving age until the Continuation School began in 1930, replaced by the Intermediate School in 1935. CC-by-NC-SA Thelma via Edinburgh Collected, Donor 0048-008

   In 1939 there was a further reorganisation of education in Scotland and a new title was conferred; Norton Park Junior Secondary. This nominal change was in preparation for the leaving age being raised to fifteen and the “minimum sentence” of students being extended three to four years. For a few students who showed academic promise despite the system’s best attempts to stamp it out of them, there was the opportunity to stay on beyond that (should their family not need them to leave school and get a job) and get more advanced qualifications. But still however the Junior Secondary offered little more real educational prospects for most children than the Intermediate School had when compared with the High Schools of Broughton or Boroughmuir or of Leith Academy and Trinity Academy. For many pupils, the experience of this former class of schools was not a pleasant one. The state had decided that their educational future should be limited and with it their prospects in life – at the age of just 11. In “Scots at School: An Anthology” former pupil Eddie Mathieson recounted his time at Albion Road:

   …that’s when the horror began for me. The teachers were tougher, harder and more prone to use the belt! I have no happy memories at all about that school…
   The woodwork teacher hated me, of course, and I hated him. He used to throw lumps of wood at me for talkin’ when I should have been workin’, or puttin’ a chisel down in the wrong way or whatever. He always had a lot of wee bits of wood on his desk and he was a dead shot! He would get you on the skull wi’ this wee lump o’ wood. I hated joinery work…
   All I ever thought about was getting’ away from school! That was all that was in my mind. I left school, I think it was a month or two before I was fourteen. I couldn’t get out of the door quick enough.

   Eddie Mathieson, quoted in “Scots at School: An Anthology” from “Voices from War. Personal Recollections of War in Our Century by Scottish Men and Women” by Ian MacDougall, 1995

   Despite the prevalance of such didactic sadists there were always however glimmers of light; those educators who were quite the opposite. One headmaster in particular, Richard Borthwick, was particularly progressively-minded. He began publication of a school magazine to try better communicate with parents. In 1948 he instituted Mother’s Days, opening the school up one day each week so mothers could observe their children at work. The success of these days lead to an annual Father’s Night beginning in 1951 (it being assumed that all men would be at work during the day). Another such man was Dr James T. R. Ritchie, Jim to his friends and Doccy Ritchie to his students. He was a newly-minted teacher with a PhD in chemistry when he joined Albion Road in 1936 to teach maths and science to reluctant eleven-to-fourteen year olds. A former pupil of his, Donna Ford, wrote fondly of him in her harrowing childhood memoir, recounting:

   James Ritchie was an incredibly kind man. By the time I reached Norton Park, I had suffered years of abuse and degradation. I didn’t trust teachers – none of them had ever done anything for me in the past, and they all seemed to walk around with their eyes closed – but this one was different… each time I had a science class with James Ritchie, he made me feel as if I was so important, the centre of the world at the moment he spoke to me.

   Dr Ritchie was always interested if I had a rhyme to tell him, or a game to explain. He made me think that these things were important too. Looking back at the work he has left as his mark on history, I can see that he must have made many children feel this way. His books are full of the joys of childhood, the innocent pleasures children enjoy when they are left alone to play and sing.

   Donna Ford, writing in “The Step Child: A True Story”

   Her recollection of Ritchie’s interest in rhymes and games was on account of this being his real passion in life. Writing later in life, he recalled:

   One morning… I was teaching science in Leith, and finding the response on this occasion not very lively, I asked “Then what do you like doing?” The class answered: “We like playing games.” “What games?” They told me, and I began there and then to write them down… From then on I collected every sort of rhyme or playing jingle and my collection grew.

   James Ritchie, writing in 1965, quoted in “Golden City: Scottish Children’s Street Games & Songs”, Mercat Press, 1999

   Through his painstaking cataloguing of them from the pupils of Norton Park, Ritchie would go on to become an acknowledged expert in the games, rhymes and songs of children. He published two important books on the subject, The Singing Street and Golden City, and in 1951 with Raymond Townsend and Nigel McIssac – two colleagues from the art department – he formed The Norton Park Group. The trio went to work making short films with their pupils, inspired by them at work and play. The most successful and widely known of these was their second effort, their first with sound, the fondly remembered The Singing Street, which you can read all about in this thread.

   Chalked titles, The Singing Street, © NLS Moving Image Archive

   On April 1st 1947, the minimum school leaving age in Scotland was finally raised to fifteen, meaning that at a stroke Junior Secondary school rolls increased by a third. To provide more space in the main building and better facilities for art and technical instruction, in 1950 an annexe was acquired nearby on Hawkhill Avenue. This was the former printworks of football pools company Thomas Strang. £10,000 was spent on conversion but the building was in a poor state of repair and the roof leaked when it rained. The facility was shared with the nearby St Anthony’s R. C. Junior Secondary, a school also in dire need of more space and better facilities.

   Norton Park Junior Secondary (highlighted yellow), with the 1930 gymnasium to its rear. Highlighted in green is the Hakwhill Printworks on Hawkhill Road, which would be acquired as an annexe in 1950. This 1949 photo shows this was a densely industrial area at the time with a number of busy railways running through it. The large building above the annexe was a maltings for Robert Younger’s brewery at Abbeyhill. Picture via Britainfromabove, SAW024457

   The painting of a mural by pupils in the art rooms in this annexe was documented in the Norton Park Group’s 1951 debut short film Happy Weekend. Inspired by their classwork, the film ends with the children graffitiing the outside of the annexe with a mural of their own, before being chased away by their teacher and running off down St Clair Road. The leaky roof of the art classroom was made light of in the film – the teacher standing on a chair to place a piece of wood to protect the wet paint of the mural from the water running down the walls, while a pupil holds an umbrella over his head.

   In 1947 Norton Park was one of two schools selected to be the first in Scotland to offer something revolutionary: formal sex education. These experimental classes were led by Miss Annabelle P. Duncan, a qualified midwife in the employ of pro-chastity organisation the Scottish Alliance of Honour. James B. Frizell, the city’s Director of Education, wrote that “sex instruction is best dealt with by competent teachers of biology and from a comparative and evolutionary standpoint“, i.e. in a clinical, scientific, matter-of-fact manner. This pilot was in advance of a national conference on the topic to be held in 1949, with Albion Road acting as the case study for the urban population and schools in Aberdeenshire for the rural. Over a period of three weeks in May and June, Miss Duncan lectured girls between the ages of twelve and fifteen on the subject of the “birds and the bees“. There were three lectures in the series:

   1. General health, physical well-being and personal cleanliness. “The body is a complex machine which needs every care if it is to run smoothly and efficiently“.
   2. “The Act of Growing Up“, illustrated with a comic strip for younger girls and a film entitled “Men and Women” for those older. This covered reproduction from a biological point of view, menstruation, behaviour towards the opposite sex and chastity and moral purity. “The sex function is a wonderful thing, possession to be jealously guarded“.
   3. A question and answer session, where girls could anonymously submit questions on the topic “to deal with sex matters in general” to be answered by Miss Duncan.

   The experiment was such a success that it was repeated the following year and altered and adapted to include the boys, who had a section on “the menace of venereal diseases” added to their syllabus. The headmaster and four male teachers gave them their lessons while one of the art teachers “specially prepared” the instructive diagrams.

   In 1944 the school roll had been around 460, which was particularly low – the equivalent schools of Darroch had 550 and James Clark had almost 900. By 1956 however the raising of the school age and post-war baby boom had altered the city’s demographics such that a “bulge” in pupil numbers at junior secondaries was now imminent. Improvements were once again made to cope, with £9,350 spent on sanitary and heating improvements. These included a new multi-storey toilet block adjacent to the building’s eastern stairwell (a structure described by Atkins as “ugly and cheaply-built“). Headmaster Borthwick had left the school in 1952 to take on the position of rector at Leith Academy. He was replaced in turn by Hugh Tannahill (left in 1956 for Gracemount), D. P. Hendrill and from 1959, William A. Maclean.

   Evening News photograph of a performance of “The Water Babies” being given by students of Norton Park on 25th June 1956 at the Church of Scotland’s Gateway Theatre on Elm Row.

   An unusual new subject was introduced in the 1957-58 term: Gaelic language. While it had been offered as an evening class since way back in 1908 at Gilmore Place Public School (later Darroch Junior Secondary), this was the first time it had been offered as a part of the secondary curriculum in the city and was only the third lowland school to do so. This was proposed by Director of Education Frizell as an experimental class with a view to making it more widely available in other city secondaries. Norton Park was chosen over the more academic Boroughmuir as the Director felt the latter school should remain focussed on subjects specific to the Higher Leaving Certificate. The course would concentrate on the spoken language and also a study of Highland and Island life, culture, heritage and geography. Bh-uas Murdag Nic Choinnich (Miss Murdina Mackenzie), a native of Knock in Lewis, was appointed as teacher. She was the only qualified candidate in the city and had the previous year taken over the evening classes at Darroch. A classroom was dedicated, with photographic and pictorial materials collected to give it “a suitable Highland atmosphere.” In the first year, 12 girls were taught, expanded to a mixed class of 30 girls and boys the following. Sixteen pupils entered the Edinburgh Mòd in 1959 and “received high praise for their Gaelic“, An Comunn Gàidhealach sending the class an honorary prize of five Pounds with which to buy dictionaries. In June 1961, after three years of study, twenty seven students were put forward to sit examination, of whom seventeen passed. A ceilidh was held in the school to celebrate, reported in the Stornoway Gazette by their Edinburgh correspondent to have been the first ever held in an Edinburgh school. Prizes were awarded in the subject the following year to Margaret Skivington, Margaret Aberdour, Irene Mackenzie, Patricia Maclaren, Joyce Gibson and Andrina Hamilton.

   28th June 1961, a ceilidh is held at Norton Park School to celebrate the success of the Gaelic class in that years examinations. The school’s principal teacher of music, Mr Andrew D. Millar, is at the piano as some of the girls sing a Gaelic song.

   On 7th April 1961 the Annexe on Hawkhill Avenue was badly damaged by fire, with £12,000 of damage being caused. Two youths were arrested and charged with fire raising the following week.

   Norton Park Sports Day, 1959. Credit: TSPL via Scran, DP620440

   The schools future was first called in to question in 1962 by Dr George Reith, the new Director of Education. He contended that such Junior Secondaries – old, adapted primary schools with facilities scattered across annexes of dubious quality – should only be regarded as temporary and were “impossible to adapt“. In short, they needed to be replaced. This was against a backdrop of planning for another raise in the school leaving age to sixteen and a continuing, healthy post-war birthrate. Between 1955 and 1970, the total secondary school roll in Edinburgh increased from 14,520 to almost 25,000, putting huge pressure on some schools. However as a result of inner-city depopulation this growth did not extend to places like Norton Park and by 1969 the roll was a mere 280. When the city started to move from the old two-tier secondary system to a comprehensive one in 1970, the writing was on the wall. The city took this juncture as an opportunity to “rid” itself of as many of its old Junior Secondaries as possible. Norton Park was closed with little ceremony at the end of the 1972-73 term.

   Norton Park Junior Secondary, class of 1960-63. Credit Alex Jackson, CC-NC-by-SA via Edinburgh Collected.

   In its time a number of children would pass through the school who went on to become weel kent names. Lewis Goram, father of Hibs and Scotland goalkeeping legend Andy, was born and raised on Albion Road and attended the school. A talented goalkeeper in his own right, he played with Hibs for a while. Another Hibee was Alex Cropley, who in 1971 became one of two English-born players who were the first to turn out for the Scottish national squad (the other being Bob Wilson, best known as a 1980s and ’90s TV stalwart and sports anchorman). In the world of show-business, stage comedian and actor Alex “Happy” Howden was another former pupil. He had actually passed the qualification exam for Leith Academy but quickly got himself expelled and demoted to Norton Park. Here he claimed he was happier as he was back amongst his friends, they played football instead of rugby, and he had more time to devote to his real calling in life: making everyone around him laugh.

   Lewis Goram, right in the goalkeeper’s jumpert, at Bury. In 1951 with George Griffiths.

   But even after closure there was an educational future for Norton Park. To accommodate the systemic reconfiguration of secondary education in Leith it had been planned that in the early 1970s two new comprehensive high schools would be built, one at Bangholm (adjacent to Trinity Academy) and the other at Hawkhill sports fields. Neither of these were ever built and Leith would limp on for decades with a hodge-podge of inherited and re-purposed buildings at Trinity and Leith Academies. The latter was given the former Lochend Road and Norton Park schools and had to muddle on as best it could. Although its main building on Duke Street was overcrowded, these donated annexes were in such poor condition that they were never used to their full capacity. Lochend Road was at least just over the road, the three-quarter mile walk to Norton Park was a double disincentive for its use. It was largely relegated to use as exam halls and given up entirely in 1988. The new Leith Academy on the Quarryholes site would finally be completed in May 1991 after a determined local campaign for a modern, purpose-built high school for Leith that had lasted over a decade .

   Lothian Regional Council, Norton Park’s owners since local government reform in 1975, now left it to a couple of eccentric departments. These included a workshop for the repair of the metal and woodworking tools across their school estate, another in the former gym hall for its pianos (which included a resident Wurlitzer organ) and the “Renfrew Library“, which collected and sorted surplus textbooks for distribution to third world countries. In July 1989 part of the site was offered for sale to neighbouring Hibernian F.C. for £140,000. Hibs were planning at this time to redevelop their Easter Road stadium and needed additional land and office capacity. This deal fell through on account of their precarious financial situation. This became so serious that it pushed them to the very point of considering a merger with city rivals Hearts and a move to a joint stadium. Ultimately they – and Easter Road stadium – would be saved by a vigorous fan campaign and rescue by Sir Tom Farmer.

   Norton Park before its renovation, view from the end of Albion Terrace. Picture credit and with kind permission of Richard Atkins.

   Around this time, the Regional Council established a working group to review the availability of suitable office accommodation for voluntary organisations within Edinburgh. They suggested that one of a number of their vacant school buildings might be a suitable blank canvas for conversion to meet this need. The concept was to provide high-quality, low-cost office accommodation for charitable sector tenants while increasing the building’s accessibility and greatly reducing its running costs and environmental footprint. Norton Park was selected and would become something of a case study in re-purposing a traditional building in an environmentally sustainable manner. The Albion Trust was formed with funding from the Tudor Trust (one of the UK’s largest independent grant-making trusts) to take this project forward. The building was transferred to them in 1995 and Richard Atkins of Burnett Pollock Associates was appointed as lead architect. Work would take three years to complete with project funding coming from nine different public and private sources (the National Lottery Charities Board, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic Scotland, Lothian & Edinburgh Enterprise Ltd., City of Edinburgh Council Urban Aid, TSB Foundation for Scotland, Scottish Office Social Work Services Group, Esmée Fairbairn Trust and Dulverton Trust.)

   New accessible entrance added at Norton Park. This has since been replaced by an entrance to the rear of the building. Picture credit and with kind permission of Richard Atkins.

   Given the building was listed, external alterations were minimal and the stonework and roof were repaired to conservation standards. The opportunity was also taken to remedy some slight defects in the original construction to increase roof ventilation, improve guttering and deal with masonry that had allowed water ingress. Internally, given the desire to undertake restoration in the most environmentally efficient manner, a painstaking effort was made to reuse as many of the original fixtures and fittings as possible. Anything that couldn’t be reused was reclaimed by an architectural salvage yard. To allow for full internal insulation, all lath and plaster was stripped out and a thick layer of mineral wool added. This had the added benefit of allowing every piece of potentially rotten structural timber to be identified and replaced, meaning no preventative chemical wood treatments were needed internally. Secondary double glazing was added to all the external windows and a modern, multi-zone heating system fed by efficient gas boilers replaced a creaking old cast-iron, oil-fired system. A solar slate system was incorporated into the roof to preheat the boiler feedwater. These features all combined to greatly reduced the building’s energy demand for heating by almost two thirds, with consequential reductions in its running costs. Also within the roofspace, a specially commissioned grey water system was installed – with a large rainwater retention tank and sterilisation system to use it for flushing toilets – and six bat nesting boxes. The external lighting even specified special lightbulbs to attract insects as a foodsource for these flying residents.

   Before and after inside Norton Park. Dark walls and Corporation linoleum floors lit by buzzing fluorescent tubes replaced with bright paint, high-quality carpets and lighting specified to reduce “sick building syndrome”. Picture credit and with kind permission of Richard Atkins.

   Internally, the former classroom spaces were converted into self-contained office spaces to suit tenants of all sizes, from a single desk up to seventy or more. To make the best use of the vast Edwardian ceiling heights, each room was given a new mezzanine level. This increased net capacity by 25%, proportionately reducing energy costs and rent per metre floorspace. It also allowed sub-division of workspaces to suit client needs. A new lift system, step-free entrances and automatic doors and disabled toilets and showers on all floors meant the building (with the exception of the mezzanines, although these were designed to accept stairlifts) was fully accessible. A new mechanical ventilation system meant that the air within office spaces was constantly refreshed and a built-in heat exchange system recovered waste heat.

   One of the new office spaces with its mezzanine level. Attention to detail meant that even the trunking for power and network cabling was in a material called Econet, a formalehyde-free MDF. Picture credit and with kind permission of Richard Atkins.

   Since it opened in mid-1998, the Norton Park Centre has consistently been fully let, with a waiting list. Richard Atkins describes it as “seen as a centre of excellence for the voluntary sector“. Even after the reduced nature of its rents are factored in, all that up-front effort made to reduce the building’s running costs has meant that the institution is self-financing institution and has built up a sinking fund to keep on top of caring for a historic building. This is ever-more important in a funding environment for the third sector that makes grants and funding ever harder to come buy and to depend on. It has also allowed for the acquisition of the neighbouring former Lockhart Memorial Church and St Mungo’s Church Halls next door, for use as a meeting and conference centre. It is all a far cry from a school that was long written off and forgotten about by the authorities.

   (Temporary) Footnote. If you would like to visit the former Albion Road / Norton Park School then you can do so on 26th September 2026 as part of Doors Open Day. The film The Singing Street, as produced in the school by the Norton Park Group and its children will be on show in their community cinema, and at 12 Noon there will be a screening followed by a short talk on the subject by yours truly. You can also catch the film and the same talk the previous weekend at 10AM at Abbeyhill Primary School, around which much of it was filmed back in 1951, in association with Colony of Artists. Both venues are free and un-ticketed but capacity is limited so arrive early if you want to avoid missing out – Colony of Artists have the school open from 930AM and Norton Park is open from 10AM.

   If you have found this site useful, informative or amusing then you can help contribute towards its running costs by supporting me on ko-fi. This includes my commitment to keeping it 100% advert and AI free for all time coming, and in helping to find further unusual stories to bring you by acquiring books and paying for research.
   Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends and like-minded people, sites like this thrive on being shared.

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   #Lochend #Logan #Restalrig #StMargaret

   #buildings #edinburgh #edinburghschoolboard #education #juniorsecondary #leith
2. 

   CLondoner92 @[email protected] · 2026-09-14 · 15:16 UTC

   Around 90,000 schoolchildren across Greater #Manchester will benefit from free Bee Network tram travel for educational trips under a new 12-month partnership between #Transport for Greater Manchester and Aviva.

   The scheme aims to remove travel costs as a barrier to school visits to museums, galleries, theatres, green spaces and other destinations. Groups of at least 10 can apply for free travel through the Bee Network website, with journeys permitted after 9.30am on weekdays or at any time at weekends.

   Schools previously paid £1 per child and £2 per accompanying adult under TfGM’s ‘Kid for a Quid’ scheme, which was used by more than 40,000 children.

   The initiative supports the Greater Manchester Strategy’s aim of widening opportunity and improving educational inclusion. It is also intended to encourage sustainable travel and greater confidence using public transport.

   The partnership was launched at Aviva Studios in Manchester on Friday 11 September.
   https://news.tfgm.com/press-releases/52a4b2bc-94ba-4635-a399-6d64d1bb4a82/aviva-and-transport-for-greater-manchester-to-provide-free-bee-network-travel-for-greater-manchester-school-trips

   #manchester #transport
3. 

   In-Sight Publishing @[email protected] · 2025-10-04 · 15:48 UTC

   Electric Aviation and the Future of Clean Flight

   Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

   Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

   Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/07/03

   Gregory Blatt, co-founder of H55 and a key figure behind the Solar Impulse legacy, leads one of the world’s foremost electric aviation companies. In this in-depth conversation, Blatt discusses H55’s inclusion in TIME’s Top 250 GreenTech Companies of 2025 and the broader implications for clean mobility. He highlights the Bristell B23 Energic’s low-emission, low-noise profile, emphasizing its benefits for flight schools and densely populated areas. Blatt outlines H55’s strategy for certification in Europe and the U.S., as well as its scalability through modular electric propulsion systems and partnerships with firms such as Piper, CAE, and RTX. He also addresses the economic and climate benefits of electrification, advocating for a pragmatic approach to the energy mix. With growing pilot demand and rapid innovation, H55 is helping redefine aviation for a more sustainable future. 

   Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, we are here with Gregory Blatt, and we are going to explore a few questions. You have been included in TIME’s list of the World’s Top 250 GreenTech Companies of 2025. What does this recognition signify for the future of electric aviation? 

   Gregory Blatt: Well, there are a few critical aspects to this recognition by TIME magazine, and you have already pointed to one of them. 

   First, it is the recognition of a small Swiss company and the work we are doing in electric aviation. H55 is based in Sion, Switzerland, and we operate in a highly specialized sector. Only four Swiss companies made TIME’s Top 250 list, so being among them shows that, in our own focused and mission-driven way, we are gaining global recognition for the advancements we have achieved. That includes our legacy from the Solar Impulse project, and the work we are doing now—most notably, developing certified electric propulsion and battery management systems. 

   By next year, we will be the first company to bring a certified electric propulsion system to the general aviation market. That is a milestone not just for us but for the industry. 

   Second, TIME’s recognition reflects a broader understanding of what clean mobility can look like. Typically, when people think of mobility, they think of cars. However, clean mobility extends far beyond terrestrial transportation. H55 demonstrates that sustainable aviation is not only possible but already operational with the technology having been de-risked.  

   Notably, TIME is examining clean mobility as a comprehensive trend. They are not treating this as a fleeting innovation or an experimental idea like Apple’s Newton, which was ahead of its time but did not last. Instead, they see clean aviation as a viable and necessary technological shift. It is not a gadget—it’s a long-term solution offering economic, technological, and societal benefits. 

   Of course, we’re not the only ones in the space. Other companies are building electric aircraft—whether fixed-wing planes, VTOLs, or flying taxis. Some are working on charging infrastructure or subcomponents. H55 is focused on the electric propulsion systems that power these aircraft. 

   This recognition also serves as a signal that clean aviation is a serious and rapidly expanding industry. On our end, H55 has already hired around 120 engineers in Switzerland and Canada—many in roles that didn’t even exist five or seven years ago. That’s a powerful example of how clean tech is not just an environmental necessity but also an economic opportunity. 

   And maybe this is a broader point, but we need to stop framing environmental protection as a cost. It’s also a generator of jobs and innovation. In our case, it’s producing skilled engineering roles in entirely new domains. 

   That’s why I prefer to call it cleantech, not just green tech. The focus is on building scalable, efficient, zero-emission solutions—and they’re already here. Because when we think of it that way, we see it as an economic impetus—not just the cost of doing business. Sorry, that was a long answer to your question. 

   Jacobsen: Why is it important for H55 to be present in the United States right now, and how does the Across USA Tour support your mission? Where can people follow the tour and learn more? 

   Blatt: We’re bringing fully electric flight to general aviation and pilot training as we embark on the H55 Across USA tour. The tour began in April at the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo in Florida and runs through early August, covering eight states. Powered by H55’s electric propulsion system (EPS), the  Bristell B23 Energic airplane—is an all-electric 2-seater designed for pilot training, general aviation and regional transport. 

   H55 began its journey in Florida earlier this year as part of an 8-state U.S. tour showcasing the future of clean, quiet, and sustainable flight. Each stop is designed to highlight H55’s electric propulsion system—motor, inverter, battery modules, and energy and power management systems—while engaging key stakeholders across the aviation ecosystem.   

   The goal of the H55 Across USA tour is to accelerate the shift toward cleaner, quieter, more efficient, and more affordable aviation. We’re doing that by showcasing our certified electric propulsion systems and aircraft integration solutions designed for general aviation and regional transport. Along the way, we’re engaging with flight schools and aeroclubs, airports and fixed base operators (FBOs), maintenance, repair, and overhaul providers (MROs), aerospace universities, military academies, and aviation enthusiasts across the country. 

   As of our third tour stop at Signature Aviation in Scottsdale, Arizona, we passed a big milestone—over 100 U.S. landings, officially reaching 104 upon our return to Falcon Field that day. 

   We’ve just completed our fourth stop in Las Vegas, and next we’re heading to Palo Alto, California, before heading back east. Next, we visit Colorado Springs, Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture, the largest fly-in in North America, and then The Hamptons to end the tour. You can follow the full journey, meet the team, learn how to join us at our next stops, and trace our journey from the groundbreaking Solar Impulse project at https://across-usa.h55.ch. 

   Jacobsen: The Bristell B23 Energic is intriguing regarding electric pilot training. What are the technical advantages that make it viable for widespread adoption today? 

   Blatt: Okay, now you’re going to have me talking for three days! Let’s start with the obvious low-hanging fruit—societal, environmental, and noise-related advantages. 

   First, no pollution, no noise. That’s a big win for flight training schools located near densely populated areas. You know, places where neighbors often complain because aircraft are constantly flying circuits overhead, generating noise all day long. From a societal perspective, this makes a great deal of sense. 

   Then there’s the pollution factor—zero emissions from the aircraft. But those are the broader societal benefits. 

   Now, let’s talk about the economic advantages. An electric airplane has far fewer moving parts and is much less complex than its combustion-engine equivalent. That significantly reduces maintenance needs. You don’t have to change out an engine every 2,500 hours, which you would with a similarly sized combustion aircraft used in training. 

   You also avoid fuel costs—no Avgas is required. So, from an operational standpoint, electric flight is highly cost-effective compared to combustion. 

   From a pilot training perspective, there are additional technical benefits that the general public might not immediately think of. For example, in Arizona, flight schools typically consume between 1.6 and 2.4 gallons of fuel just during lineup time—while idling and waiting to take off. We don’t have that issue. In a conventional training session that uses about 16 gallons, only 14 are used for flying, and two go to waste during idle time. With the B23 Energic, all your energy goes directly into the flight. There’s no idle fuel burn. 

   There’s also the reduced noise issue, which flight instructors love. Less noise means less stress for students and a better learning environment. There’s no need to mix oil and fuel, and the aircraft handles high altitudes and temperatures without added complexity. It’s a much simpler, cleaner training experience for flight schools. 

   The feedback has been incredibly positive. Since starting our U.S. campaign, we’ve completed more than 110 landings. The reviews—and I say this objectively because the testimonials are public, and we’re not using AI to filter them—have been overwhelmingly favourable. 

   Pilots love it. They love the responsiveness, the quietness, and the sleek, modern look of the aircraft—it appeals to the next generation of pilots. Whether for economic, societal, or operational reasons, they consistently tell us it makes training easier and more enjoyable. For students already juggling a lot when learning to fly, the B23 Energic simplifies the process. 

   Jacobsen: How does H55 balance the demands of regulatory certification with the pace of technological innovation in electric propulsion? 

   Blatt: At H55, from the beginning, we made a clear commitment: we are developing certified electric propulsion systems. And we’ll be the only company to have a certified electric propulsion system—by the end of this year or the beginning of next year—in Europe. Then, about a year later, we expect certification in the United States. 

   You can look at certification in two ways, Scott. One way to view it is as a cost of doing business—it takes time, you have to prove everything, and it can feel bureaucratic. And to a certain extent, that’s understandable. After all, you’re introducing new technologies, and regulators need to ensure that they work, are safe, and are reliable. That’s their job. 

   But I look at it differently. I see certification as a source of innovation. It pushes us to refine and improve. Most of our patents—our strongest intellectual property— come out of the certification process. That’s where the know-how builds. 

   Even before certification, we had extensive operational experience. With Solar Impulse, we flew 50,000 kilometres across more than 40 countries. We completed the task safely, with no incidents. We brought the pilots home safely and returned the aircraft to excellent condition. That experience gave us a deep understanding of safety, which we’ve carried forward. 

   So, certification is not just a regulatory hurdle—it’s a necessary step toward broad adoption. It ensures safety and builds trust. We’re very comfortable with that. As I mentioned, EASA has confirmed that we will be the first company in Europe to have a certified electric propulsion system. We expect that to be finalized by early next year, and FAA certification will likely follow 12 to 18 months later. 

   Jacobsen: What feedback have you received from the Across USA Tour—from flight schools and military academies? 

   Blatt: It’s funny—military personnel are flying it as we speak. We were recently at Maxwell Air Force Base with the aircraft, and about 20 U.S. Air Force pilots flew it. 

   And the feedback, Scott—they liked it. They appreciated the responsiveness. It’s like driving an electric car: an immediate reaction with smooth control. They enjoyed the quietness, the ergonomics, and the way the airplane handles. It flies very well. 

   They also understood the economics immediately, which is crucial in aviation. Everything is measured in terms of cost of ownership and cost per flight hour. And when we present them with the numbers, we show them a business case that’s comparable—if not better—than combustion-engine training aircraft. 

   There is some infrastructure required, of course. But let’s be honest—it’s solvable. And in fact, it’s already being solved. We made a strategic decision to go with standard DC charging: no proprietary systems, no special cables—just standard, automotive-style chargers. 

   The FAA has already approved DC charging for airport ground operations, so that is not a regulatory roadblock. It’s more a matter of investment, and that investment is already happening. Chargers range in cost from about $15,000 to $100,000. So, it is not an excessive investment—especially when considering the operational savings. 

   At Henderson Executive Airport during our Nevada stopover, our host All in Aviation has already installed three or four chargers in their hangars, and they’re planning to install more. 

   Why? It’s quite simple. When people come to the hangar, it’s an excellent opportunity to charge their cars while they’re flying all day. So, the flight school started with that use case in mind. And beyond that, it just makes sense—most of their auxiliary vehicles, like little trucks, golf carts, and maintenance vehicles on the airport grounds, are already electric. Having chargers on-site supports that ecosystem. 

   So, in that sense, the charging infrastructure is straightforward. The one challenge some flight schools have encountered relates to where charging takes place. Because of battery thermal sensitivity—especially in hot environments like Las Vegas or Arizona—we see better performance by charging indoors rather than outdoors.  

   Jacobsen: H55 emphasizes scalability. What aircraft categories are you targeting as part of your scaling strategy? 

   Blatt: Our Electric Propulsion System (EPS) is being certified under CS-23 in Europe and FAR 23 in the U.S.—the regulatory framework for small aircraft. Specifically, it’s being approved for Levels 1 and 2 aircraft. That includes trainers and two-seaters—light, general aviation aircraft. 

   The core of our system is modular. The batteries are built as scalable modules. In one aircraft, we might use a specific number of modules in series or parallel, depending on the available volume and the performance requirements of the aircraft. 

   For example, our technology powers the Bristell B23 Energic. But we’re also working with Piper Aircraft and CAE on the Piper Archer project. It’s the same underlying technology. 

   The difference is that the Archer is a larger aircraft, so it requires more battery modules. The battery management system (BMS) is designed to accommodate this. It “talks” to the batteries, monitors their health, communicates with the power distribution unit (PDU), and sends real-time data to the pilot on how the cells are performing. 

   That adapted BMS configuration will need to be certified separately, but we don’t have to recertify the entire propulsion system each time. That’s where the scalability comes in. The system can be applied across multiple platforms with adjustments only to the parts that change. 

   Once that’s achieved, we open the door to longer ranges, larger aircraft, and even more diverse applications. I’m not sure of the exact term, but in production, you don’t have to re-engineer everything every time. Once you have a production run that works for three or four different aircraft platforms, it becomes much more efficient. 

   And when you have multiple customers using the same product category, you achieve scalability. Your supply chain becomes more streamlined, costs are reduced, and those savings can be passed along to the customer. 

   Yes, scalability was something we thought about very carefully when we founded the company. 

   Jacobsen: What is the current commercial viability of electric propulsion systems in terms of cost savings, reliability, and performance? How does that compare to traditional combustion engines of comparable power? 

   Blatt: Well, a traditional combustion engine typically needs to be replaced after about 2,500 hours of operation. Our electric motor, on the other hand, lasts up to 5,000 hours. 

   Electric motors aren’t new—it’s not just Gregory saying that. They’ve been around for a long time, though not widely used in aviation until recently. What we do know is that electric motors are inherently simpler and more efficient. 

   In a combustion engine—whether in a car or an airplane—only about one-third of the energy from each gallon or litre of fuel goes toward propulsion. One-third is lost to heat in the combustion process, and auxiliary systems like air conditioning, entertainment systems, or avionics consume the other two-thirds of energy. 

   By contrast, our electric motors operate at an efficiency of 94%. Think about that—94%. That’s a complete game-changer. 

   Regarding batteries, we currently replace them at approximately 1,500 flight hours. And even then, they’re still in good condition. So, instead of discarding them, we repurpose them for other applications—either in stationary ground systems or through recycling processes. They’re not going to the landfill. 

   From the operator’s perspective, you’re not burning fuel—you’re investing in technology. We recommend pilots or operators put aside about $100 per hour of flight—about what you’d be spending on fuel and maintenance with a combustion engine. Then, a year or a year and a half later, you’re buying new batteries from us. And those batteries will likely be better because energy density continues to improve with each generation. 

   That’s a paradigm shift—not just in how you operate the aircraft, but in how you think about depreciation and long-term ownership. 

   But think about it. A journalist asked me a couple of months ago, “Who’s your biggest competitor?” And I told her, ‘The Gulf Countries‘. She looked at me, clearly expecting an answer like General Electric or Honeywell. 

   However, when I explained it, she understood. It’s not about competing with other aviation companies. It’s about competing with fossil fuel infrastructure. That money is no longer going into the Sheikh’s pockets—it’s going into technology, and that resonates with people. Investors like it, obviously—because there’s recurring revenue, predictable cost structures, and scalability. But users like it, too. 

   It’s like consumer tech. You’re always wondering, “Should I buy the new phone now or wait six months for the next model?” And whenever you buy it, it feels like the wrong time. With aviation, that’s changing. 

   Let me give you an example. When we certify the B23 Energic in Europe, we’re advertising 70 minutes of flight time with reserves. But by the time we certify the same aircraft in the United States—about a year to 18 months later—we expect to advertise a higher endurance. I can’t provide the exact number yet, as we’re still finalizing it, but we’re looking at over 80 minutes.  

   That’s thanks to improvements in energy density that come with time. And remember, in the training market, airplanes often stay in service for 30 or 35 years. That means we can expect real improvements in performance and economics over the aircraft’s lifetime. 

   Jacobsen: What strategic partnerships or investments have enabled H55’s breakthroughs? 

   Blatt: That’s a great question. We’re fortunate to have an exceptional cap table comprising investors from diverse sectors who share our long-term vision for clean aviation. 

   It began with Silicon Valley investors who became familiar with us through the Solar Impulse project. Then came strategic partners like Raytheon—RTX is one of our investors. We also have an aircraft leasing company involved, and with them, we’re exploring “power-by-the-hour” models. That could be especially useful for smaller flight schools that might not have the capital for complete aircraft acquisition but can operate on a usage-based model. 

   The government of Quebec is also a strategic investor. We’re based in Montreal, and Quebec views batteries as a key industrial sector—similar to how Nevada focuses on lithium. They’ve supported us with grants and loans and eventually decided to take an equity stake to be more directly involved. 

   We also have backing from some major family offices in Europe. Interestingly, a few of them built their wealth in traditional natural resources—such as mining and energy—and now, with second- or third-generation leadership, they’re diversifying into clean tech. That’s encouraging. It shows a generational shift toward sustainability and innovation. 

   We have a fantastic cap table—accessible and well-aligned. I’m part of different cofounder networks, and honestly, many founders complain about their investors. But we’re very fortunate. Our investors are incredibly engaged in the project. They feel more like friends, colleagues, and even team members than just investors. 

   Sometimes, I forget they’re investors because they’re so involved and genuinely passionate about the project. You can probably hear that in my voice and see it in the way I ask questions—everyone at this company is deeply committed to what we’re doing. It’s more than a job. 

   That passion started with Solar Impulse, and that same DNA has carried through into H55. It’s part of who we are. 

   Jacobsen: How could the electrification of flight contribute to international climate goals over the next decade? 

   Blatt: That’s an important question. Aviation sometimes gets an unfair share of the blame when it comes to emissions. Depending on who you ask, aviation contributes around 2.5% to 4–5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That’s not insignificant, but it’s not the majority either. 

   To put things into perspective, 200 of the world’s largest supertankers emit more pollution than all of the world’s cars combined. So, it’s essential to keep the aviation industry’s emissions in context. 

   Part of the reason aviation gets so much criticism is because of private aviation—luxury jets that are fast, expensive, and consume much fuel. Therefore, there is a social equity element to the critique. However, the commercial aviation sector has made substantial progress over the years. Because of the industry’s sensitivity to fuel prices, there’s been continuous innovation—in materials science, design, aerodynamics, and now propulsion. 

   We’re currently working with Pratt & Whitney Canada and De Havilland on a hybrid-electric demonstrator based on the 49-seat Dash 8. That aircraft will deliver a 30% fuel savings just by integrating hybrid-electric systems. That’s a significant breakthrough for feeder and regional markets. 

   So, yes, every one of your questions touches on economics because aviation is deeply tied to the economy. That’s why innovation occurs quickly when there is a cost-saving incentive. And electric propulsion is delivering those incentives. 

   Additionally, it’s worth noting that people are travelling more now than they did before COVID-19 the pandemic. At the same time, ticket prices per mile have increased significantly. And we’re training more pilots now than ever before. That’s partly due to retirements in developed countries, but it’s also because general aviation is expanding in new markets—across the Middle East, the Gulf, parts of Asia, and especially India and China. 

   Electrification can play a significant role in making that growth more sustainable. So yes, by definition, that 4–5% contribution from aviation to global emissions may increase as more people fly. However, at the same time, the aviation industry is making significant strides—both through traditional advancements and innovative concepts—to reduce its carbon footprint. 

   Jacobsen: Gregory, thank you for your time. 

   Blatt: Got it. And thank you again, Scott. It’s been a pleasure. 

   Jacobsen: Likewise. And I appreciate your time today. 

   Blatt: You’re welcome. I can only commend you for these kinds of initiatives and the articles you’re writing. You have our full support. 

   Jacobsen: Likewise. Thank you again. 

   Blatt: Thank you. Bye-bye. 

   Jacobsen: Bye-bye. 

   Last updated May 3, 2025. These terms govern all In Sight Publishing content—past, present, and future—and supersede any prior notices. In Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons BY‑NC‑ND 4.0; © In Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen 2012–Present. All trademarks, performances, databases & branding are owned by their rights holders; no use without permission. Unauthorized copying, modification, framing or public communication is prohibited. External links are not endorsed. Cookies & tracking require consent, and data processing complies with PIPEDA & GDPR; no data from children < 13 (COPPA). Content meets WCAG 2.1 AA under the Accessible Canada Act & is preserved in open archival formats with backups. Excerpts & links require full credit & hyperlink; limited quoting under fair-dealing & fair-use. All content is informational; no liability for errors or omissions: Feedback welcome, and verified errors corrected promptly. For permissions or DMCA notices, email: [email protected]. Site use is governed by BC laws; content is “as‑is,” liability limited, users indemnify us; moral, performers’ & database sui generis rights reserved.

   #CleanMobility #ClimateGoals #ElectricAviation #PilotTraining #PropulsionCertification

   #cleanmobility #climategoals #electricaviation #pilottraining #propulsioncertification
4. 

   Björns Techblog @[email protected] · 2025-12-10 · 20:51 UTC

   DIY Skadis Computer Workstation for the Kids

   https://blog.sengotta.net/diy-skadis-computer-workstation-for-the-kids/

   Nowadays kids grow up with tablets and smartphone more than with classic PC’s. From the first grade on all kids in our city get an Apple iPad for using it in school for free. Thats great in terms that all kids have the same material to work with, doesnt matter if they have rich parents or not. On the other hand it always hurts to see if kids try to use a monitor as a touchscreen when i am attending the open house at the school of my oldest daughter, helping out there at the computer science faculty. Most of the kids have no regular computer at home and can barely use a keyboard, many of them never toucht a computer mouse. That causes pain for somebody with an engineering degree in computer science.

   Lets face it: the family PC of the 90s and early 2000s simply vanished in a matter of years.

   But that also means a new project for me, because i do not want my kids to grow up beeing only able to to use a tablet. So its time for their first Linux PC’s.

   What are the minimum requirements?

   1. Affordable – i need all the stuff three times, so every penny saved is good
   2. Sustainbale – we only have one planet so buying new shortliving cheap stuff isn’t the correct choice
   3. Compact – there is already enough stuff flying across my kids desks
   4. Ergonomic – no need to get a crooked back using a PC

   Of course the first reaction was: LAPTOPS! Yeah until i thought a bit more about it

   It begins with the first two points, the solution should be affordable and sustainable. So it should be used enterprise grade laptops where you can also get spares etc. These old Thinkpads and Latitudes are always the first hint you get when it comes to Linux hardware. What should i say the most stuff you get for less than 200€ is junk. Either it is older than ten years, or you have broken cases, scratched displays etc. And i need three nearly equal machines.

   Yes they are compact but to be ergonomic you need to add an external monitor, keyboard and mouse anyway. I mean you can remember when they send us home because of Covid 19 with only our Laptops working on the kitchen table, wasnt very ergonomic, am i wright?

   Also because of the iPads my kids would never take that machines to school. The nearly broken battery in all this machines which will not get better using the Latops as desktop replacement is another topic.

   So Laptops are a no-go, so what else could we use? Many people use small mini PC’s like the Lenovo Thinkcentre in their homelabs. They are quite cheap, sustainable and compact. I’ve ordered three Thincentre M715q with 8GB Ram for 80€ each. I had NVMe SSD’s at home just like three 24″ Displays. Keyboard, Mouse etc. can be bought for a bargain at shops like Action.

   But how do i build a compact system out of that. In this case the IKEA Skadis Pegboards and my 3D printer comes to the rescue. I bought the big 76cmx56cm Skadis boards and mounted everything on it using 3D Printed parts and cableties.

   And thats how each station looks now:

   I think this is a quite clean solution. Each pc runs Manjaro Linux and KDE. And you could also adjust the height of the Display when the kids grow.

   Here is a selection of 3D Printed parts is used:

   https://www.printables.com/model/339820-ikea-skadis-vesa-mount-100×100

   https://makerworld.com/de/models/1346005-mini-pc-mount-for-ikea-skadis-lenovo-m7xxq-series#profileId-1387497

   https://www.printables.com/model/256896-skadis-t-clip-system

   https://makerworld.com/de/models/1638274-ikea-skadis-double-mount-for-ikea-koppla-ext-cord?from=search#profileId-1730821

   https://www.printables.com/model/530560-skadis-mouse-cup

   https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2853261/ (One word to the Skadis Universal hook: scale it 0.2mm thinner or you have a hard time)

   https://www.printables.com/model/656685-skadis-keyboard-holder-25mm-30mm

   I am very glad that there are so many talented designers out there making stuff for the Skadis system. Now it is time to practice the correct usage of the systems with the kids. Maybe i will to same basic presentations for the kids regarding computers, networks, the Internet, privacy etc. If i do i will post about that here also.

   Thats it for now if you have any questions, additions etc. let me know.

   #3dprinting #fedieltern #homelab #ikea #skadis #thinkcentre

   @bjoern

   #3dprinting #fedieltern #homelab #ikea #skadis #thinkcentre
5. 

   DoomsdaysCW @[email protected] · 2026-05-26 · 00:29 UTC

   More #DataCenters, more #environmental problems?

   As #AI’s reach grows, the need for data centers multiplies. So, too, could the #EcologicalImpacts without hands-on mitigation.

   By Ambika Kandasamy, Sep 24, 2025

   Excerpt: "A December 2024 preprint of a study from researchers at the University of California, Riverside, and California Institute of Technology outlined the toll of AI-related #AirPollution. 'AI contributes substantially to air quality degradation and public health costs through the emission of various criteria #AirPollutants,' the authors wrote.

   "Other forms of #pollution, such as light and noise, also could be problematic. Neil Carter, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, has studied the links between #SensoryPollution and conservation. While he hasn’t researched #AIDatacenters’ impact on #wildlife specifically, he says AI data centers potentially could be '#SensoryDangerZones.'

   " 'Sensory danger zones are basically where we have reason to believe that the amount of light and the amount of noise is exceeding thresholds by which you can imagine there being a fitness consequence for species,' Carter says. 'And they may not be able to carry out the necessary functions that they normally would.' Research by Carter and his colleagues has explored how #LightPollution, for example, could disrupt the dynamics between predator and prey species, such as #cougars and #MuleDeer. Their research also has looked into how #AnthropogenicSounds could affect reproduction in #birds including the #NorthernCardinal, #OakTitmouse and #BarnSwallow.

   "To address some of these issues, experts recommend adopting sustainable strategies when building and operating AI data centers and when using AI. The decisions 'we make today will be having an impact on the public health for many years to come, due to the long life span for data center projects,' says Shaolei Ren, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Riverside, and an author of the #AirPollution study."

   Read more:
   https://www.nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2025/Fall/Conservation/AI-Data-Centers

   #Datacenters #EnvironmentalImpact #NoisePollution #EndangeredSpecies
   #DataCenterMoratorium #AISucks
   #NoDatacenters
   #HyperscaleDatacenters #ResistDatacenters #Resistance
   #FightBack #DatacentersSuck
   #AIResistance #AISucks
   #AIDataCenters

   #datacenters #environmental #ai #ecologicalimpacts #airpollution #airpollutants
6. 

   DoomsdaysCW @[email protected] · 2025-07-06 · 17:22 UTC

   An excellent resource from #EcoMaine!

   #FoodWaste and #Composting

   "Did you know that almost a third of what we throw away is leftover or spoiled food? If Maine is to achieve a 50% recycling rate, we need to recover our food waste, too – it’s worth the weight!

   "ecomaine added food waste recycling to our sustainable waste management solutions in order to help Maine reach its recycling goal. We continue to build food waste recycling capacity in southern Maine, serving as a central collection point for grocery stores, institutions, and participating cities and towns.

   "Collected food waste is transported to #ExeterME’s #AgriEnergy [#AgricycleEnergy] to be de-packaged and anaerobically digested to produce sustainable power, organic farm #fertilizer, and cow bedding for the #Maine family dairy farm #StonyvaleFarm. Any packaging removed from the food waste is delivered back to ecomaine to be burned for energy—keeping all of it out of our #landfills!

   "By making #composting, anaerobic digestion, and food waste recycling so easy, we encourage our communities to dispose of their waste responsibly.

   "For more on compost that’s 'Worth The Weight,' check out our informational pamphlet!
   
   #BackyardComposting

   "Backyard composting is one of the easiest ways to keep organic material out of the trash. It also has some other great advantages:

   - It doesn’t weigh your trash down as much.
   - It doesn’t get into ecomaine‘s waste-to-energy plant, making our combustion more damp and less efficient.
   - It’s easy – and “grass-cycling” (leaving clippings on the lawn) is better for your grass!
   - It saves Maine’s towns money on collection and hauling.
   - And it saves YOU money on trash bags!

   "There are no trucks or driving involved – no carbon emissions! You just walk it out to your bin, and that’s it.
   
   "In the end, composting produces rich #soil for flower and vegetable #gardens – without paying for it (again) at the store.

   Drop Off Locations

   "If you’re looking for a compost drop-off location, instead of putting it in your backyard, here are a few… If you know of one that’s not here, let us know! (Some facilities may be for residents only; we advise calling ahead if you’re not sure.)

   [I've found that transfer stations are usually residents only...]
   
   #BridgtonME Transfer Station
   118 Sandy Creek Rd, Bridgton, ME, USA

   #BrownfieldME Transfer Station
   Pequawket Trail, Brownfield, ME, USA

   #CapeElizabethME Recycling Center
   10 Cooper Dr, Cape Elizabeth, ME, USA

   #EliotME Recycling Center
   468 Dow Highway, Eliot, ME, USA

   #FalmouthME Community Park
   Winn Rd, Falmouth, ME, USA

   #FalmouthME Transfer Station
   100 Woods Rd, Falmouth, ME, USA

   #FalmouthME Village Park
   22 Hat Trick Drive, Falmouth, ME

   #FreeportME Recycling Center
   100 Landfill Road, Freeport, ME, USA

   #NorthYarmouthME Town Hall / #SamRistichNatureTrail, North Yarmouth, ME, USA

   #PortlandME: #BoydStreet #CommunityGarden
   2 Boyd Street, Portland, ME

   Portland: #BrentwoodFarms Community Garden
   Brentwood Street, Portland, ME

   Portland: #Libbytown Community Garden
   175 Douglass Street, Portland, ME

   Portland: #NorthStreetCommunityGarden
   195 North Street, Portland, ME
   
   Portland: Parkside/King Middle School
   In the back of the school near the Fitzpatrick Stadium parking lot
   92 Deering Avenue, Portland, ME
   
   Portland: #PaysonPark Community Garden
   Dropoff located on Front Street.
   Front Street, Portland, Maine

   Portland: #ReicheSchool
   Dropoff is on the Clark Street side.
   166 Brackett Street, Portland, ME
   
   Portland: #Riverton Community Garden
   45 Verrill Street, Portland, Maine
   
   #SacoME Dept. of Public Works
   15 Phillips Spring Road, Saco, ME

   Saco Parks & Rec
   75 Franklin St, Saco, ME, USA

   #ScarboroughME Public Works Facility
   20 Washington Avenue, Scarborough, ME, USA

   #SouthPortlandME City Hall
   25 Cottage Rd, South Portland, ME, USA
   
   South Portland Code Enforcement Office
   496 Ocean Street, South Portland, ME

   South Portland Golf Course Maint. Building
   221 Westbrook Street, South Portland, ME, USA

   South Portland High School
   637 Highland Avenue, South Portland, ME, USA

   South Portland Transfer Station
   929 Highland Ave, South Portland, ME, USA

   South Portland: Redback Community Center
   95 Macarthur Circle West, South Portland, ME

   #StandishME Transfer Station
   150 Moody Rd, Standish, ME, USA
   
   #SurryME: #ChickadeeCompost
   Jill's Lane, Surry, Maine www.chickadeecompost.com

   #VinalhavenME Transfer Station
   178 Round the Island Rd, Vinalhaven, ME, USA
   
   #YarmouthME Transfer Station
   659 East Main Street, Yarmouth, ME, USA

   Curbside Collection

   And if you’re really not into the backyard thing, there are some companies who will pick it up for you!

   - #WeCompostIt! (Greater Portland)
   - #GarbageToGarden (Greater Portland)
   - #ScrapDogs (Greater #CamdenME-#RockportME)
   - #MrFoxComposting (Southern Maine & #NH)
   - #ProjectEarth (Lincoln County)
   - #ChickadeeCompost (All of #BlueHillME Peninsula, #DeerIsleME, #EllsworthME)
   - #OneEarth Composting (#HampdenME)
   - #AgriCycle Energy (Collection from businesses & organizations for anaerobic digestion – all over!)

   Other Compost Resources:

   Maine Department of Environmental Protection
   207-592-0455

   University of Maine Cooperative Extension
   207-581-3188

   Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine – Food Recovery
   207-581-3195

   Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association [#MOFGA]
   207-568-4142

   #WormMainea
   207-831-3752

   #MainelyWorm Bins

   #UncleJimsWormFarm
   1-800-373-0555

   Source (with links):
   https://www.ecomaine.org/food-waste-and-composting/

   #SolarpunkSunday #Composting #WormBins #ReducingWaste
   #Landfills #Maine #WasteToEnergy

   #mofga #northyarmouthme #samristichnaturetrail #portlandme #boydstreet #communitygarden
7. 

   LMU Open Science Center @[email protected] · 2026-04-23 · 10:08 UTC

   We’re excited to share that the LMU Open Science Center (OSC) will be presenting a poster at #FOR2026Munich - The Future of Open Research: Reliable, Responsible, Equitable. Happening from May 4 to 6, 2026, at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Technical University of Munich (https://opensciencestudies.eu/for-2026-conference/)

   Our poster can be viewed and downloaded here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19626906. It highlights our efforts to embed open research practices at LMU Munich and beyond through a multi-angle approach.
   We focus on two key initiatives:
   - Switch-to-Open: a structured training and consultation program that helps research groups integrate open research practices across the full project lifecycle, from planning and data management to reproducible analysis and FAIR sharing.
   - Train-the-Trainer: a program designed to equip researchers and research support staff with the pedagogical skills needed to teach and advocate for Open Research practices and tools within their own communities.

   These initiatives are built on a broader foundation of accessible learning opportunities, including:
   📚 A free self-learning catalog of online tutorials and lecture recordings (https://www.osc.lmu.de/training/self-learning.html)
   🎓 Regular workshops throughout the year
   ☀️ Our annual Open Science Summer School (https://lmu-osc.github.io/Open-Science-Summer-School-2026/)

   Together, these initiatives aim to make open research practices more practical, scalable, and sustainable across disciplines.

   If you’re attending #FOR2026Munich, feel free to stop by and chat with us about training, institutional change, and building cultures of openness in research!

   #OpenScience #OpenResearch #LMUOSC #LMU #FOR2026 #FOR2026Munich

   #for2026munich #openscience #openresearch #lmuosc #lmu #for2026
8. 

   davidruffner @[email protected] · 2026-06-26 · 13:08 UTC

   Making an impact

   I’m entering a midlife crisis. I know that I can not continue in the direction I’m going, but I’m not sure where to go next. One thing is clear: I want to make a positive impact. Here’s an exploration into my calling.

   Over the past few years, I’ve gained some clarity about what’s important to me.

   • Sustainability. I want my kids and their potential kids to have just as wonderful of a world as we have now.
   • Freedom. I want there to be greater ability for people to pursue their interests and to choose how they live their lives.
   • Common wealth: I want there to be more good things that are shared by all. We are used to having shared roads and powerlines. I think we all could benefit if we had more in common.
   • Unity with the natural world. We are part of the natural world. Success for me means that all of nature is thriving
   • Cooperation: I love it when people get together and work through their differences. We can do great things and solve difficult problems together!

   So I want to find a way to do more to advance these aspirations. Unfortunately, when I look at the world I see problems that are taking away from these values. I want to understand these problems so that we can address them.

   Our changing world

   First some observations about the world we live in:

   • Global energy use was 286 TWh in 1987 versus 2,476 TWh  in 2024. The energy use growth rate was around 3.62% in 1987 and 2.61% in 2024.1
   • Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased from 349ppm to 431ppm in my lifetime (1987-2026). Global temperatures have gone up about 1C in the same time.2
     • In 1987 the CO2 concentration was increasing about 0.4% per year, and in 2024 it was increasing at around 0.6% per year.3
   • The human population was 5.05 billion in 1987 and in 2023 was 8.09 billion. Global fertility rate was 3.48 live births per woman in 1987 and in 2023 was 2.5 live births per woman.4

   These are well established facts, and suggest that the world is changing. There are more of us humans and collectively we are using massively more energy than we have in the past. Much of this energy is from fossil fuels and there is an associated increase in global CO2 concentrations and global temperatures. But importantly the growth rate of energy use and of human population is slowing.

   There have been other things changing as well that are more difficult to measure and probably more controversial.

   • The difficulty in mining, specifically the energy intensity, is increasing for minerals5 and for fossil fuels.6
   • And yet there are lots more fossil fuels to burn.7
   • In the 1850s, the combined biomass of wild mammals was ≈200 Mt (million tonnes). The 2025 total biomass of wild mammals was only around 60 Mt.8
   • Biodiversity has been decreasing. The Living Planet Index has declined 73% from 1970.9
   • On average, the poorest half of the population owns €2,900 per adult (or $4,100) and the top 10% own €550,900 (or $771,300) on average.10
   • There is concentration among companies. In the early 1930s the top 1% of corporations owned 70% of assets and in 2023 the top 1% increased their share to 97% of assets.11

   The connection between all of these items is growth. Energy use, population, wealth have all been increasing exponentially. It has been called the Great Acceleration.12 This growth has created amazing benefits especially for the wealth, but also comes at an increasing cost.

   My take on the costs of growth

   The ever increasing demands of our civilization lead to resource exploitation. Now all the easy sources of fossil fuels and minerals are being used up, so people are exploiting ever more difficult reserves and at an increasing cost to humans and to the planet. The explosive spreading of our civilization, puts pressure on the rest of the web of life. So our growth — all the farms, cities, roads, and mines — relentlessly encroaches on habitat for wildlife leading to a decrease in the collective mass of plants and animals. The disruption of ecosystems is decreasing the biodiversity worldwide. Many amazing species which have evolved over millions of years are going extinct.

   This same increasing pressure is also affecting humans. Growth leads to concentration of wealth among the elite and the top companies. More complex organizations and economic structures are needed to sustain the massive human civilization. These are harnessed by those in power to enrich themselves by exploiting other humans.

   The European great powers and the United States grew their power and empires through colonialism and slavery. Now that the economy has been globalized, this exploitation is happening everywhere in new ways. I see that happening now in the US. Good paying jobs are drying up. Software services are entshittifying.13 Government is being taken over by the interests of the rich. Gig economy jobs advertise flexibility and entrepreneurship, but in reality are oppressive management by algorithm. We are manipulated through surveillance and targeted ads, and our data is being used to train AI technology aimed at replacing the majority of professions. Our civilization is beginning to eat itself.

   Despite these problems, it’s not easy to slow growth. People generally love growth (if not population growth, then definitely economic growth). I love it too. It’s wonderful in the beginning. Each generation has a better life than the last. With more people and more economic power, there is more science, arts, and culture.

   In the US, our whole society is built on growth. We rely on growing 401k’s to retire. Our social security program is designed around many young workers providing support to relatively fewer elderly adults. In the US, we worry about “falling behind” if our economy is no longer the most powerful (although we never seem to worry about the rest of the world falling behind). So we all have an incentive to keep this growth going at all costs.

   It’s a death spiral. This dependence on growth is creating a positive feedback loop that encourages this growth. We are speeding faster and faster towards widespread extinctions of wild animals and plants.

   It doesn’t make sense to me. I intend to pull out of this death spiral and to contribute towards a more sustainable way of living. I have a ways to go. We are currently living an American lifestyle: two internal combustion engine cars, natural gas heating and cooking, air conditioning in the summer, consuming meat, and using smartphones and other technology devices.

   Addressing concerns

   Some of you might strongly disagree with the previous section. Many see growth not as the problem but as the solution. With more people and more resources available to each person, there is a greater chance of new ideas that will address the environmental problems.

   This is the promise of green growth, and in a lot of ways it is happening now. We are in the midst of this turn towards clean tech: the cost of solar and wind power is getting lower and lower, there are a variety of promising new battery chemistries, and new approaches to nuclear and geothermal power are coming online. On the conservation front, scientists are tracking more and more species and finding innovative ways to protect species on the brink of extinction. Wildlife tourism can provide economic support for maintaining protected areas. And as we push up against the finite boundaries of this planet, we can reach for the stars. SpaceX is proposing a million datacenters in space, to colonize Mars, and to mine asteroids. There is the promise of almost limitless clean, solar energy in space, many of mineral resources that can be exploited, and more room for humans to grow. In this view, the future is bright.

   Even more so according to this view, anything that slows this green growth is worse for the planet. If economic growth slows then life becomes hard and desperate for people, and they would be less likely to think of good ideas. We wouldn’t have the capital available to transition to clean energy or to explore outer space. We would be stuck with our current technology which has some serious environmental issues. Culturally it would be horrible because there would be nothing to look forward to. As people struggle to survive, science and the arts would lose funding leading to a decay of our collective knowledge and our culture. It’s a scenario that should be avoided at all costs.

   Scenarios of the future

   These are valid points, and I agree that we should avoid the scenario of economic contraction before we have gotten on the path toward sustainability. Nate Hagen in his podcast the Great Simplification, calls this scenario the Mad Max scenario.14 The environment continues to be degraded but civilization collapses. But he lays out three other scenarios, one of which we already mentioned, green growth. The scenarios are based on two dimensions, sustainability and economic growth/contraction. Here are the scenarios:

   • Green Growth: growing and sustainable, good for the environment
   • Mordor: growing but unsustainable, horrible for the environment
   • Mad Max: declining/stabilizing but unsustainable, environment gets worse and worse
   • The Great Simplification: stabilizing (after a decline) and sustainable, humanity and nature thrive together

   Of these scenarios, I think it is pretty clear that we want to avoid the Mordor and the Mad Max scenarios. In some ways we have been in the Mordor scenario because our civilization has been built on entirely unsustainable fossil fuels. So there can be good that comes out of this scenario, but we don’t want to stay there.

   Green Growth is wonderful, while we can sustain it. We definitely need growth in the green parts of our economy to that we can fully shift away from exploitative industries.

   The Great Simplification scenario is different. Nate Hagens calls it a simplification because he believes that we have already overshot, we are using more resources than the carrying capacity of the Earth. So he believes a future sustainable civilization would use less energy and resources leading to less complexity. But despite the simpler civilization, humans in this scenario would be thriving with other life on earth and ideally would be able to continue to thrive for thousands or even millions of more years.

   Growth will end

   Mathematically we know exponential growth will slow at some point. In his book, Energy and Human Ambition on a Finite Planet, Thomas Murphy shows the absurdity of exponential growth continuing indefinitely at the rate it has for the last 100 years.15 He shows convincingly that thermodynamics will stop energy use growth within around 300 years and that economic growth will also stop within a century after. These limits hold even if people attempt to colonize space (barring implausible technology like hyperdrive that either breaks the laws of physics or depends on speculative exotic physics like wormholes). But growth can stop much earlier. Modern human civilization has a lot of different needs. If any of those needs are limited and an effective substitute can not be found, then growth will slow. So it is a question of when exponential growth will stop not if it will stop.

   You might find this hard to believe. Humans have been so good at continually improving their technology, that it is hard to bet against growth continuing indefinitely. It’s a reasonable point. We have had 300 years of uninterrupted growth. Why should it stop?

   One way to see why growth will stop is to look at the geological record. There have been many breakthroughs in evolution where a new set of species becomes dominant. These eras of rapid change always stop at new equilibria. So maybe a better question is why should this era of rapid change, continue forever when every other era of rapid change has ended?

   It is important to remember that even though exponential growth will end, evolution will not end. There can be small changes over time, that could lead to a new era of rapid growth in the future. There still will be history. In terms of the scenarios above, this means that Green Growth will end and then if we are lucky then we can spend a long time in the Great Simplification scenario until the next evolutionary leap.

   Now is the time to work towards a sustainable future

   Given the increasing costs of growth described above and signs of overshoot, I have become convinced that it’s time to transition away from growth towards a more sustainable future. While I do want the green economy to grow so that it can displace the fossil fuel economy, I don’t want further growth (and further overshoot) after that. Instead, I want to find a way for humans to be in relationship with other life on this planet.

   I asked my kids (4 and 7 years old at the time), which would you rather have:

   • a big house, lots of toys, and being able to visit faraway places whenever you like in an airplane, BUT there are very few wild animals.
   • OR
   • you have a small house, few toys, and you take the bus to visit people, BUT there are many wild animals and a thriving wilderness

   Without any hesitation, both of our boys said they would rather have a world with wild animals. That seals to deal for me. It’s not just about me, but it’s about preserving the beauty of this world for the subsequent generations.

   What direction to go?

   I’ve had a variety of topics that I’ve done deep dives in over the past few years. It turns out all of these fields have ideas that could help society become more sustainable.

   To shift away from this unsustainable path, we need people who are not afraid to take a different approach to life. Unschooling can help.16 It’s a approach to education where kids are allowed to explore their interests with the help of caring adults. In this kind of environment, kids are shielded from the immense pressure many young people face to do well in school, go to a good university, and to get a good paying job after. So unschooled kids are more free to follow their heart to take bold action to address big problems like climate change. And it’s not just for kids, as I’ve adopted more of an unschooling mindset, I’ve realized that it’s OK to follow where I feel called to act. I wouldn’t be exploring this sustainability path without following my interests. It’s freeing.

   I’d love for humans to be an integrated part of the natural ecosystem. I believe we have the potential to be a keystone species that modifies the environment in a way that encourages rich biodiversity. Permaculture is an approach to farming that could help move us in that direction. In permaculture, farmers iteratively design a sustainable ecosystem as the basis for the agricultural system. The goal is not to exploit, but to encourage a thriving ecosystem that will allow us to thrive as well. It’s reflected by the permaculture ethic of earth care, people care, and fair share.

   There are issues with permaculture. It has pushed away from academic scholarship, in part as a reaction to the influence of industry in academics. However this has led to over-simplistic claims that take away from the movement.17 But the need for agriculture that is more connected with the ecology remains. I’m interested in more evidence based approaches to sustainable agriculture, but don’t know much about it yet.

   Even though I think growth should end, I still would like life to get better over time. I believe we have an amazing opportunity now to expand our common wealth. Anything that can be digitized, which is so much of our modern life, has the potential to be shared widely and benefit all. The free and open source software (FOSS) movement has shown the wonderful things that can happen when people share ideas. Much of our digital world is built on these FOSS building blocks. The free culture movement is advocating for the same kinds of sharing in the wider culture. Let’s avoid things like copyrights and patents which limit participants, and instead create a culture of sharing while also encouraging attribution. The common ownership should also extend to our social networks which currently are enriching a handful of wealthy people. It would be wonderful if we could not only participate freely in these social networks but also benefit collectively from the network effects.

   To realize these kinds of cultural and societal shifts, I think we will need new ways to organize society. Currently many business organizations are controlled from the top-down. This is helpful for making decisions quickly, but allows the people who control organizations to capture the benefits. This goes against the shared wealth idea. So we need organizations with distributed control, and this requires new approaches to governance. Sociocracy is a promising approach, where decisions are made by consent. To avoid consensus gridlock, areas within an organization are split into small groups, called circles, which have the authority to make decisions about their responsibilities. Not everyone gets their preferences met, but the circle works to resolve serious objections. For larger organizations, there are many circles and they are connected through double links, one person goes to the higher circle and one goes down to the lower circle. This double linking helps to ensure that there is communication from the top-down and from the bottom-up. The end result when it is working well is distributed control. An organization like this could work well in a shared wealth environment because benefits would be shared widely.

   What role can I play?

   I aspire to contribute to these movements that together could help society transition to a thriving world with limited growth. There are organizations that are doing this work: The Alliance for Self-Directed Education is working to expand unschooling and other forms of self-directed education, The Spritely Institute is working to make FOSS tools for a networked world, and Sociocracy for All is sharing information about sociocracy. I’m sure there are more organizations on other areas. I’m working now to explore this ecosystem and see where I can make an impact.

   I’m avoiding working for organizations that are further entrenching inequality and unsustainable growth. Unfortunately, much of the economy is controlled by such organizations. But there is an opportunity here. The current economy does not seem to be working very well for most people. These alternative movements could be the change that people are hoping to see. Ironically the sustainable economy has room to grow. But its growth will be temporary and will hopefully transition into a steady, high quality of life that is broadly shared.

   Do these ideas resonate with you? Let’s talk! I’m looking to find others interested in making a difference in these areas. Together we can make an impact. And if you have feedback, advice or constructive criticism I’d like to hear that too.

   1. Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Rosado, and Max Roser (2020) – “Energy Production and Consumption” Published online at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260518-093348/energy-production-consumption.html‘ [Online Resource] (archived on May 18, 2026).
   2. Kaitlyn Trudeau and Helen Brush, “Global Temperatures & CO2”, Climate Central, Published online at https://observablehq.com. Retrieved from: ‘https://observablehq.com/@climatecentral/global-temperatures-and-co2‘ on June 25, 2026.
   3. Lan, X., Tans, P. and K.W. Thoning: Trends in globally-averaged CO2 determined from NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory measurements. Version Tuesday, 05-May-2026 05:42:49 MDT https://doi.org/10.15138/9N0H-ZH07
   4. Max Roser (2014) – “The global decline of the fertility rate” Published online at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260518-095641/global-decline-fertility-rate.html‘ [Online Resource] (archived on May 18, 2026).
   5. Calvo, G.; Mudd, G.; Valero, A.; Valero, A. Decreasing Ore Grades in Global Metallic Mining: A Theoretical Issue or a Global Reality? Resources 2016, 5, 36. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources5040036
   6. Charles A.S. Hall, Jessica G. Lambert, Stephen B. Balogh, “EROI of different fuels and the implications for society”, Energy Policy, 64, 2014, Pages 141-152, ISSN 0301-4215, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.05.049.
   7. Kevin M. A. Parker and Michael R. Mainelli, “What happens if we ‘burn all the carbon’? carbon reserves, carbon budgets, and policy options for governments”, Environ. Sci.: Atmos., 2024, 4, 435-454. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3EA00107E
   8. Greenspoon, L., Ramot, N., Moran, U. et al. The global biomass of mammals since 1850. Nat Commun 16, 8338 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63888-z
   9. “2024 Living Planet Report” by World Wildlife Foundation. Pdf accessed on June 25, 2026, https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2024-10/living-planet-report-2024.pdf.
   10. “WORLD INEQUALITY REPORT 2022” by World Inequality Lab. https://wir2022.wid.world/.
   11. Spencer Y. Kwon, Yueran Ma, and Kaspar Zimmermann, “100 Years of Rising Corporate Concentration”, WORKING PAPER · NO. 2023-20, Becker Friedman Institute. https://bfi.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/BFI_WP_2023-20.pdf
   12. J. R. McNeill, Peter Engelke, The Great Acceleration, Harvard University Press, 2016. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674545038
   13. Cory Doctorow, Enshittification, MacMillan, 2025. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250417602/enshittification/
   14. Nate Hagen, “How to think about the future part 2”, The Great Simplification podcast, episode 139, https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-original/139-how-to-think-about-the-future-part-2.
   15. Murphy, Thomas W, Jr, Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet, UC San Diego 2021. https://escholarship.org/uc/energy_ambitions
   16. https://unschoolers.org/what-is-unschooling/
   17. Ferguson, R.S., Lovell, S.T. Permaculture for agroecology: design, movement, practice, and worldview. A review. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 34, 251–274 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-013-0181-6

   #foss #freeCulture #freeSoftware #growth #openSource #permaculture #selfDirected #sociocracy #unschooling

   #foss #freeculture #freesoftware #growth #opensource #permaculture
9. 

   China Business Forum @[email protected] · 2026-09-14 · 17:25 UTC

   [#TRADESHOW] #WATERTECH #BEIJING 2026 will be held from September 15 to 17, 2026, at #China National #Convention #Center (CNCC). As a leading #water #technology #trade #expo in Northern China, the #exhibition #event brings together #technology providers, government representatives, engineering #companies, utility operators, and #business industrial users seeking practical solutions for water treatment and #sustainable water management. https://cnbusinessforum.com/event/watertech-beijing-2026/

   #sustainable #business #companies #event #exhibition #expo
10. 

    China Business Forum @[email protected] · 2026-09-12 · 16:10 UTC

    [#TRADESHOW] #WATERTECH #BEIJING 2026 will be held from September 15 to 17, 2026, at #China National #Convention #Center (CNCC). As a leading #water #technology #trade #expo in Northern China, the #exhibition #event brings together #technology providers, government representatives, engineering #companies, utility operators, and #business industrial users seeking practical solutions for water treatment and #sustainable water management. https://cnbusinessforum.com/event/watertech-beijing-2026/

    #sustainable #business #companies #event #exhibition #expo
11. 

    Columbus - Feeds @[email protected] · 2026-09-04 · 08:30 UTC

    Sustainable Touchdowns in Central Ohio - Leah Cordier

    #swaconews #canfairy #football #sustainableliving
12. 

    One Community @[email protected] · 2026-08-01 · 14:36 UTC

    Sustainable parking lot design is important if you plan to have large amounts of people visiting. Here's One Community's research, design tutorial, and cost analysis for this.
    https://www.onecommunityglobal.org/sustainable-parking-lot-construction-guide/
    #SustainableLiving #GreenBuilding

    #sustainableliving #greenbuilding
13. 

    TU Freiberg @[email protected] · 2026-07-10 · 05:56 UTC

    Sustainable Electronics? Compostable Circuit Boards Made from Citric Acid Production Waste

    Printed circuit boards are typically made of glass fiber-reinforced fossil epoxy resin, making them difficult to reuse. A team from TU Freiberg has now presented a fully compostable alternative made from the mycelium of the Aspergillus niger fungus, a byproduct of industrial citric acid production.

    https://tu-freiberg.de/en/news/sustainable-electronics-compostable-circuit-boards-made-citric-acid-production-waste

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772397626000511?via%3Dihub

    #electronics #biomass #materials #StudierenInFreiberg

    #electronics #biomass #materials #studiereninfreiberg
14. 

    Canadian Association for Food Studies (CAFS) @[email protected] · 2023-06-14 · 16:06 UTC

    Sustainable Diets: How Ecological Nutrition Can Transform Consumption and the Food System by Pamela Mason and Tim Lang

    Reviewed by Jennifer Sumner

    #DietaryGuidelines #EcologicalNutrition #SustainableDiets #Sustainability #BookReview #BooksAboutFood #Books

    No paywalls here! Just #OpenAccess #KnowledgeSharing

    Read. Share. Grow. Repeat!

    #OpenScholarship grows your world!

    https://canadianfoodstudies.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cfs/article/view/250

    #dietaryguidelines #ecologicalnutrition #sustainablediets #sustainability #bookreview #booksaboutfood
15. 

    Sérac @[email protected] · 2026-09-13 · 12:48 UTC

    A sustainable smile.
    #Zürich HB, #Switzerland
    #SBB #trains #SymmetrySunday

    #zurich #switzerland #sbb #trains #symmetrysunday
16. 

    Dining and Cooking @[email protected] · 2026-09-12 · 14:24 UTC

    National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Summer Meeting Summary: Fayetteville, Arkansas | Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard, P.L.L.C. https://www.diningandcooking.com/us/3922/ #Arkansas #ArkansasDining #ArkansasFood #ArkansasGroceryStores #ArkansasRestaurants

    #arkansas #arkansasdining #arkansasfood #arkansasgrocerystores #arkansasrestaurants
17. 

    Korea @[email protected] · 2026-09-14 · 18:10 UTC

    SK chief calls for sustainable AI business models

    사진 확대 SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won (left) and Ulsan Mayor Kim Sang-wook attend the Ulsan Forum. (SK)…
    #EuropeSays #Korea #KR #SK #SKGroup
    https://www.europesays.com/korea/154183/

    #skgroup #sk #kr #korea #europesays
18. 

    TechIntelPro @techintelpro · 2026-09-14 · 13:57 UTC

    $17 Trillion Invested in Sustainable Tech Yet Progress Diverges https://techintelpro.com/news/ai/enterprise-ai/17-trillion-invested-in-sustainable-tech-yet-progress-diverges #TechIntelPro

    #techintelpro
19. 

    Korea @[email protected] · 2026-09-14 · 04:50 UTC

    SK chief calls for sustainable AI business models

    사진 확대 SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won (left) and Ulsan Mayor Kim Sang-wook attend the Ulsan Forum. (SK)…
    #EuropeSays #Korea #KR #SK #SKGroup
    https://www.europesays.com/korea/153363/

    #skgroup #sk #kr #korea #europesays
20. 

    Tycoon World @[email protected] · 2026-07-07 · 07:42 UTC

    CREDAI NCR Maps Sustainable Growth Path at its Annual General Meeting

    #TycoonWorld #CREDAI #CREDAINCR #RealEstate #RealEstateIndia #NCR #Delhi #NewDelhi #SustainableDevelopment #Sustainability #GreenConstruction #UrbanDevelopment #Infrastructure #Construction #SmartCities #AffordableHousing #ViksitBharat #ViksitBharat2047 #WorkerSafety #EnvironmentalSustainability #SkillDevelopment

    https://tycoonworld.in/credai-ncr-maps-sustainable-growth-path-at-its-annual-general-meeting/

    #tycoonworld #credai #credaincr #realestate #realestateindia #ncr
21. 

    Amusement Logic @[email protected] · 2025-02-19 · 09:45 UTC

    Shebara Resort: Sustainable luxury on the Red Sea 🐚
    The first resort to be fully developed and operated by Red Sea Global, it combines design, luxury and sustainability.

    👉 Discover MORE and SUBSCRIBE to our summary of news and updates through link: https://amusementlogic.com/general-news/shebara-resort-sustainable-luxury-on-the-red-sea/

    #shebararesort #redsea #sustainableluxury #luxurydesign #ecoresort #tourism #architecture #merrouge #luxedurable #designluxueux #écoresort #tourisme #marrojo #lujosostenible #diseñodelujo #ecoresort #turismo #arquitectura

    #shebararesort #redsea #sustainableluxury #luxurydesign #ecoresort #tourism
22. 

    Dining and Cooking @[email protected] · 2026-09-14 · 16:20 UTC

    This year’s theme is “Sustainable French Cuisine.” A gourmet experience that connects local ingredients and the producers’ aspirations to the future

    Furthermore, each ye…
    #dining #cooking #diet #food #Frenchculinary #culinary #culinarytraditions #francais #france #French #FrenchCulinary #Frenchculinarytraditions
    https://www.diningandcooking.com/2814198/this-years-theme-is-sustainable-french-cuisine-a-gourmet-experience-that-connects-local-ingredients-and-the-producers-aspirations-to-the-future/

    #dining #cooking #diet #food #frenchculinary #culinary
23. 

    Dining and Cooking @[email protected] · 2026-09-14 · 16:20 UTC

    This year’s theme is “Sustainable French Cuisine.” A gourmet experience that connects local ingredients and the producers’ aspirations to the future

    Furthermore, each ye…
    #dining #cooking #diet #food #Frenchculinary #culinary #culinarytraditions #francais #france #French #FrenchCulinary #Frenchculinarytraditions
    https://www.diningandcooking.com/2814198/this-years-theme-is-sustainable-french-cuisine-a-gourmet-experience-that-connects-local-ingredients-and-the-producers-aspirations-to-the-future/

    #frenchculinarytraditions #french #france #francais #culinarytraditions #culinary
24. 

    Dining and Cooking @[email protected] · 2026-09-14 · 16:20 UTC

    This year’s theme is “Sustainable French Cuisine.” A gourmet experience that connects local ingredients and the producers’ aspirations to the future

    Furthermore, each ye…
    #dining #cooking #diet #food #Frenchculinary #culinary #culinarytraditions #francais #france #French #FrenchCulinary #Frenchculinarytraditions
    https://www.diningandcooking.com/2814198/this-years-theme-is-sustainable-french-cuisine-a-gourmet-experience-that-connects-local-ingredients-and-the-producers-aspirations-to-the-future/

    #dining #cooking #diet #food #frenchculinary #culinary
25. 

    Dining and Cooking @[email protected] · 2026-09-14 · 16:20 UTC

    This year’s theme is “Sustainable French Cuisine.” A gourmet experience that connects local ingredients and the producers’ aspirations to the future

    Furthermore, each ye…
    #dining #cooking #diet #food #Frenchculinary #culinary #culinarytraditions #francais #france #French #FrenchCulinary #Frenchculinarytraditions
    https://www.diningandcooking.com/2814198/this-years-theme-is-sustainable-french-cuisine-a-gourmet-experience-that-connects-local-ingredients-and-the-producers-aspirations-to-the-future/

    #dining #cooking #diet #food #frenchculinary #culinary
26. 

    Dining & Cooking @[email protected] · 2026-09-14 · 16:11 UTC

    This year’s theme is “Sustainable French Cuisine.” A gourmet experience that connects local ingredients and the producers’ aspirations to the future https://www.diningandcooking.com/2814198/this-years-theme-is-sustainable-french-cuisine-a-gourmet-experience-that-connects-local-ingredients-and-the-producers-aspirations-to-the-future/ #culinary #CulinaryTraditions #francais #france #French #FrenchCulinary #FrenchCulinaryTraditions

    #culinary #culinarytraditions #francais #france #french #frenchculinary
27. 

    Dining & Cooking @[email protected] · 2026-09-14 · 16:11 UTC

    This year’s theme is “Sustainable French Cuisine.” A gourmet experience that connects local ingredients and the producers’ aspirations to the future https://www.diningandcooking.com/2814198/this-years-theme-is-sustainable-french-cuisine-a-gourmet-experience-that-connects-local-ingredients-and-the-producers-aspirations-to-the-future/ #culinary #CulinaryTraditions #francais #france #French #FrenchCulinary #FrenchCulinaryTraditions

    #culinary #culinarytraditions #francais #france #french #frenchculinary
28. 

    Dining & Cooking @[email protected] · 2026-09-14 · 16:11 UTC

    This year’s theme is “Sustainable French Cuisine.” A gourmet experience that connects local ingredients and the producers’ aspirations to the future https://www.diningandcooking.com/2814198/this-years-theme-is-sustainable-french-cuisine-a-gourmet-experience-that-connects-local-ingredients-and-the-producers-aspirations-to-the-future/ #culinary #CulinaryTraditions #francais #france #French #FrenchCulinary #FrenchCulinaryTraditions

    #culinary #culinarytraditions #francais #france #french #frenchculinary
29. 

    Palm Oil Detectives @[email protected] · 2026-09-13 · 21:41 UTC

    Serial rainforest destroyer #Mondelez 😱 uses “sustainable” #palmoil from #RSPO yet the continue with #palmoil #deforestation, #humanrights abuses and ecocide. Resist the greenwashing when you shop and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect 🌎😨🔥🌴🚫 https://wp.me/scFhgU-mondelez?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=Palm+Oil+Detectives&utm_campaign=publer

    #mondelez #palmoil #rspo #deforestation #humanrights #boycottpalmoil
30. 

    Belarus @[email protected] · 2026-09-13 · 11:36 UTC

    Belarus ranks among leaders in achieving sustainable development goals

    Belarus ranks among the leading countries in implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to Sergey…
    #Belarus #BY #Europe #Europa #EU #News
    https://www.europesays.com/belarus/6983/

    #news #eu #europa #europe #by #belarus