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“Down the Combe and Into the Meadow: Reflections on Nature and Learning”

  • by JW

“It provides the reader with a stunning, virtual field trip to a secluded coastal valley, Weston Combe, situated on the Jurassic Coast of East Devon, England.” [review by Anne M Dolan]

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Sustainability Frontiers is a much-lauded international organisation, focussing on education around the multiple facets of ‘sustainability’. And it is based just over the hill from Sidmouth at Weston.

Its founding director David Selby set up Sustainability Frontiers some fifteen years ago – having been Professor of Education for Sustainability and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Futures at the University of Plymouth.

The organisation’s Mission & Values are about challenging many of the assumptions around education in the fields of climate change, resilience and the environment.

As such, it has published several books, articles and reports – with the latest from David out this month, providing Reflections on Nature and Learning. Published by north Devon Blue Poppy Publishing, it is firmly rooted in its Weston environs, before providing the depth and context from David’s vast and rich experience:

Written in an engaging diary style, the month-by-month chapters initially focus on the natural history of an East Devon coastal valley before stretching out to consider a significant nature-related issue and its wider implications for our living and learning. Issues addressed include human disconnect from the natural world, climate breakdown, rewilding, biodiversity loss and confronting environmental despair.

The book contains 138 stunning photographs of landscape, flora and fauna, including 51 images by award-winning nature photographer David White.


Down the Combe and Into the Meadow can be ordered directly from Sustainability Frontiers – where there is also a fuller description of the book.

Meanwhile, the Development Education Review has just published an extensive piece by Anne M Dolan on David’s book – with an excerpt here:

As a young teacher my development education bible was Global Teacher, Global Learner.  Written by David Selby (together with Graham Pike) in 1988, this classic handbook for teachers explores and develops the theory and practice of global education, as well as offering an extensive range of practical activities for primary and post primary teachers. Throughout my career, I have been guided by the stellar work of David Selby.  Two of his recent publications, written with longstanding collaborator Fumiyo Kagawa, critically examine the educational response to a world facing unprecedented challenges: Education and Climate Change (Kagawa and Selby, 2010) and the groundbreaking collection, Sustainability Frontiers: Critical and Transformative Voices from the Borderlands of Sustainability Education (Selby and Kagawa, 2015).

David’s current focus is on aspects of transformative environmental education, notably nature-embedded learning, place-based learning, rewilding learning and biodiversity learning.  His most recent publication Down the Combe and Into the Meadow: Reflections on Nature and Learning (Selby, 2024) does not disappoint.  It provides the reader with a stunning, virtual field trip to a secluded coastal valley, Weston Combe, situated on the Jurassic Coast of East Devon, England…

The book creates a seamless tapestry between personal experiences, childhood memories, local expertise, literature, folklore, poetry, nature connections and a deep love of place.  The book is sprinkled with beautiful references to English literature such as Laurie Lee’s (1959) childhood autobiography, Cider with Rosie and Shakespeare’s (n.d.) A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Selby’s encounters with place and experiences of place attachment are augmented by references to poetry from among others William Wordsworth, Patrick Kavanagh and John Agard.  This is complemented with robust scientific knowledge from well-respected commentators and environmentalists such as Rachel Carson, Robert MacFarlane and Dara McNulty.  The book is informed by the most up to date nature science and contemporary theories from the fields of biology, geography, history, sustainability, politics and international frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).