DOCTOR Ewan Woodley from the University of Exeter’s Geography Department visited Queen Elizabeth’s School in Crediton on Thursday, February 1, to give a talk to the school’s Year 13 students on "Our Climate Future?".

The talk was described as a fantastic, thought provoking lecture, not just of interest to Geographers, but to Politics, Sociology and Biology students too.

He discussed evidence for recent climate change, why some people still deny global warming is occurring and how recent political changes across the globe make concerted action to deal with the issue less likely.

He also explored how changes in society such as the rise in individualism and the growth of a post truth culture in the mainstream and social media make it very challenging to act collectively on an issue such as global warming. How willing will individuals be to change their lifestyle in order to reduce their carbon footprint?

The talk was very well attended by QE’s sixth form students and they were given much to ponder - after all, they are the generation that will have to live through the changes and take the action to deal with them. QE has a very active and growing link with academics from Exeter University geography department.

Martin Willmott, Head of Humanities at QE said: “I would like to thank Margaret Moran Mylett for organising QE’s Aspire programme of outside speakers.

"Such a programme helps the students gain a deeper understanding of issues. This helps them achieve excellent examination results.

"Last year’s results in A Level Geography at QE were some of the best in the country, and the highest value added in any school (including the independents) in the South West with 12 A*’s and 11A’s."

Alan Quick