Director: Peter Littlewood BA (Hons), FRSA, Cert Mgmt (Open)

Peter joined the staff of what was then the Young People’s Trust for the Environment way back in 1993 on the day after he finished his final exam for a degree in Archaeology. Peter was already an experienced outdoor instructor when he started working for the Trust, and now has more than 31 years experience of working in environmental education.

He became the Trust’s Director in 1999, and has been responsible for heading major projects including the Living for the Future Millennium Awards and Barclaycard LivingLand, which ran from 2001-2004.  He worked with Eurostar on 'Create a Sustainable Business Premier Dish', a competition open to 15 to 19 year-olds in the UK, France and Belgium that combined cookery with sustainable foods; and 2,000 Words to Change the World, an essay writing competition for 15-18 year olds.  He also devised the 'Roots to Green Living' concept, which was delivered to around 30 schools in Bristol, Bath and northeast Somerset and the London boroughs of Ealing, Hillingdon and Hounslow.  Peter spends some of his time delivering talks and presentations in schools on a range of environmental issues and writing articles for the website's News page.

He is continually interested in developing new projects for corporate sponsors.  He manages YPTE's website and develops new content for it.  The vibrant site is being continually updated to provide even more great environmental education resources for young people and teachers, including video clips, lesson plans and presentations.

He created YPTE's education programme for Energy Challenges, an EU-funded environmental project for schools in Southend-on-Sea.  This formed the basis of Better Planet Schools, YPTE's online education platform for primary schools in the UK, which has seen over 550 schools signing up and is creating child-led behaviour change in  many primary schools.

He was also responsible for devising and delivering the Primary Awards for Green Education in Schools (PAGES), which ran for three years, starting in 2021.

Along with writing many of the Trust's publications, Peter is also the author of Global Questions: Why Are The Rainforests Being Destroyed?, Mapping Global Issues: Endangered Species and co-wrote Mapping Global Issues: Rainforest Destruction with his wife Antonia, all published by Franklin Watts.

Peter has a Professional Certificate in Management from the Open University.  This concentrated on the skills required to run a not-for-profit organisation.  He also has the Institute of Fundraising's Certificate in Fundraising Management.  He is a Fellow of the RSA and a Level 3 Forest School Leader.

He has enjoyed the challenge of rebranding the charity to become Better Planet Education and found the process of creating the new Better Planet Education website really enjoyable. He learned lots too!

Peter is delighted to have a job that he enjoys so much, which makes a difference, and which is so varied and interesting.