Hello blog,

Well term has ended and it was quite sad in the end to say goodbye to the students I had taught this semester. My new module ‘Green Writing’ has gone well I think. We read Feeling the Pressure: Poetry and Science of Climate Change, ed. by Paul Munden (British Council, 2008). You can download it here: http://www.britishcouncil.org/switzerland-climate-change-anthology.htm. It was interesting reading this alongside news of the Climate Change conference in Copenhagen. Some of the students were surprisingly knowledgeable about the issues being debated there and some of them really liked the poems in the anthology. Others debated the effectiveness of writing poetry about climate change, claiming that since it wouldn’t be read by the ‘man reading the Daily Star’ but by people who probably already believed in climate change and the need for something to be done. I did point out that it had reached them at least, and that was something…

I also attended the first meeting of the Professoriate (Professorial College) at Salford. These have been set up as quarterly meetings of all of the 108 Professors in the University. There must have been about 60 of them present, and that was daunting enough. We had a presentation on ‘Energy’ one of the University’s research themes where we heard that a typical late Victorian terrace house was to be built in a laboratory setting so that all weather and environmental conditions could be imitated and energy-saving technologies tried (see http://live.scri.salford.ac.uk/?p=337). I was glad to see that the social sciences and humanities were recognised in this presentation, and eco-poetry and ‘green’ writing even got a mention. I’m starting to think now about the teaching of the first event in our training programme now, to be held 4-8 January 2010, just at the start of the new year. The reading pack for those who would like to participate virtually is available at: http://www.litscimed.org.uk/page/learning.

All best and have a lovely Christmas!

Sharon