Environment, Culture and Communication at the University of Glasgow

19/12/2021

Thanks to all of our students for making this semester such a rich experience! Here are some photographs from field trips we took during the courses Reading the Environment and A Cultural History of Animals - these were taken along the Solway Coast, where we encountered some overwintering birds - barnacle geese (fresh in from Svalbard in the Arctic Circle) and whooper swans (arrived from Iceland) are those depicted here. We look forward to more adventures in early 2022!

10/06/2021

Outdoors picnic today to discuss dissertation research projects and all manner of other things. Some of the class met in person for the 1st time which was just glorious! Those not living locally met online but we were all together in spirit of summer dissertation work. Some very exciting projects are just getting off the ground...

15/04/2021

The wonderful Wigtown Book Festival offers up a terrific event that may interest ECC students
https://www.wigtownbookfestival.com/programme/event/428346187/?fbclid=IwAR1I6GWfbClZa32FZA0xp7WCibRVWtgepyN1vlg11_lHSCwLgoYFLP4Vnlw

In this workshop we'll explore how best to honour and represent our lived environments on the page. Through a series of exercises designed to get you notic

26/02/2021

'The Cairngorms' landscape has been recreated in the video game Minecraft to help young people understand how to run a national park.' - very topical given recent discussions on access and accessibility...

The initiative is designed to help young people find out how the Cairngorms national park is managed.

02/12/2020

despite such times as we are in, the Reading the Environment class managed to maintain the tradition of walking at sunset on the last class of the year. We discussed the course into twilight, a socially distanced bunch of those physically in Dumfries - but mindful too of fellow students who are not on campus just now. The gathering was watched over carefully by a corvid in the tree above our heads...

06/09/2020

A *wave* to all those about to commence ECC next week - whether here in SW Scotland or at a remove. We are ready to welcome you, whether in person or online. The landscapes and inhabitants of Dumfries and Galloway will feature throughout. Here are the Clints of Dromore (a National Nature Reserve) and a young raven to whet your appetite.

08/08/2020

https://lithub.com/barry-lopez-love-in-a-time-of-terror/

This world is just a little place, just the red in the sky, before the sun rises, so let us keep fast hold of hands, that when the birds begin, none of us be missing. –Emily Dickinson, in a letter,…

23/06/2020

'A UK-led team has launched an initiative to track wildlife before, during and after lockdown.
The researchers' aim is to study what they have called the "anthropause"'

Tracking wildlife before, during and after lockdown will aim to analyse the slowdown in human activity.

09/06/2020

now that it's approaching summer it's hard to believe that our last field trip took place when there was snow on the ground...

despite these strange times our students are continuing to do excellent work on their final piece of work on the programme - their dissertations! - which are on a wide variety of fascinating topics again this year, from 'new nature writing' to the cultural mediation of invasive species, animal tracking to ecocinema among many others

14/04/2020

A beautiful new podcast - 'The Stubborn Light of Things' - from Melissa Harrison, which takes a journey through spring for those whose lockdown circumstances do not give much access to 'nature':

Join Melissa on her daily walk through the beautiful Suffolk countryside. It’s the beginning of April and the fields are finally dry after a long, wet winter. In the woods, chiffchaffs are singing…

04/02/2020

A new series of free workshops beginning in Dumfries in March entitled Resilient Futures - and led by Dr Em Strang

14/01/2020

'The End of the World Has Already Happened' - a new BBC Radio 4 series with environmental philosopher Timothy Morton

Philosopher Timothy Morton explores our psychological relationship with the climate crisis