Last week we staged a remarkably successful Climate Week, involving staff and students from throughout the University discussing environmental issues through a series of film screenings, seminars and workshops.

On Monday evening there was a showing of the film 'Gasland' by the GU Climate Action Society and GU Environmental Sustainability Team. This film describes the costs of fracking in the U.S.A, highlighting water contamination and air pollution. 

Save It logo 200 One the University’s Green Champions, Johannes Courtial, from Physics and Astronomy, opened the inaugural University of Glasgow Environmental Summit on Tuesday. During the event speakers, including Tom Ballantine, Head of Stop Climate Chaos, Martha Wardrop, Green Party Councillor for Hillhead, alongside the SRC’s outgoing and incoming Environmental Officers, discussed the University’s environmental policy and took questions from an interested audience.

Wednesday saw four speakers from the institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (IEEM) visit the University to hold an Environmental Careers Fair in the Adam Smith Building at the University providing advice for people about how to break into the environmental sector. The panel included:

  • Karen Dick - Convenor of IEEM's Scottish Section Committee and Director at LittleGreen Environmental Consultants.
  • Marcus Cross - Environment Manager Scottish Power Renewables.
  • Chris Cathrine - Director and Ecologist at Caledonia Conservation and Assistant Conservation Officer for Buglife Scotland.
  • Catriona Scriven - Scottish Natural Heritage’s Clydebank Offices.

The event proved a big success, attracting around 50 attendees, it also provided a lot of ideas on how to extend the workshops for next year.

After the workshop, the University’s GUEST team led a ‘Reclaim the Road’ mass bike ride which started outside the John Macintyre building, finishing at the Kinning Park Complex at 12am.

On Thursday the University hosted a talk by Jamie Peters about shaping environmental policy, the UN climate talks and this year’s Rio +20 conference.

Finally, the week’s events concluded with a film showing of ‘Taking on Tarmageddon’, a documentary following a youth exchange between UK students and the Beaver Lake Cree, looking at both the environmental and the human cost of tar sands.

Thanks to all the staff and students who helped make last week’s Climate Week celebrations into a huge success. You can read more about Climate Week on the GU Environmental Sustainability Team’s blog, and read more about sustainability at the University on our Save It! web pages.

First published: 15 March 2012

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