A 'conversation' on Twitter earlier this morning reminded me of a resource that I created back in 2009. It was connected with the Mark Lynas book 'Six Degrees' which explores possible future climate change.
I worked with a film company to create the treatments for a series of three programmes on Weather and Climate. We met in Cambridge on a hot day, and chatted through some ideas and then worked on scripts and other ideas.
The three programmes involved interviews with people doing different jobs. In the first programme, there was a transect taken across the UK, with an exploration of how the weather varied along it. The second programme looked at the Great Storm of 1987, but from the point of view of the storm itself.
The third one brought the people who had been interviewed back again and this time they spoke some lines of a poem which explored the impacts of a gradual warming from one to six degrees...
The poem was written by Mark Cowan.
The programme can be viewed HERE.
Teachers TV disappeared, but the videos were thankfully archived.
I dug out the series of poems that we asked Mark Cowan to write for us. They were then edited, and if you watch the programme, you'll see and hear that some of the 'verses' that were used were different to those in the poem, as it was edited and improved during the process of connecting it to the filming that went on...
I'm still proud of my involvement in these three programmes, which deserve a repeat airing.
Mark had created a book on Poems for the Geography Classroom (still available from here)
and I've included the first of the draft poems below, as I think they could form a good basis for work by students...
They are the drafts of the poems and you could use them in a number of ways.
a) Read them out, or ask students to record them and add images to represent the words to create a new movie
b) Add some new verses of your own, using research and information on the different levels of warming
c) Classify the various effects that the poems describe as being human or physical issues. How can we adapt to these various levels of warming ?
Poems are copyright Mark Cowan, so please credit if using.
I worked with a film company to create the treatments for a series of three programmes on Weather and Climate. We met in Cambridge on a hot day, and chatted through some ideas and then worked on scripts and other ideas.
The three programmes involved interviews with people doing different jobs. In the first programme, there was a transect taken across the UK, with an exploration of how the weather varied along it. The second programme looked at the Great Storm of 1987, but from the point of view of the storm itself.
The poem was written by Mark Cowan.
Teachers TV disappeared, but the videos were thankfully archived.
I dug out the series of poems that we asked Mark Cowan to write for us. They were then edited, and if you watch the programme, you'll see and hear that some of the 'verses' that were used were different to those in the poem, as it was edited and improved during the process of connecting it to the filming that went on...
I'm still proud of my involvement in these three programmes, which deserve a repeat airing.
Mark had created a book on Poems for the Geography Classroom (still available from here)
and I've included the first of the draft poems below, as I think they could form a good basis for work by students...
They are the drafts of the poems and you could use them in a number of ways.
a) Read them out, or ask students to record them and add images to represent the words to create a new movie
b) Add some new verses of your own, using research and information on the different levels of warming
c) Classify the various effects that the poems describe as being human or physical issues. How can we adapt to these various levels of warming ?
Poems are copyright Mark Cowan, so please credit if using.
Climate change
Introductory verses
As
Co2 figures steadily climb
Will
temperature levels soar?
Does
climate change spell catastrophe
Or
leave us wanting more?
Warming
– it sounds inviting
Like
a mid-winter break in the sun.
But
each degree rise
With
the sun in our eyes
Could
leave us exposed and undone.
'One degree’
What
is the likely scenario
With
a change of one degree?
How
might Britain begin to alter
From
mountains, to valleys, to seas?
One
degree, a subtle shift
But
the chance of UK change.
Will
the changes be obvious?
Or
could they feel quite strange?
Oceans
might alter with warmer waters
And
Britain’s sea life may shift
As
other species, alien to us
Through
UK waters drift.
Sunfish
populations
Have
now arrived on our shores.
And
as our waters experience warming
Expect
a good deal more.
Nature
tourism could flourish
With
boat trips out to sea.
Dolphins,
whales and tropical fish
With
a rise of one degree.
With
a one degree rise farming will alter
Already,
there’s one clear sign.
Look
around you; a growing trend
Are
olives and grapes on the vine.
Will
this be the new California?
Perhaps,
but there’s some doubt.
For
much like a wine, life could become dry
As Britain is plagued by drought
I'll post the other 5 verses from 2 up to 6 degrees of warming over the next few days, so some back for more...
As Britain is plagued by drought
I'll post the other 5 verses from 2 up to 6 degrees of warming over the next few days, so some back for more...
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