After crossing a flooded Scotland, I finally arrived at my destination: The University of Surrey in Guildford, England. I was given the keys to my room, met Emma who I was going to share this experience with, and had a cup of tea while chosing the talks I wanted to attend the next day.

Guildford Castle

The first talk was on “Transitions Towns: Communities preparing for climate change” about the community-led responses to prepare for climate change. I was surprised to hear that there are currently more than 200 official transition towns in the world. The talk made me aspire to live in a transition town or be part of the movement to implement one.

The next presentation I attended, and because I was once fascinated by astronomy, was by Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock. From the first minute of the talk, I was enthralled by the space scientist’s positive energy and excellent capacity to communicate. She told us about her idea of suggesting to the BBC the production of a “Big Brother interplanetary” where she would put a group of people on a spaceship to Mars. She also spoke of her wish to retire to this planet, something that her husband does not seem to approve of. She also explained the importance of satellites to help us understand our planet and its changing climate and, although I think that there are far too many “man made devices” surrounding the planet, the satellite pictures of Earth she showed, together with an explanation about their ability to respond quickly in the case of catastrophes, made me accept them better.

In the afternoon there was a couple of hours to visit Guildford!

Diana

Continue to Day 2