Climate Change: Time for Change

By Cohort 4 BGFer, Tasneem

On the 30th October 2019, thanks to the help of Bright Green Future, I attended the "Climate Change: Time for Change" event, which was part of UCL's response to the climate change emergency. This event raised awareness over the critical impacts of climate change such as resource depletion, increasing ocean acidification and biodiversity loss.

Also, this event was part of their launch of the Sustainable UCL strategy that encourages every person to do their part. For example, one of UCL's aims is to be carbon free by 2030.

Currently, all their electricity is from renewable sources. Therefore, it was really interesting to see how Universities, as public institutions, can take responsibility in this climate emergency and encourage positive change.

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One of the speakers included Professor Kate Jones who is a professor of Ecology and Biodiversity at UCL. It was really intriguing to hear her speak about the effects of climate change on ecosystems as often they are very fragile.

There was a Q&A session at the end where audience members raised some thought-provoking questions that we can all think about. For example, "Are vegetarian diets really better or are food miles more important?". Also, "Is complete sustainability even possible in our current economic system?"

The hashtag for this event was #ChangePossible which is an inspiring message we should all consider in our daily lives.