Today, we attended a local conference on renewable energies and sustainability, el VI Jornada Ambiental. The conference took a specific look at how to make Barcelona and Spain on track to achieving 100% renewable energy, especially as part of a European trans-national movement to eliminate fossil fuel dependency. The most important thing I took from these seminars is that global sustainability and national/ trans-national fossil fuel reduction goals are being met by municipalities doing their part. For example, Germany is among the top in rapid solar PV energy adoption. Euro Solar president Peter Droge attributes much of that to local territories’ push for renewable energies. 55 of Germany’s 75 territories have adopted 100% renewable energy by 2030 goals.
Kayla and Kelley were a part of the student poster competition for their work on the Ecological Network Analysis of Urban Agriculture. Many of our mentoring graduate student peers at UAB entered the contest as well. They stole the show of course--Ana, Perla, and Anna took the prize for best poster on their analysis of the iRTG’s (rooftop garden lab) impacts.
In other news, I am on my way to beginning collecting data for my Social Network Analysis (SNA). The SNA involves surveying Salt Lake County’s urban agriculture stakeholders, so I have officially applied for review of this human-subjects research with the University of Utah’s Institutional Review Board (IRB)! Applying for the IRB was incredibly helpful to my research overall because it gave me the framework to clearly define the study’s methodology.
Conducting my research from UAB with new folks and perspectives has significantly improved my ability to look at Salt Lake’s urban agriculture network from an objective viewpoint. I don’t think I could truly take an objective viewpoint while I was immersed in the network as I enjoy volunteering at a garden or shopping at farmers markets. It’s incredibly valuable that I am in an environment where I can take a step back from my personal engagement with the urban agriculture in Salt Lake to engage with my community with the bigger picture in mind! It’s like the difference between looking at a topographic map and being in the mountains—from a research standpoint. Onward!
Fun fact of the day: ln 2016 Spain produced more wind power than nuclear energy; similarly, Germany produced more solar energy than nuclear energy!
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