Our focus for the day was the visit at TU Delft. A university in Delft that is mainly a technology university. We started by visiting the Green Village on their campus site. This is where students, companies, and even the government can try out new innovations in a specific area for testing. The village even has less regulations and permits, making it easier for projects to take off. There were things like energy conserving houses that students can live in, solar panels to power electric vehicles or motor bikes which also connect to the energy lab that stores solar energy for winter in hydrogen containers, but my favorites were the concrete bricks and the easy access trees. This concrete brick is designed to store water and let it slowly seep into the ground over time. This is great to keep the ground moist because if there is ever any flood water or drainage, the dry soil won’t be able to absorb it, and the water will essentially go to waste. You can see in the picture that it has a hole for the area for the water to collect, and then a small hole at the bottom for the water to collect. This is very sustainable way to keep the ground moist for other things too, like plants and animals where it was actually installed in a zoo! The next is the tree holders. I have noticed that a lot of the buildings have tried to keep nature in their surroundings. These holders were made so that trees can be placed on top of the building and have the support necessary to keep the wind from blowing them down. I think this connects well to my observation of nature within the city.

After the Green Village, we were able to have lunch in one of the school’s cafeterias and then have some time to explore. We then got to go into a classroom to have a workshop named Climate Fresk. It originally was from a professor in France who wanted to keep his students up to date on climate issues, but the pages were too long to them to want to read themselves, so he came up with this 3-hour long activity. We started by getting into groups and we were given a set of cards. Our job was to put the cards in order from cause and effect, for example human activity and CO2 emissions. We were given 5 sets in total of 42 cards and laid them out on a big piece of paper. We discussed along the way and got creative at the end. For the rest of the time, we discussed sustainable solutions and shared them with our classmates. This activity really showed how much cause, and effect can happen just caused by humans and then in the end humans end up being affected as well. It was a very long day but great to get to experience a new school and see the differences, as well as learn about new sustainable practices. I also ended the day trying a fresh stroopwafel for the first time and it was great!