Day 2 was a very busy day for us; we visited a tulip farm, a community of floating houses, and a company called EDGE. EDGE is a building firm focused on making some of the most sustainable buildings. They prioritize sustainability, low CO2 emissions, getting people into the office, and building a lasting impact. They have built-in ceiling sensors in every room to track and display this info for everyone to see. Not only do they take all of this into account when in the office, but they also make sure to keep track of their costs when building these buildings. They also use AI to help them assess different sustainability scenarios in the building and ensure they are making the right adjustments. EDGE interior is also designed to include lots of greenery and encourage workers to be more sustainable and come into the office. They have multiple buildings and offices around the world and are truly trying to change how companies operate. I really like their initiative and think what they are doing is very important. I like how they are trying to get people back into the office. After COVID, it is definitely a struggle. Comparing this to the U.S., we definitely need improvement. There are 2 branches in the States, and they are underperforming compared to the rest, so we definitely need to improve this.

Before all of this, we visited a tulip farm, which is a major symbol for the Netherlands. The Netherlands supplies over 450 million tulips to the White House every year; it is nice to see how both countries rely on each other, as the White House gets beautiful tulips and the Netherlands gets money. The farm we visited didn’t actually sell tulips; instead, they sold bulbs. Which was very cool to learn, I didn’t realize how important the bulbs are, and I thought the whole purpose of the farm was to sell tulips. How this farm worked was that they would grow tulips and harvest their bulbs, looking for larger bulbs to sell but also to keep to plant for next year, so they could have an even better selection of bulbs. It is a continuous cycle each year. Then we visited the floating house community, which was very cool to see. Each house uses eco-friendly materials, and every owner has complete freedom in design. The area where the floating houses were located used to be an industrial park, but after it was bombed during the war, space for living opened up, and some debris ended up in the water. Since moving, though, they have noticed an increase in fish, indicating that their presence is helping the environment around them. This community was built on the idea that no dream is too big and only your own limitations can stop you. It is nice to see how a community can come together and work to make a better way of life.