UC Davis GNIP grant Deliverable
UC Davis GNIP grant Deliverable: Meya Saenz Zagar
Hi, my name is Meya Saenz Zagar and I am an undergraduate at UC Davis studying Sustainable Environmental Design. I took the Path to Net Zero course in spring quarter 2024 and received the amazing opportunity to travel to Denmark for almost a month this summer. I started my trip in Copenhagen with two UC Davis students, where we spent our time swimming in the harbor and trying new candy and food. We then traveled to the city of Odense and met up with the rest of the UC Davis students. We stayed in a cute white cottage and attended Southern Denmark University. For two weeks, we participated in the Cities and Climate Change course, where we were split into research groups with Danish and other international students. Our class consisted of guest lectures from professionals from all over the world with diverse backgrounds and experiences surrounding climate change. The class was primarily structured around group work where we chose a city to research and worked with students of different disciplines. After class, we typically explored Odense by bike and met up with other students from our class. After our time in Odense, we had a small break and I traveled to Helsinki, Finland to visit my friend. I got to swim in the Baltic Sea and experience a Finnish sauna! I met back up with the UC Davis students and I got to drive my first EV up to Lemvig!! Lemvig is a beautiful small coastal town in Denmark with tons of wind turbines and scenic views. We stayed in a bed and breakfast with chickens and goats, and even a small wind turbine to power the house. In Lemvig, we attended a climate summit at the Klimatorium and had the opportunity to see the world’s largest wind turbine, a pyrolysis plant, and a Power-to-X Plant. We had lots of fun exploring lighthouses and the breathtaking beaches in Lemvig. Finally, we all traveled back to Copenhagen for one last day together as a group and then sadly had to say our goodbyes.
Medellin Reaching Our Goal of 2050.
In the Cities and Climate Change course, my group and I focused on Medellin Colombia a densely populated city in the Andes Mountains. We began by understanding the history, economic, environmental, and social issues within the city. The main challenges facing Medellin are equity issues, urban heat island effect, landslides, and extreme floods. Over the two weeks, we worked as a team to think systematically to transform Medellin into a more equitable and climate-ready city. My primary role in the group was finding the geospatial data to represent the city’s key problems. I found maps that displayed population growth, urban expansion, landslide hazard zones, water infrastructure connectivity, and areas for potential infill development. This data was beneficial as it allowed us to analyze and compare different issues spatially and overlay maps to understand how the issues intersect. We found that Medellin is expanding outward and upward onto the steep mountain slopes which are the highest risk zones for landslides. These areas are growing with informal settlements which are extremely dense communities. This migration cycle and hazard intersection were our main focus, we proposed infill development in less hazardous areas to help provide structurally sound living spaces. Additionally, warning systems, education programs about evacuation and hazards, and repurposing the hazardous slopes to community gardens. This project taught me how to think about issues on a larger scale and focus on understanding the local context before proposing solutions. I also had the amazing opportunity of working with students who come from different backgrounds. My team was a mix of civil/environmental engineers, environmental governance, architecture, and environmental design students. I really enjoyed getting to know the students on a personal and academic level and we had insightful conversations because of our varying experiences.
“This trip was a truly amazing experience. I had the opportunity to make new meaningful friendships with UC Davis students and students from all around the world. I met a student from Bogota, Colombia and we are planning on reconnecting when I go to visit my family in Bogota later this year.”
“Visiting the Power-to-X plant in Lemvig was an eye-opening experience. I was not very familiar with this technology before and now I hope to further my studies in renewable energy systems.”
Presentation Link:https://www.canva.com/design/DAGN0H7kCwU/Yctrpd5_DYfgrhERZVbCjQ/edit?utm_content=DAGN0H7kCwU&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton
Miro Board Link: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVKt2fDb0=/
