Phil Calado's Placement at the Centre for Alternative Technology

Throughout the month of August I spent four weeks working at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT).

Throughout the month of August I spent four weeks working at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) on the lush borders of the Snowdonian National Park in North Wales. Founded in 1974 in a disused slate quarry, CAT is an education and visitors centre demonstrating practical solutions for sustainability. It’s a kind of living laboratory, with experimental buildings made from natural materials, composting schemes, permaculture and renewable energy demos. Among CAT’s many exhibits you can find a theatre built from straw bales, slate roofing tiles made from recycled car tyres and a water-powered lift.

My internship project involved communicating CAT’s flagship academic research project Zero Carbon Britain (ZCB) to members of the public during twice-daily talks. ZCB is an energy and land use scenario that aims to demonstrate that a zero-emissions society is possible by 2030 in the UK, using existing technologies. That’s right, we probably don’t really need Plastic Electronics. While ambitious, ZCB is a first approximation to the kind of change we need to see in Britain if we are to play our part in keeping average global temperatures below a 2^OC rise since pre-industrial times.

The audiences were generally small but very well engaged and there was lots of great debate on how we can achieve a rapid decarbonisation. The solutions, are multi-facetted, but in case anyone is what wondering what personal action they can take, start by dramatically reduce your meat and diary intake, buy local food, stop flying everywhere and stop buying things you don’t need. (Then tell everyone else to do the same unless you want to see the hottest temperatures in 30 million years, half of all known species wiped off the planet and hundreds of millions of climate refugees- all predictions for a ‘business as usual’ 4 ^OC rise). If there’s one thing I learnt in my work there, it’s that our climate situation is very serious.

It wasn’t all heavy however! I had the opportunity to sing a couple of songs for an Arabian Princess, meet lots of amazing, interesting people, and to immerse myself in the awe-inspiring natural surroundings. During the first week I was lucky enough to participate in a ‘Nature Connections’ weekend workshop (free of charge to volunteers!). As the name suggests, the aim of the course was teach practices and routines for connecting more strongly with nature, for example by having a designated 'sit spot' which you visit every day to mindfully observe the plants, animals and landscapes around you. While it might sound hippy I felt completely energised and inspired by the experience: it was another reminder that Nature is an incredible chemist and engineer.

I was lucky enough to get funding for the internship through Imperial’s Charity Insights scheme, which provides support for students to undertake placements at UK charities. I would highly recommend the scheme to anyone interested in exploring the idea of working for a charity. More stories and reflections from my time at CAT can be found at the Charity Insights blog:

//wwwf.imperial.ac.uk/blog/charityinsights/category/charity-insights-2016/phil-calado/