Earth Day 2024 at UCL East

School activities
We invited students from schools in east London to attend a day of events on Monday 22nd April, in celebration of Eath Day 2024, to explore in depth in different ways its theme of Planet vs Plastics. 

Taking place in our Marshgate building, the day included a performance of Akademi's production Plastic, Drastic, Fantastic, a robotics workshop, a Q&A session with UCL academics and a chance to individually reflect on the day.

Plastic Drastic Fantastic 
A 40-mintue contemporary dance theatre work exploring our complex and dependent relationship with plasitcs. Considering the fantastic possibilities they offer, as well as their drastic consequences to the enviroment. 

Plastic Drastic Fantastic was originally created in 2022 as a co-production wtih Polka Theatre and has since toured nationally. The performace was followed by a Q&A and a workshop with Akademi artists. 

Students were also able to experience the artwork, Gaia, by Luke Jerram as a visual tool whilst they reflected on their experiences from the day. 

Gaia Globe with Mark Midownik
In the evening Earth Day was brought to a close with a sharing of Gaia's Bafta award-winning soundtrack, composed by Dan Jones. UCL's Professor Mark Midownik, one of the founders of the UCL Institute of Making, who is a scientist and engineer, gave a short talk about cutting-edge research taking place at UCL before guests enjoyed listening to the soundtrack and taking time to refect on the thoughts and experiences shared.

Mark's inspiring thoughts on how "The most truly radical thing you can do is buy less" were a perfect reflection on Earth Day's theme of Planet vs Plastics and the proposed goal of reducing the production of plastics by 60% in 2040 and ultimately build a plastic-free future.