Geographical Association Conference 2014

On Wednesday 16th April I went to the University of Surrey for the annual Geography Association (GA) conference, organised by the president of the GA, Bob Digby. I was't really sure what to expect, to be honest I had signed up to go purely because I saw the word "Geography" in the title.  I managed to arrive late because, despite having a Gold DofE award, I got lost on my way. This meant I arrived to hear the tail end of Professor Terry Callaghan from the University of Sheffield talking about the Arctic and the effects of climate change  on its environment. He made a good point that those who say climate change isn't real have no alternative theory so they have no argument to disprove the climate change theory. He also said that we can tell the planet's changing temperature is due to human activities because if it were due to outside influences, the stratosphere would be warming as well and, in fact, the stratosphere is cooling whilst the planet warms. I would have liked to have seen the whole of his talk.

Later in the day Dan Raven-Ellison, a Guerrilla Geographer, came to talk to us about what he does. I had never heard of Guerrilla Geography beforehand but am so glad I've heard about it now! Dan described Guerrilla Geography as a geography version of Banksy (the street artist), it seems to me that it is a form of protesting and aims to make people more aware of various issue in the world, for example; showing people how much land in the UK would be need to be used to support London's food consumption if production was moved from the various countries it is currently produced in to the UK. Dan also talked to  us about his new movement to get London to be made a National Park. Most people would not think of London as an appropriate place for a National Park due to its constant need to develop and build and and idea of the city having a lack of green space however, I think if London were to become a National Park people would start to look at and think about the city in a different way  and it could potentially persuade companies and individuals to act in a more sustainable way. Also the map below shows just how much green space there is in the capital city:

From attending this conference I have heard some wonderful new ideas and am thinking I would love a career in Guerrilla geography or at least to do it as a hobby. 

Here is a link to the Greater London National Park website http://www.greaterlondonnationalpark.org.uk  Sign the petition!