August - October 2019, Santa Cruz de la Sierra - Bolivia. Micaela’s Baggage to & from Oxford
We asked our scholars to go back to the moment they packed their luggage in preparation for their journey to Oxford. But instead of clothes and books, we asked them to think about the stories, people, memories, hopes, and all immaterial things that they would put inside. We also wanted to know what they would probably like to add to their baggage when leaving Oxford. Find other stories in this series here.
Every night, the light from the streetlights formed a Tyndall effect with what appeared to be a thick haze. Every day, one hundred meters on the horizon were not distinguishable. The air was always heavy, hot, and gray. The eyes burned, the lungs suffered. Just imagine a scene at Silent Hill. There amongst the more powerful, I did not see worrying semblances, just indifference. Helplessness, anger, and sadness made my body dehydrate through my eyes. Four hundred kilometers to the east, the animals screamed, ran, and died. The protected were no longer protected, they were no longer green. The winds not only enraged him but dispersed the remnants he had destroyed. Those flying machines that seemed to be the miracle did not help that much as he was stronger. But the only one who could help her overcome her illness was herself. It only took a few days of her tears to destroy the one who was hurting her. After a few days, that thick haze vanished.
Everything was clear again. Yes. In 2019, Bolivia experienced its all-time strongest forest fires, called “chaqueos,” affecting more than 6.5 million hectares of land in eastern Bolivia. The haze was actually smoke, a collection of chemical compounds, solid particles, but especially carbon dioxide: the number one cause of global warming.
I decided to pursue the MSc in Energy Systems partly because I was motivated by this event. And it is the memory of this experience that I packed in my baggage, a memory that continues driving me every day to work for sustainability, the environment, and the energy transition.
So, do you want to know what I would like to take from Oxford and put in my baggage when I finish my course? Well, I aim to put a clearer strategy. I want to carry a plan that allows me to be closer to my dream of never again seeing the fire destroy all the beauty of my beloved country (Bolivia) and region (Latin America). https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/07/world/americas/amazon-fires-bolivia.html
