There are 2 locations I’d love to visit. One is within the realm of possibility, the other one probably not so much. But one can dream! And no it’s not the moon or the outer space. I do love the idea of looking back in on earth but am terrified of such far distances, infinite heights and small contained spaces.
The first location I would love to visit is the newly build Panda Solar Farm in China.
I’ve traveled to China 4 time in the last year and each time I am more and more impressed with their national efforts and advances in sustainable practices. Yes, China was and still is one of the largest polluters on earth, largely thanks to materialistic consumerist needs of the western world. But China’s commitment to cleaning up its act so to say, is matched with solid actions that speak louder than words. As part of the Paris Climate agreement China pledged to cut carbon intensity by 60-65% percent by 2030, you can read more about it in this New York Times article. On another hand, the One Belt One Road Initiative led by Chinese president Xi Jinping is China’s plan for global trade worth at least 113 billion dollars in investments for larger Asian region including the Middle East and Africa focusing on manufacturing, renewable energy and transportation. The mentioned panda solar farm is one of the first 100 solar farms of its kind planned to be built. Another one will be built in Fiji.
You can also follow Climate Action Tracker to see how each country is doing. The USA is rated critically insufficient, while China is currently highly insufficient.
The second location I would love to visit in my lifetime is to visit and tour either Tesla or SpaceX headquarters. Recently I’ve been thinking of making a Tesla my next car! As I was doing my research I came across an article that said Tesla was adding HQ tours to its car buyers’ referral program (March-June 2017). This I assume is only just a start. The more I researched about tours of facilities I discovered that there were total 8 tours organized open to public, one of them was for students of Edison University. I have a feeling there will be other opportunities to do so in the future and maybe even to meet the creator himself (Elon Musk not God).
As Mr. Musk continues to push the limits of what is “possible” I am in awe with anything and everything he stands for. Travel and colonization of Mars, charging stations and lunar base on Moon, around the world in 30 minutes? Why not! If I had a seat next to him I’d maybe consider taking the flight to outer space. It would be once in a lifetime opportunity worth dying (of fear) for.