By a future lawyer with a backpack full of reusable cutlery and hope
I didn’t know that airports could make me feel guilty until I began planning for Sweden. Suddenly, the flight path looked less like a gateway to adventure and more like a carbon-heavy scratch across the sky. But then I remembered: sustainability isn’t perfection, it’s intention. So, with my course confirmation email glowing on my screen and my carbon offset receipt pinned to the fridge, I packed my values alongside my visa. Now, I’m learning that green living doesn’t stop at the border, it just adapts to the language.
I’m headed to Stockholm University’s Summer School; I couldn’t have picked a greener place to study. Stockholm is more than beautiful; it’s deliberately green. It ranks among the top five most sustainable cities in the world[1], with 99% of its electricity coming from renewable sources[2]. It whispers sustainability in everything it does, from the 800 km of bike paths winding through pine-scented parks to a metro that hums on hydropower. This is a city where environmentalism isn’t a hobby, it’s the culture. And me? I’ll be using public transport which is free with my studies[3]. I’ll be living in a studio apartment, where low-energy lighting and water-saving taps keep things minimal and efficient. It’s a far cry from home, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
Packing was its own ethical puzzle. I swapped bottled shampoo for a solid bar, rolled up thrifted clothes, I offset my flight’s carbon emissions through a Gold Standard scheme, packed light: my bamboo toothbrush, a proud part of my carry-on crew. I know I’ll forget something, probably my charger, but I’m determined not to forget my values.
The food is a bonus. I’m aiming for a mostly plant-based diet—easy in a city where oat milk flows like tap water, and 30% of food purchased in Stockholm’s public institutions is organic[4]. Sustainable shopping is just the norm here.
Even my studies feel sustainable. My course on International Commercial Arbitration touches on global justice, cross-border cooperation, and responsible business practices. It turns out the law, like the climate, is about enforcing accountability.
So I’ll walk. I’ll take the train. I’ll learn the Swedish word for “recycle” and probably mispronounce it. I’ll stand in courtrooms and sit in saunas. And when I return, I hope to bring back more than legal knowledge. I hope to return with a clearer vision of what it means to live responsibly, in every sense of the word.
This summer, my suitcase is light, but my impact won’t be. Stockholm isn’t just teaching me law—it’s teaching me how to live lightly, wherever I am.
And that, I think, is the most sustainable thing of all.
Footnotes:
[1]Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index 2022 – Stockholm ranked 4th globally
[2]Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten), 2023
[3]Stockholm University Summer Programme includes a full public transport pass in the tuition package
[4] City of Stockholm Environment Programme 2020–2023
