Travelling has always sparked my imagination, filling me with anticipation for adventure. I still remember the thrill of my very first passport stamp a sign of my desire to explore new destinations and cultures. However, with every journey, my awareness of the environmental impact that goes along with travel has grown. I recognise that travel is a privilege linked to the responsibility of preserving and respecting the environments and communities that welcome us including also the largest cities.
Over time that awareness has become what I think of as a “Silent dialogue” with the planet: every itinerary begins with questions and every decision I make is my spoken answer.
Route, food, luggage, waste: each choice either honours or interrupts that whispered conversation.
This dialogue sharpened last semester during my elective course of “Digital Public Management and Social Innovation”, where we treated the Sustainable Development Goals not as distant policies but as everyday briefs. Since that day, I carry a simple commitment in my suitcase, and it will shape all I do during my year at the University of Sussex.
Food becomes a letter to the Earth as each product is a line message. Each week I plan to go to local markets, letting seasonal produce set the menu and packing my lunch in a trusty “schiscetta” the reusable lunch box every Italian student swears by. The habit took root in Venice, where a reusable bottle and pocket‑sized containers helped campus waste drop by almost half in just one term.
Behind the scenes, all the city apps keeps all these progress accountable. Citymapper suggests the lowest‑emission route on foot or on a shared e‑bike. Too Good To Go is my favourite travel addiction: it lets me collect edible souvenirs in every city by rescuing meals or sweet treats from neighbourhood bakeries and cafés and redirecting them from bins to dinner plates. An instant way to cut urban food waste which everyone of us can do.
Concluding I think Passports record the places we visit, a green passport records how we behave there. I hope mine will hold practical evidence: meals cooked from local produce, kilometres cycled and so much more. When the year ends, even the slightest improvement will confirm that my small choices mattered to make the difference.
