The girl sits on a bench by the boardwalk, the wind rolling in off the ocean blowing through her hair and freeing it from the scarf she purchased earlier in the week from one of the many second-hand stores nearby. Her feet hurt a little from walking around Brighton all day, but she is glad to have done it, as her environmental impact is always in the back of her mind, and walking is the most sustainable mode of transport. It was one of the reasons she chose the University of Sussex in the first place—living in a walkable city with plenty of green spaces is great for lowering your carbon footprint and increasing social connection.
She opens Ecosia, a search engine that plants trees with each search, and checks the train schedule, realising it’s time to head to the station (she knows that utilising public transport is a great way to reduce emissions). Standing from the bench, she notices a few stray pieces of rubbish on the ground, so she carefully picks them up and puts them in one of the many public bins dotted along the boardwalk. It feels good to leave a place cleaner than when you arrived, especially around the sea, where it is estimated that over 8 million tonnes of plastic end up each year.
She stares towards the ocean again, feeling very small against its vastness. Her flights from Australia to London alone produced a carbon footprint of over 3 tonnes of CO2, according to an online calculator, when she should be aiming for under 2 tonnes. There’s always a little pinprick of guilt in the back of her mind about this, but she remembers UN Sustainable Development Goal 4—quality education—and reminds herself why she chose this experience. She has already learned so much about the local environment, and her worldview is broader than it ever would have been if she’d stayed in Australia.
Her phone buzzes in her hand, shaking her away from her thoughts. A notification from Facebook pops onto the screen—the university’s Food Waste Café is holding a food stall tomorrow selling meals made from saved surplus food, and she has volunteered to help run it. The opportunities to give back, even just on campus, feel endless, and she loves being involved in such amazing initiatives.
She adjusts her fabric tote bag on her shoulder (which she always favours over plastic shopping bags) and continues the walk to the station. The bag is weighed down by her reusable metal water bottle and ingredients for tonight’s dinner: vegan rice paper rolls (a newly-discovered favourite in her efforts to eat less meat in line with UN Sustainable Development Goal 12, responsible consumption and production).
A smile creases her eyes. The sun is setting, casting golden light over the water, and the air feels full of possibility.
References:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920921000687
https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Thrift+Shops&find_loc=Brighton%2C+UK
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2023/04/17/walkable-neighborhoods-are-happy-neighborhoods-finds-study/
https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/carbon-footprint-calculator/
https://calculator.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx?tab=3
https://wwf.org.au/blogs/plastic-in-our-oceans-is-killing-marine-mammals/
https://sdgs.un.org/goals
https://www.ecosia.org/
https://sussexstudent.com/activities/view/food-waste-cafe-sussex
