If carbon emissions could talk, mine would probably sigh and say: “At least she’s trying.”
Because I am.
Next year, I’ll be trading Amsterdam for Nottingham, not by plane, but by electric car. Packed with snacks, optimism, a bike strapped to the back, and my parents (who deserve partial credit for my sustainability efforts). It’s not the fastest way to cross a country. But then again, sustainability has never been particularly interested in convenience.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped thinking of travel as movement and started noticing it as a choice. That shift crept in gradually: in doubts about speed, in questions about necessity, in the quiet suspicion that “efficient” is often just another word for “unquestioned”. It is part of the illusion of better travel, this idea that optimization automatically means improvement.
The train to London sharpened that feeling. Watching the world unfold instead of disappearing beneath clouds, I realized that travel could feel different: more connected, more intentional. Slower, yes. But maybe that is exactly the point.
As a Chemistry student, I understand the numbers behind climate change: rising CO2 levels, irreversible reactions, data that leaves little room for doubt. But next year, studying Sociology and Social Policy, I want to understand something even more complex: people. Why do we know so much, yet change so little? And how do we turn awareness into action that actually sticks?
That question became personal when I visited the Galápagos Islands. It was breathtaking, an ecosystem balanced in a way that felt almost unreal, yet deeply fragile, a living contradiction of beauty and a warning. A glimpse of what the world once was, and what it could still become, if we choose differently.
For me, sustainability isn’t about perfection. It’s about persistence. To map out our low-emission route across the UK, I used EcoPassenger, minimizing our footprint before even arriving. In Nottingham, a city aiming to be carbon neutral by 2028, this mindset will shape how I live. I will cycle using the CycleStreets app to navigate eco-friendly routes on the bike I brought from home.
To align with UN Sustainable Development Goals like Sustainable Cities (SDG 11) and Responsible Consumption (SDG 12) within the UK system, I will choose local over convenient, sourcing seasonal food via Too Good To Go and second-hand items through Depop.
But just as importantly, I will talk. Real change does not come from information alone. I want to inspire my peers by sharing our collective impact, tracking our footprint reductions on the Earth Hero app. Chemistry taught me to understand the problem; Sociology will help me understand the system around it to change behavior. That is how I want to actively engage in Climate Action (SDG 13).
Because being sustainable isn’t a fixed identity; it’s a continuous decision.
And if my carbon emissions could talk by the end of this journey, I hope they’d say: “She didn’t get everything right, but she made it better.”
https://sdgs.un.org/goals
