When I think about travel and sustainability, I picture a boarding pass in one hand and a reusable bottle in the other. My semester abroad in Canada made it clear that you can’t pretend flying doesn’t have a footprint, but you can choose the kind of traveller you are before and after take‑off.
Getting to Canada meant flying economy with a connection, and later multiple flights for trips like the Dominican Republic. Those journeys sit honestly under UN SDG 13, climate action, as part of the emissions that international students can’t always avoid. Because of that, I made a deliberate choice to minimise flying once I arrived. For regional travel I took buses rather than domestic flights, and in cities like Toronto and New York I treated walking as my default mode of transport, regularly hitting 20,000 steps a day instead of relying on taxis. Replacing short, carbon‑heavy trips with active travel meant I saw more of each place and reduced the number of kilometres I added to my footprint.
The bigger shift happened in Calgary, where I discovered Alberta’s beverage container deposit system: a refund of 10 cents for every eligible bottle returned for recycling. A family members there referees, so on match days and tournaments I saw pitches littered with bottles. Over the exchange, I recycled at least 1,000 containers through the deposit scheme. It was a small, practical way of aligning my behaviour with UN SDG 12 on responsible consumption and production: reducing waste generation through prevention, recycling and reuse.
What surprised me most was how quickly this became part of my routine. Picking up bottles after games wasn’t a one‑off volunteering spike but recurring, quiet work that turned an abstract goal about sustainability into a habit. It also reframed travel for me, rather than seeing myself as a temporary visitor passing through, I began to feel responsible for the spaces I used, even if I’d only be there for a short period.
That mindset has followed me home. Back in the UK, I’ve shifted away from default bus journeys and started cycling more, making low‑carbon transport my starting point rather than my Plan B. I pay more attention to everyday resource use, switching off lights, being conscious about water, thinking twice before buying something I don’t need because SDG 12 isn’t only about what happens abroad; it’s about how you consume and dispose of things wherever you are.
If I could change one thing about my international placement, it would be the number of flights I took. Next time, I would be more intentional about choosing direct routes, limiting unnecessary connections and exploring slower travel options where feasible, to reduce the emissions associated with take‑off and landing. But the semester did something important for me, it turned sustainability from a line in a brochure into a lived practice. My exchange experience taught me being an eco‑friendly traveller isn’t about perfection but about repeatedly choosing the cleaner option with the opportunities you actually have.
