There is a particular kind of quiet that settles over Potsdam, New York, in the early morning – the kind that makes you want to walk rather than a ride.
When I arrived at Clarkson University for my International exchange, I carried with me the habits of a city that moves fast. But Potsdam slowed me down, and in doing so, it changed the way I think about travel, sustainability, and my own footprint on the world.
From my very first week, I made a conscious decision: I would walk wherever I could. Not out of necessity, but out of intention. Every step to campus, to the library, to the shops on the Market Street was a small act of refusal – a refusal to default to the easiest option when a better one existed. When distances were too far to walk, I turned to public transport rather than ride-shares or taxis. These were modest choices, but they were mine, and they added up.
Studying Global Business Strategies and Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Clarkson gave me the language to understand what those daily choices meant at a larger scale. I learned that sustainability is not a single dramatic gesture – it is a system of small, compounding decisions. The UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), are not abstract targets pinned to a wall in a conference room. They are lived out, or failed to be lived out, in the daily movements of millions of individuals like me.
My course in Management of Technology deepened this understanding. Technology, I came to believe, is only as sustainable as the culture surrounding it. An electric bus is meaningless if nobody chooses to board it. Innovation, as I studied in Designing and Leading Innovative Ventures, must be human created –and humans must first be willing to change their habits before any system can change around them.
Potsdam taught me that willingness. Walking through its tree line streets each morning, I was not just commuting – I was practising. Practising the kind of low impact, intentional movement that sustainable future will require of all of us. I arrived later to some places. I also noticed more: the frost on the grass, the rhythm of a town that was not in a hurry, the simple sufficiency of going somewhere under your own power.
I will carry this practice forward. As I pursue a career in international business, I intend to advocate for sustainable travel policies within organisations – encouraging the use of public transport, reducing unnecessary flights, and measuring environmental impact as seriously as financial impact. I believe that the business tomorrow will be led by people who understand that profitability and planetary responsibility are not opposites.
My exchange was a beginning, not a conclusion. Every step I took in Potsdam was a step toward understanding that sustainable travel is not a sacrifice. It is simply a better way to move through the world.
