As I jogged around my local reservoir, I envisaged my upcoming exchange semester. My heart beat with excitement. I’m about to step into a world different from my own, a place where cultures blend and stories unfold. As I was nearly carried away by my imagination, I heard the Earth’s lullabies – the rustling trees, the bubbling streams, the gentle hum of birds. Amidst the anticipation, environmental sustainability weighed heavily on my heart.
While the UK did not experience the same sweltering heat as Singapore, environmental problems persisted in different forms. From an online glance, I saw the scars—plastic strewn across the River Thames, air stifled with smoke, and huge waste bags reflecting a land worn thin by consumerism. It’s a stark reminder that our actions ripple across the globe, touching every corner of the Earth.
This could not be! This disturbing pictures jolted me to find various means to reduce my environmental impact as an exchange student:
Taking sustainable transportation was well within my means (SDG 11). Thankfully, UK’s train and bus systems are highly interconnected, with the Oyster card and EURAIL app offering discounts and convenient payment. To get to school, I would take a short 15 minute walk from my nearby student accommodation, Dinwiddy House. Alternatively, I could cycle on rental bikes from Santander Cycles, immersing myself in the enthralling sights and sounds of London while getting some much needed exercise! Active travel would help me to save 3.2kg of CO2 per day!
To reduce single disposable plastic waste, I would bring my own water bottle, leveraging the Refill app to find free water refill stations. Using the Recyclenow app, I found that I can conveniently discard any plastic wastes into recycling bins nearby at Pentonville Road. To reduce food wastage, I would carefully plan meals in advance, and buy a quantity appropriate for a week’s consumption. To reduce water wastage, I will continue my habit of limiting my daily showers to 3 minutes, and use the washing machine with infrequent but full washing loads (SDG 12).
Instead of mindlessly buying new clothes, I would thrift from shops like Beyond Retro, prolonging the lifespan of worn clothing (SDG 12). Buying a pair of second-hand jeans and a T-shirt would already save 20,000 bottles of water as opposed to buying new ones! When I no longer wear certain clothes, I will donate them to charity drives like WrapUp London, providing essentials to those who need them most (SDG 1).
Finally, I plan to join SOAS’s Harmony with Nature Society, participating in environmental workshops with like-minded people. We will inspire each other, and mobilise collective action by planting trees, cleaning up beaches, and raising greater environmental awareness within SOAS’s student body (SDG 13)!
Breathing a sigh of relief, I slipped back into my idyllic dream, recalling that this breath also came from the Earth. It’s all worth it, and it’s time to put all this into action!
