Pattern: Rhincodon typus
Difficulty: Study Abroad Student
Estimated time: 9 hours 45 minutes
Materials
– Crochet hook
– Blue yarn
– Passport
– Boarding pass
– Reusable bottle
– 6,244 km of travel
– ~1.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide
– Infinite curiosity
Substitutions
Disposable -> reusable
Fast fashion -> second-hand clothes
Bottled water -> refill stations
Taxi -> public transport
Souvenirs -> experiences
Abbreviations
MR = Magic Ring
INC = Increase
REP = Repeat
FO = Fasten Off
WE = Weave in Ends
Changes in Direction
Heathrow.
Philadelphia.
Burlington.
Final turn at the University of Vermont.
Round 1
Create a Magic Ring.
Every project begins with one loop.
Mine began studying Environmental Science at the University of York.
Every lecture revealed patterns in ecosystems and climate.
Crochet taught me the same lesson all along.
Round 4
INC x17.
One for every Sustainable Development Goal[1].
Strengthen the fourth with education.
Pull the thirteenth tighter.
Protect the fourteenth beneath the waves.
Finish with partnerships.
Round 8
Count your stitches.
Count again.
Before I studied climate, I learned to read patterns.
Environmental scientists count everything.
Carbon.
Species.
Warming.
When I board my flight from Heathrow to Philadelphia, then Vermont, I know the atmosphere is counting too.
6,244 kilometres[2].
433.95 parts per million[3].
Round 10
Colour change. Do not break the yarn.
Yorkshire green joins Vermont green.
Different forests.
One connected climate.
One planet.
I travel not for the answers,
but to ask better questions.
Hold Stitch
2 minutes until take off.
The cabin begins to shake.
The captain calls it turbulence.
I call it a reminder.
Nature carries us.
It asks us to pay attention.
I reach into my backpack for a crocheted whale shark from York. Every stitch reminds me why I chose to learn before I lead.
It weighs less than 200 grams.
My suitcase weighs 23 kilos.
My journey carries more than one tonne of CO2[4].
Outside my window, the Atlantic Ocean quietly absorbs around a quarter of humanity’s CO2 emissions and almost 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases[5].
The whale shark in my hands will never know warmer oceans.
I hope the real ones never have to.
Round 17
REPEAT.
Walk where you can.
Ride Green Mountain Transit.
Refill don’t replace.
Choose second-hand clothing for extra layers.
Record biodiversity with iNaturalist and Merlin.
Bring every lesson home. Share the pattern.
Finishing
FO – Fasten Off.
Not yet.
WE – Weave in Ends.
Not to hide them. To strengthen what you’ve made.
Nine hours in the air.
A lifetime to justify them.
I cannot remove the footprint my flight leaves behind.
I can choose where the next step falls.
One stitch doesn’t make a whale shark.
One decision doesn’t save the planet.
One journey won’t solve climate change.
But thousands of careful, connected loops might.
Leave a long tail.
Someone else may need to continue the pattern.
References
1. https://sdgs.un.org/goals
2. https://greatcirclemap.com
3. https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/
4. https://co2.myclimate.org/de/flight_calculators
5. https://www.ipcc.ch/reporty/ar6/syr/
